May 1, 2012 | Theatre,

Check out these films, books and music related to GEORGE GERSHWIN ALONE

By Corrie Glanville

FILMS

Manhattan (1979)

No matter how many times I have seen Woody Allen’s Manhattan, I never tire of its shimmering black and white cinematography, its equally sparkling wit and its timeless Gershwin score and possibly the best use of “Rhapsody in Blue” in a film, ever. While this comic masterpiece follows the fate of two couples as they fall in and out of love, Allen’s real love affair is with the city itself.Zubin Mehta leads the New York Philharmonic on the soundtrack, which includes sweeping instrumental versions of such favorites as “Someone To Watch Over Me,” “Oh, Lady Be Good” and “Embraceable You.” 

Funny Face (1957)

Although only four of Gershwin’s songs from his 1927 Broadway musical were included in the film version, this gorgeous MGM musical boasts Audrey Hepburn as a shy bookstore clerk and Fred Astaire as fashion photographer, Dick Avery, loosely based on Richard Avedon who actually designed the opening credits. When Astaire discovers Hepburn in a Greenwich Village bookstore, he convinces her after much protesting, to go to Paris and become his model. The unlikely opposites conveniently fall in love, but it’s awfully hard not to be charmed by Hepburn who spends most of the film cavorting all over the City of Lights in costumes by Hubert de Givenchy.

An American in Paris (1951)

It’s hard to imagine a more romantic ode to Paris (even if it was shot in Hollywood) than the sixteen minute ballet in Vincent Minelli’s 1951 MGM musical as Gene Kelly and the exquisite Leslie Caron dance their way through an unforgettable dream sequence. The love story between an American painter and a Parisian shop girl is told partly through dance numbers choreographed by Kelly and set to the songs of George and Ira Gershwin including the classics “S’Wonderful,” “I Got Rhythm” and “Our Love is Here To Stay.”

BOOKS

The Memory of All That: George Gershwin, Kay Swift and My Family’s Legacies Infidelities by Katherine Weber (2011)

Author Katherine Weber’s maternal grandmother was the composer Kay Swift who became the first woman to have a Broadway hit show, Fine & Dandy, and carried on a passionate decade-long affair with George Gershwin…though she was already married to economist, James Paul Warburg.Of this intimate family portrait, The New York Times says “Ms. Weber is able to arrange words musically, so that they capture the elusive, unfinished melodies that haunt our memories of childhood. As her grandmother’s lover might have put it, she’s got rhythm.”

George Gershwin: An Intimate Portrait by Walter Rimmler (2009)

While Gershwin was able to achieve enormous popular success before his tragic death at age 38, he never garnered the validation he so desperately wanted by the “serious” music critics until decades later. Walter Rimmler includes newly discovered letters by Kay Swift and Ira and Leonore Gershwin in his biography of the beloved composer. The Wall Street Journal pronounces, “More thorough biographies than Mr. Rimler’s slender volume exist … but for those of us interested less in the technical details of Gershwin’s music and its performance than in the comet called George Gershwin that blazed briefly across American skies, Mr. Rimler is the astronomer of choice.” 

The House That George Built: With a Little Help from Irving, Cole and a Crew of About Fifty by Wilfred Sheed (2008)

Wilfred Sheed looks at the Golden Age of American songwriting from Tin Pan Alley to Hollywood in this anecdotal, musical history. Beginning with Irvin Berlin, a Lower East Side immigrant who composed his way from downtown music halls to Broadway, Sheed spent years interviewing the great songwriters and their families in order to create a portrait of dazzling musical era and its major players.  

 MUSIC

Porgy & Bess: New Broadway Cast Recording (2012)

I consider myself privileged to have seen Audra McDonald’s achingly beautiful performance last fall at the American Repertory Theater in the reimagined version of Porgy & Bess directed by Diane Paulus. Now enjoying great success on Broadway, it’s hard to wait for the cast recording (releasing on May 22) which also features Norm Lewis as Porgy and David Allen Grier as Sportin’ Life. I couldn’t agree more with The New York Times that said of Audra McDonald’s Bess “it’s a God-touched voice that turns suffering and ugliness into beauty.”  

George Gershwin: Ultimate Collection (1998)

For those who want a collection that includes both the best of Gershwin’s popular favorites as well as his symphonic works, this is the perfect 2-CD set. The singers include Sarah Vaughn, Fred Astaire, Dinah Washington, Bing Crosby and the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald while the Cleveland Orchestra and the Boston Pops interpret overtures from Funny Face, An American in Paris and Porgy & Bess.

Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue / An American in Paris by Leonard Bernstein (1997)

Since ArtsEmerson is hosting Hershey Felder in his solo performances as both George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein, this CD would seem especially fitting to recommend. In fact, Leonard Bernstein was an enthusiast of Gershwin’s classical work when few would take him seriously. Bernstein conducts the New York Philharmonic in the two title works along with Ferde Grofé’s “Grand Canyon Suite. “