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Night and Day: Rob Fisher Celebrates Cole Porter
(Allen Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center; 483 capacity; $95 top)
Band: Steve Kenyon, Kevin Kuhn, Peter Sachon, Dick Sarpola, Arnie Kinsella.
Fisher, for many years music director of the City Center Encores! series and conductor-supervisor of productions of "Chicago" around the world, certainly knows Porter. He seems to have made his job easy by inviting precisely the right singers. David Hyde Pierce, a top-grade clown, sings with impeccable delivery and offhand charm. (Porter wrote three hit musicals for long-forgotten star William Gaxton, who never recorded his songs. Hyde Pierce seems to share something of Gaxton's style and might do especially well when "Anything Goes" next rolls around.)
Victoria Clark, who demonstrated her talent as a dramatic singer in "The Light in the Piazza," is a first-rate comedienne as well, more than happy to distort her face or contribute a pratfall. She is wickedly funny here in "Mister and Missus Fitch," throwing in comments sideways in a manner reminiscent of her early featured role as a social-climbing passenger on Broadway's "Titanic." She raises the Allen Room's already elevated roof with the exuberant Ethel Merman song "Ridin' High."
The combined talents of his singers allowed Fisher to delve into specialized areas of the Porter songbook. "The Physician," "The Extra Man" and "Thank You So Much, Mrs. Lowsborough-Goodby" are infrequently heard in such lofty surroundings, but they are natural choices for Clark and Hyde Pierce. The pair also energetically launched into Cole's risque duets; "Let's Do It" was presented in all its splendor, with the many extra refrains Porter was obliged to come up with when he wrote the thing 80 years ago. They just as easily changed gears for an evocative "Night and Day," especially effective against the venue's wall-of-glass featuring the glittering lights of Central Park South and Fifth Avenue across the park.
Singers and songs were complemented by an expert quintet, with numerous standout spots from Steve Kenyon (on winds), cellist Peter Sachon and percussionist Arnie Kinsella. Fisher stepped aside on a couple of occasions to allow Hyde Pierce to demonstrate his pianist skills. Most startlingly, the program included a rendition of "What Is This Thing Called Love?" with Clark playing the trumpet part by braying into a microphone. This garnered several belly laughs while making reasonable music.
