Love is most certainly for sale at “Harry Connick Jr.: A Celebration of Cole Porter.” Although the composer-lyricist is justifiably renowned for his coruscating wit and insouciant wordplay, in this tight 90-minute concert Connick concentrates on the love songs – tender, playful, bittersweet — that make up a hefty portion of Porter’s work.
True, Connick kicks off the evening with a jaunty romp through “Anything Goes,” perhaps Porter’s most celebrated “list” song, noting all the ways the world has become naughtier (circa 1934). But for much of the evening Connick delivers Porter songs that are more naturally suited to his own smoothly dashing persona: a crooner firmly in heart-melting Frank Sinatra mode, seducing the audience with a cockeyed smile, more than a dollop or two of heady romanticism, and of course a silk-cravat of a baritone that, despite Connick’s long career, scarcely shows a hint of wear and tear.
