Most people are familiar with the Great American Standards: songs from the 20th century by great composers like Cole Porter and the Gershwins.

But there’s somehow a newness and a fresh appreciation when Lynnie Godfrey gets her hands on the soulful tunes, as she will demonstrate, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 27, Miller Symphony Hall.

A star of stage, screen and the airwaves since the 1970s, Godfrey is still blown away by the music she chose for her show, “Lynnie Godfrey Embraces the Standards with the ASO.”

“This is the music I really enjoy,” says Godfrey of North Whitehall Township. “Even before I sing, I stand there listening to the arrangements and I realize how blessed I am getting to sing some of this music.”

The idea for a show of standards came from Godfrey’s husband, Carl E. Lee, who heard her singing along with the radio and suggested that she showcase the songs she loves. The idea intrigued her because it would be different than performing the songs in a Broadway show.

“I wanted to do the songs in my own way,” Godfrey says. “When you’re on Broadway, you have to accommodate for the song and what the director wants. But when you do it on your own, you get to pick the songs you like best, the ones you identify with both dramatically and musically.”

Godfrey is certainly no stranger to the arts. With an impressive resume that spans from her Broadway debut in “Eubie!” for which she received a Drama Desk nomination to an AuDelCo Award for Outstanding Performance for her work in “Shuffle Along” and multiple producing and directing awards, Godfrey stays active in the arts community by serving on the ArtsQuest Performing Arts Board and, of course, by listening to her audience.

“I would do performances in cabarets and at the end of my show I would try to leave and they’d start shouting more songs they wanted to hear, ‘Miss Otis Regrets.’ ‘Someone to Watch Over Me,’ and I’d have to come back out,” she laughs.

Godfrey picked story songs for the evening with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, with ASO Associate Conductor Ronald Demkee on the podium. As an actor, she is able to emulate the stories behind the songs and present their “fabulous evolutions.” But there are some songs that will be notably absent from the performance.

“There won’t be any songs from ‘Shuffle Along’ this time. I identified so strongly with it that I had to get away from it and find other songs to showcase. But, maybe next time.”

“Shuffle Along” was a musical written, directed, produced by and starring African-Americans in 1921 by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake. A jazzy score punctuated the plot about two grocery store partners who try to beat each other in a mayoral election.

As the first all-black Broadway musical, it is often credited with launching the Harlem Renaissance. The most recent revival closed on Broadway last month. While Godfrey didn’t get a chance to see the latest revival, she’s glad that the show has the same power to entertain:

“I’m glad they got to celebrate the story because it’s really fantastic. Even years later, it was still as much fun.”

While the theater community has come a long way in including persons of color, Godfrey sees that there is always work to be done.

“All of the arts have to push harder for diversity,” she affirms. “When people think about staging a show full of black people, it somehow still tends to be seen as second-class. So we have to work very hard to get to the same place.

“The crisis that we have now is a need to understand our similarities more than our differences. I might like collard greens and you might like kale. We both like green things. If we can see that, we can work this out together.”

Godfrey has been working together with Lehigh Valley performers and loves the camaraderie.

“The people here have always been so welcoming to me. It’s a wonderful audience. They truly understand who I am,” she says. “And I am a true American. I am a person of color who is mixed with rhythm and blues and soul and gospel and when I pledge allegiance to the flag, I see all of that and I love it.”

Tickets: Miller Symphony Hall Box Office, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown; allentownsymphony.org; 610-432-6715