2005 Production Photos
photos by
Tom Rubendunst
Don Farrell & Bradley Reynolds in
"Please Don't Monkey With Broadway"
Judy Fitzgerald, Kartlon Turner & Cynthia Collins in "Be A Clown"
Cynthia Collins & Bradley Reynolds in
"Night and Day"
The Company in
"Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye"
September 1 - 4, 2005
The Frank and Katrina Basile Theatre
at
The Indiana Historical Society
Music & Lyrics
by
COLE PORTER
Devised by
Alan Strachan and Benny Green
Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
Directed & Co-Choreographed by
DON FARRELL
Musical Director
TERRY WOODS
Co-Choreographer
CYNTHIA COLLINS*
Stage Manager
AMY K. DENKMANN*
Lighting Designer
ROSS GRAHAM
Scenic Designer
SCOTT SARGENT
Scenic Construction
MCGUIRE SCENIC, INC.
Slide Designer
ERIK ERLING
Costume Designer
ELIZABETH SANDERS
THE CAST
Woman #1......CYNTHIA COLLINS*
Woman #2....JUDY FITZGERALD*
Woman #3....JULIA F. VIKTRUP
Man #1.....BRADLEY REYNOLDS*
Man #2.......DON FARRELL*
Man #3......KARLTON D. TURNER
* Denotes members of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
THE BAND
Piano.........TERRY WOODS
REVIEWS
From the Indianapolis Star - September 2, 2005
Cole Porter tribute is a rousing treat
By Nick Crews
nick.crews@indystar.com
It's delightful. It's delicious. It's de-lovely.
It's the breezy and sophisticated tribute to Cole Porter, "Cole," that the Actors Theatre of Indiana has brought to the Indiana History Center for a limited run through Sunday.
It delivers.
Director Don Farrell has assembled an evening that well showcases the life and work of the Indiana-born poet laureate of American musical theater at the stately Frank and Katrina Basile Theater.
The production features a stage set with a striking, back-lit cityscape (designed by Scott Sargent), a grand piano and a worthy pianist (Terry Woods), six standout vocalists, some arch choreography and 45 Cole Porter songs -- all performed just down the hall from the Cole Porter Room of the Indiana History Center.
The revue provides a rare opportunity to hear these great Porter songs as we seldom get to these days -- accompanied tastefully by an acoustic piano and sung by vocalists who are not channeled through body microphones.
It is a treat in an auditorium of this size to enjoy a performance by vocalists who dispense with the technology and actually project songs that are free of crackling, dunning volume and sound disruptions.
Devised and assembled by Benny Green and Alan Strachan, "Cole" combines most of Porter's hit tunes -- and several of the lesser-known ones -- with a narration that tells the story of his life through its various phases: from Paris to New York to Europe, Hollywood and back to Broadway.
The show is mostly structured sequentially; early numbers in "Cole" include Porter's first published composition, "The Bobolink Waltz" from 1906, moving on through several tunes he wrote while a student at Yale University, and early Broadway efforts such as "See America First." Early in Act One, the 1910 Porter composition, "When The Summer Moon Comes 'Long," is performed by a male quartet.
Most of the show, however, centers on well-known Porter standards, among them "Begin the Beguine," "Love for Sale," "Night and Day," "Anything Goes," "It's De-Lovely" and "I Get a Kick Out of You."
The performances -- by Don Farrell, Judy Fitzgerald, Cynthia Collins (who choreographs the show with Farrell), Bradley Reynolds, Karlton Turner and Julia Viktrup -- range from good to excellent. Porter fans probably won't learn much new from the narration, but it's not intrusive; in most cases the storyline brings the right amount of context to the songs.