LAURA AINSWORTH REVIEWS

"Top‑notch entertainers, inspired selection of songs...
A highly entertaining evening!"

"Miss Ainsworth is a fine singer with an outstanding range and genuine wit. She delighted the audience with her rendition of such comic Porter numbers as 'Experiment,' 'Tale of the Oyster' and 'The Physician.' Like any gifted comedienne who sings, she knew how to wring the last laugh out of every humorous lyric. She slyly emphasized the Porter wit with a brazen gesture or a coy facial expression....

Although the evening included such Porter standards as 'It’s De-Lovely' and 'You Do Something To Me,' it also (features) lesser known Porter tunes as well — such as the three comic numbers mentioned previously. The diversion’s encore was 'Anything Goes' — however, it was sung with the original 1934 lyric which has references to Eleanor Roosevelt and Evalyn Walsh McLean. Bravo, Miss Ainsworth, for sharing such little known treasures with us!...

In a word, (Michael Gott) is dazzling. He plays the piano in a masterful fashion. When he plays, the piano is not just a musical instrument — it is his way of communicating with the audience. His musical artistry added romance, wit, and sophistication to the proceedings. Mr. Gott is a superior vocalist as well. His chilling rendition of 'In the Still of the Night' left the audience breathless and yearning for more...

With the acclaim Miss Ainsworth and Mr. Gott received at the end of the show, it is inevitable that they team again.

It truly was magnificent entertainment."

-- Joseph Melnicoff, BroadwayWorld.com

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Cole Porter Show Gets Cheers From Crowd

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 nightclub, 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”...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...She and husband Pat Reeder are moving their efforts to Las Vegas...but one suspects she would be welcomed back on the Red (River) any time.

Michael Gott..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, it 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 begin without you.

-- Edward Southerland, Denison Herald Democrat