NEIL MAXFIELD – A COLE PORTER STORY

Take a look at the not so well known life of the legend that is Cole Porter. Find out why he got into trouble with the police twice and how he was influenced by his lovers to write the songs that he did. This is a fun, intriguing look at the life and works of one of the most revered and celebrated musical writers of all time, who wrote standards like I've Got You Under My Skin and Night and Day. Neil Maxfield charts Cole's life from childhood to death with flair and anecdotes aplenty, interspersed with Cole Porter classics and lesser-known gems.

Neil Maxfield – Vocals

Ricardo Fernandes – Piano

Fiona Jane Weston – Director

Neil has been performing from a young age and has performed on the two largest stages in the West End; Theatre Royal Drury Lane (Sweet Charity) and The London Palladium (Solo Artist). He has won first prize in two National singing competitions for Musical Theatre and has spent many years as a professional solo artist and actor, toured a musical show around the North and performed shows off West End. Neil has performed as an actor on the London Literary Pub Crawl for 5 years and has now created his own walking tour, The West End Musical Theatre Walking Tour, a performance-based tour charting the history of 14 West End theatres with anecdotes about stars and composers with songs. The tour had its 3rd anniversary in June and won a Certificate of Excellence for the second year running. Following a sell out show at the Phoenix Arts Club, we are now excited to bring this cabaret to a new venue.

Ricardo started his musical studies in Portugal, at the age of 6, where he studied classical piano and percussion. After having gained a great deal of experience playing in solo and orchestral settings, at age 15, he decided to pursue composition, studying under Royal College of Music graduate, Dr. Luis Soldado. Since moving to the UK, in 2015, he has been the Musical Director of two school productions: Hairspray (2017) and Bring It On (2018). Over the past year, in the light of his partnership with singer Frank Loman, he has been the Musical Director of three cabarets at the Pheasantry, a Pizza Express Live venue. He is currently studying Film Music Composition at the London College of Music and always tries to interlude his composition work with as much live performance as possible.