Can-Can (1953 Original Broadway Cast)

As Cole Porter was emerging from a severe depression in 1951, he threw himself into this story set in the Montmartre of the 1890s, turning it into a tribute to a world immortalized in the artwork of Toulouse-Lautrec. To be sure, this isn't top-shelf Porter. Too many of the songs sound like self-parodies, especially "C'est Magnifique" and "Every Man Is a Stupid Man" ("Every man is an awful fool / Every man is a nincompoop."). You also get the feeling that Lilo, who plays the lead, doesn't have much affinity for what she sings, which of course makes sense since the German-born French actress didn't speak English when she was hired and had to learn her songs phonetically. Despite all that, songs like "It's All Right with Me," "I Love Paris in the Spring," and the Gwen Verdon/Peter Cookson duet "If You Loved Me Truly" make you realize that even second-rate Porter is still vastly entertaining. --Elisabeth Vincentelli