“I’m Cole Porter, but please, I insist … call me Mr Porter.”
Michael Griffiths’ opening line and likeness to the man himself had the crowd in stitches and that was only the beginning.
Griffiths, an award-winning cabaret performer from Adelaide took the audience back to the 1920s, to encapsulate the life and loves of one of America’s most influential musical composers.
Griffiths covered the fleeting love and loss in Porter’s life, including Linda Lee Thomas, a widowed socialite he married in 1919 and Porter’s numerous extramarital homosexual relationships.
Michael Griffiths
The crowd was entertained by stories of wealth, travel, all-male parties and tragedy following a horseback accident, which resulted in over thirty surgeries, years of pain and Porter losing his right leg.
Expertly covering over fifteen of Porter’s most famous songs on Broadway, Griffiths delivered his idol’s life in a fun, energetic and quick-witted manner with rhymes a plenty!
Recited word-for-word, talented Griffiths sang well known titles ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’, ‘Let’s Do It’ (Let’s Fall In Love), ‘Let’s Misbehave’, ‘It’s De-lovely’ and ‘Anything Goes’, among many others.
Our writer Nicole meets Michael Griffiths after his show!
Adelaide Fringe described Griffiths as ‘one of the most consummate cabaret performers in the country and his shows In Vogue, Sweet Dreams and Adolescent have delighted critics and audiences right across Australia and beyond to New York, Auckland, Hong Kong, London and Edinburgh where he received five star reviews and standing ovations’.
Griffiths sold out at last year’s Adelaide Fringe and for good reason. An absolute treat and the perfect show to convert friends to lovers of cabaret!
Tickets available at the Adelaide Fringe website. For more information on Cole Porter’s life, click here.
We rate: ★★★★ 4/5 stars
Image: provided
