by Edward Southerland
Herald Democrat

Mike Williams, the president of the Denison Arts Council stepped to the footlights following the first encore and asked the audience, “Aren’t you glad you came?” The answer was a resounding cheer.

For an evening, the audience in the Rialto — not your old Rialto mind you, but one decked out as a night club, complete with ushers dressed like the “Call for Philip Morris” kid, and a cigarette girl with a tray full of CDs — was reminded why the 1930s and ’40s were the Golden Age of American Music. Laura Ainsworth and Michael Gott brought their show, “Cole Porter: Elegance and Decadence,” to Denison, and it was an unqualified hit.

For an hour and 15 minutes, the performers recalled a time when popular music was clever and witty and romantic and sexy and written for grownups. Cole Porter may be the only composer who wrote two songs mentioning Oyster Bay, and if you were in your seat on Friday, you heard both of them. Then there was Ainsworth’s version of the little heard number, “The Physician,” where our heroine bemoans that while her doctor has lavish praise for her various body parts, he never says he loves her.

Porter wrote a lot of songs with alternate lyrics, one set for the stage, another for more general consumption. The show made good use of Porter’s musical archives to offer something beyond what is simply expected in a Cole Porter show.

The necessities are there of course. You can’t go wrong with “Night and Day,” which opened the show, or “Anything Goes,” which closed it. And “In the Still of the Night,” and “I Get a Kick (Out of You)” and “Let’s Do It” and “So in Love.” With regrets, “Miss Otis” didn’t make an appearance, and with two performers on stage, “You’re the Top” and “Friendship” would have been nice additions. On the other hand, they offered “Love for Sale,” and an unfinished Porter lyric put to music by Anne Hampton Callaway, called “I Gaze in Your Eyes.”

Ainsworth is a singer and comedienne whose solo shows have earned high praise from critics and audiences in Dallas and its environs for several years. The performance in Denison was her last in North Texas for awhile, as she and husband Pat Reeder are moving their efforts to Las Vegas. A few weeks from now the desert will be home, but one suspects she would be welcomed back on the Red any time.

Michael Gott has been a fixture at The Mansion hotel in Dallas for a decade, and he doesn’t so much play the piano and sing as he glides from one song to another with smooth transitions and great execution. And when the two harmonized, and was even better.

The performance was the first in what the Arts Council has tagged the “Black and White Series.” They struck gold the first time out, so when the next offering is announced, get tickets early or the beguine will began without you.

EDWARD SOUTHERLAND is a staff writer for the Herald Democrat.

Part of VIP Crow at after-show party

Michael Gott at VIP Party

VIP's at 416 West Gallery

Part of the Cabaret Setting