Let’s do it

It would be nice to think that “Let’s do it,” one of the most famous of all Cole Porter’s songs, was first heard in Manchester. Certainly, Wake up and Dream - the show in which it featured alongside other popular numbers like “What is this thing called love?” and “After all, I’m only a schoolgirl” - was tried out at the Palace Theatre before it opened officially at the London Pavilion in 1929. Unfortunately for Manchester’s musical history, however, “Let’s do it” was actually borrowed from an earlier show, Paris, which had opened in New York in the previous year - which no doubt explains why “Let’s do it” was omitted when Wake up and Dream was transferred to Broadway.