So in Love, arr. Wadsworth

American songwriter Cole Porter (1891-1964) enjoyed all the blessings of a rich education both in music (beginning with violin and piano at a young age) and other liberal arts. He penned music and lyrics to a hundred songs during his college years at Yale. The experience of writing revues and light operetta served Porter well when he turned to Broadway and film in the late 1920s and 1930s. Author of such massive hits as “Night and Day” and “I Get a Kick Out of You,” he became one of the most successful songwriters of any era in American music history.
In 1947 Porter was approached by a husband-wife duo of Broadway producers to score a musical based on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. The plot of Kiss Me, Kate involves a tempestuous romance between Fred Graham, actor/director heading up the Shrew production, and his leading lady/ex-wife Lili Vanessa. Each has other love affairs in this play, but the arc of the show—with its dualities of onstage/offstage personas, subsidiary plot lines and requisite mob henchmen—points toward the last minute reconciliation between Fred and Lili. Already in Act I we glimpse the possibility of their renewed affection with Lili’s rendition of “So in Love.” With its deep, dark opening notes, prominent chromaticism (scale degree 5 to flat-6), and gradual ascent to the higher register, the melody deftly expresses tender passion amidst comedy of mistaken identity. (To wit: those flowers delivered to Lili came from Fred, but were not meant for her!) When Fred reprises the song later in Act II, this musical oneness all but seals their reconciliation in fact, and the curtain falls with the lovers locked in each other’s embrace.
Tonight’s performance is a transcription of “So in Love” made by Zachary Wadsworth. It is based on a recording by Grammy winning singer and songwriter k.d. lang for the 1990 AIDS charity album Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute To Cole Porter. In her version, lang reimagines Porter’s original show tune as a darker, jazzier, and more overtly tango-driven torch song.

(c) Jason Stell