The sound of Gershwin tunes will accompany a steak-and-lobster dinner when Community Theatre of Emporia presents three nights of dinner theater next week at the Emporia Country Club.
The event is open to the public and ECC membership is not required to attend.
“A Salute to Gershwin” is a revue that recalls George Gershwin’s contributions to modern American music. Its format should be a perfect fit for the space available at ECC.
“We were originally going to do a show and then we. ... since it was a small space, I thought, with dinner we should do a revue, and I thought ‘Who’s popular?’” said Penny Speedie, the show’s producer and accompanist.
George Gershwin came quickly to mind.
“We’re doing a real revue of his most-famous songs,” Speedie said. “We talk a little about him and his career and then we sing five or six songs and then we talk a little more and sing. ... We really cover quite a bit of territory.”
From Gershwin’s first hit, “Swanee,” made famous by Al Jolson, to songs from his folk opera, “Porgy and Bess,” the works are easily recognized as American classics.
The audience can expect to hear “Summertime,” “The Man I Love,” “Fascinating Rhythm,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” and other familiar melodies.
“Because I’m a singer first, I like the feel of singing them,” Speedie said. “I like the sentiments first.”
Soloists and ensembles will be featured throughout the evening, with cast members taking time to talk to the audience about George Gershwin and his brother, Ira. George had been composing and selling songs for almost 10 years when he and his brother came together as a song-writing team.
“They often said how they were totally opposite and they meshed together to make a whole; they just really understood each other,” Speedie said.
The pair’s show, “Of Thee I Sing,” was the first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Despite Ira Gershwin’s talent for writing lyrics, it is George Gershwin’s talent for composing and making music during his shortened career that almost supersedes the duo’s accomplishments together.
George Gershwin’s “Concerto in F,” “Rhapsody in Blue” and three “Preludes for Piano” quickly became standards in classical pianists’ repertoires. His “Second Rhapsody” for piano and orchestra debuted with him as pianist performing with the Boston Symphony orchestra in 1932.
He was working on a score for a show, “The Goldwyn Follies,” when he collapsed and died of a brain tumor in 1937, shortly before his 39th birthday anniversary.
George Gershwin was awarded a second Pulitzer Prize posthumously in 1998.
Members of the CTE troupe that will be performing Gershwin hits — and maybe doing a little dancing — next week are: Nancy Boyce, Scott Rochat, Andrea Garritano, Courtney Slater, Jacquelyn Logan, Tonya Starr and Larris Noble.
“A Salute to Gershwin” will begin at 6:30 p.m., on Thursday, May 10, Friday, May 11, and Saturday, May 12. The cost is $40 per person, which includes dinner. Reservations, which must be secured in advance, can be made by calling 341-9283.
traceygraham (Tracey Graham) says...
Just saw the show tonight. LOVED it! Wonderful performances of wonderful music. And the food was good too!
May 11, 2007 at 10:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )