THEATER PREVIEW: Ella Fitzgerald’s songs live again

She spent her early years in New York’s Colored Orphan Asylum, worked as a lookout in a bordello and helped a Mafia-affiliated numbers runner. And became one of the greatest jazz singers the world has known.

That was Ella Fitzgerald, and her story will be told in detail starting next week when the Laguna Playhouse mounts the Orange County premiere of “Ella.”

With Tina Fabrique in the title role, “Ella” will offer some of Fitzgerald’s classic tunes — including “A Tisket, A Tasket,” “How High the Moon,” “That Old Black Magic” and “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.”

“‘Ella’ is a dream come true for me,” said director Rob Ruggiero, who conceived the show along with Dyke Garrison. “I have always been a fan of jazz and her amazing body of work seemed to cry out for a theater piece celebrating the life of Ella Fitzgerald.”

Born in 1923, Ella Fitzgerald was only 11 when she made her singing debut Nov. 21, 1934, at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. Her talent led to a shot at an “amateur night” contest, where she won the top prize of $25.

When she first met drummer and bandleader Chick Webb, he was reluctant to sign her because she was, in his words, “gawky and unkempt, a diamond in the rough.” Nevertheless, she signed on and advanced her singing career with numbers like “Mr. Paganini.” Her 1938 recording of “A Tisket, A Tasket” shot her to stardom.

In the mid-1940s, Ella adopted the scat singing style which would become her trademark — her recording of “Flying Home” was hailed by the New York Times as “one of the most influential vocal jazz records of the decade.”

In 1956, she teamed with another musical legend on an album called “Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook.” It was the first of eight multi-album “songbook” tributes she would launch during the next decade.

Dubbed “the first lady of song,” Ella took her act around the world. She even drew high praise for eviscerating a song, as she did in Berlin with her version of “Mack the Knife,” forgetting the lyrics but improvising in perfect harmony.

Late in life, blinded by the effects of diabetes, Ella had both of her legs amputated in 1993, three years before the disease took her life at 79. Ruggiero, whose tribute opens in Laguna next week, put it thusly:

“Our journey has afforded me the greatest privilege of taking a closer look at this brilliant musician and really getting to know her past, her struggles, her dreams, her desires, her connection with her music and her audience — her real story, so to speak.”

“Ella” opens Feb. 21 following four preview performances.

The show plays Tuesdays through Sundays and more information is available at the playhouse box office, (949) 497-2787.

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Coastline Pilot.