The Musicals of Cole Porter: Broadway, Hollywood, Television

Cole Porter (18911964) remains one of Americas most popular composer-songwriters, known for the many urbane, witty, romantic songs he wrote for stage musicals and Hollywood films. Porter was unique among his contemporaries for writing both the music and lyrics for his compositions. To this day, several of his numbers"Night and Day," "Ive Got You Under My Skin," "Youre the Top," and "I Get a Kick Out of You," to name a fewendure as standards. In The Musicals of Cole Porter: Broadway, Hollywood, Television, Bernard F. Dick presents a critical study of Porters Broadway and movie musicals, and his one foray into live television, Aladdincovering the period from his first failure, See America First (1916), to the moderately successful Silk Stockings (1955), which ended his Broadway career. Taking a chronological approach, interspersed with chapters on Porters "list songs" that owe much to such operas as Mozarts Don Giovanni and Rossinis The Barber of Seville; his love songs, often bittersweet and bleakly poignant; and, above all, his love of figurative language, Dick discusses in detail the various literary sources and cultural reference points that inspired the lyrics to Porters numbers. The first volume of its kind exclusively dedicated to exploring the extensive body of work by this influential twentieth-century songwriter, The Musicals of Cole Porter is a compelling resource for students and scholars interested in the craft of a great composer-lyricist.