Gershwin tribute stellar night at Ravinia

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Kelli O’Hara (from left), Brian Stokes Mitchell and Sylvia McNair headlined the Ravinia gala concert Saturday night. RUSSELL JENKINS~RAVINIA FESTIVAL

Updated: October 29, 2011 12:36AM

George Gershwin is a man for all seasons. But perhaps because his name is on that ravishing lullaby, “Summertime,” and the sultry air of Charleston, S.C., continues to permeate his “Porgy and Bess,” his music seems particularly connected to the overheated days and nights of July and August.

And so it was at Saturday evening’s Ravinia Festival gala, “By George! Gershwin,” as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (superbly conducted by David Alan Miller, a late “replacement” for the ailing James Conlon), joined forces with pianist Kevin Cole (in magnificent form both as accompanist and soloist), and with Broadway stars Brian Stokes Mitchell and Kelli O’Hara, and Grammy-winning vocalist Sylvia McNair for a concert that was “wonderful, marvelous,” and a grand reminder of just what a dazzling composer Gershwin just happened to be.

You could hear it from the start, as the CSO played his 1932 “Cuban Overture,” full of sensual, dance-based Latin rhythms, with a gorgeous clarinet line (cheers for John Bruce Yeh), and a percussion table that got a full workout (with the large video screens in the pavilion providing ideal close-ups of the bells, bongos, claves, guiro, maracas and xylophone). Gershwin got the Latin beat before Aaron Copland or Leonard Bernstein.

From there it was on to selections from “Porgy and Bess.” Mitchell’s movie-star charisma, rubbery dance moves and wonderfully playful jazz stylings proved irresistible in “A Woman is a Sometime Thing.” He was then joined by McNair for the soaring operatic duet, “Bess, You Is My Woman Now.”

The CSO returned for a giddily exuberant, razor-sharp rendering of “An American in Paris,” that ode to all things urban and urbane that instantly evokes both the chaos of streets filled with honking horns and the seductive stroll of boulevardiers. The orchestra seemed buoyed by the sheer joyfulness and exuberance of it all, with the brass section in particularly fine fettle.

Cole, who has made the Broadway songbook his primary focus, displayed his mastery in two formats. In a segment dubbed “Gershwin Around the Piano,” he turned the keyboard into a bravura fourth “voice” as O’Hara performed her unadorned but beautifully affecting takes on “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” “Embraceable You” and “Someone to Watch Over Me,” and as Stokes gave a terrifically steamy bedroom rendering of “How Long Has This Been Going On?,” and a zesty mix of “I Got Rhythm” and “Fascinating Rhythm,” before being joined by McNair for many witty verses of “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.”

The CSO was back for a galvanic performance of “Rhapsody in Blue” featuring Cole’s rapidfire, fiercely percussive piano work. The triumphant pianist gave a sigh of relief when it was over, and McNair and O’Hara filled his arms with their own bouquets. He deserved them.

It is worth noting that last summer’s Ravinia gala ended in a firestorm of protests as audiences left the park feeling shortchanged by an unusually brief Sondheim songfest. History did not repeat itself. After close to two hours of Gershwin, the crowd clearly filed out on a cloud of bliss.