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A Marvelous Party: The Noel Coward Celebration at ART

A Summer Noel American Repertory Theatre Offers Fizzy Refreshment

By: - Jul 18, 2007

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A Marvelous Party: The Noel Coward Celebration
Musical Arrangements Directed by Scott Edmiston, Musical direction by Will McGarrahan. Devised by David Ira Goldstein, Carl Danielsen, Mark Anders, Patricial Wilcox, and Anna Lauris. With Thomas Derrah, Karen MacDonald, Remo Airaldi and Will LeBow. The American Repertory Theatre, The Club at Zero Arrow Theatre, Cambridge, Mass. July 13-29. 617 547 8300

What is quintessentially English? Think Big Ben, Wembley Stadium, Henley Rowing Regatta, Royal Ascot with ladies in big hats, the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, Wimbledon Tennis matches and, of course, Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out into the midday Sun.

Last Sunday night, I went to A Marvelous Party! It was a celebration of the wit and charm of the rare performer, dramatist, popular composer and bon vivant, Sir Noel Coward, at the American Repertory Theatre's Zero Arrow Street Theatre in Cambridge. Set in a nightclub cum cabaret, this party was never boring. It was a very high society British, like a large splash of Pimms with ginger ale on the rocks-sparkling and delightfully fizzy summer refreshment.

This past spring and this summer seem to be an extended festival of Noel Coward's works with the recently closed Huntington Theatre's Present Laughter, Blythe Spirit opening this week at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and now ART's extremely smart and often dramatically elegant, consummately witty and continuously charming A Marvelous Party!

Noel Coward was a glittering star in the modernist firmament. His career seemed to reflect and arc through the changing values of 20th Century Great Britain. He wrote nearly 50 plays, musicals, operettas, revues, novels, short stories, poetry, screenplays and over 400 songs. Though he personified the elegance of British sophistication and refinement, he was actually born to a lower class family and dropped out of grammar school.

The musical revue includes 33 Coward songs written from the late 1920's through the middle 1960's. Rhyming in pairs, treys and even quads, the word mastery demonstrated by Coward's lyrics make you at different times smile in complete admiration, syncopated amusement or tonal disbelief. This well directed and performed revue allows the strong cultural connections between Gilbert and Sullivan, English music halls and Coward's modernist craft to be seen, heard and even felt.

The show also had a special ensemble cast to underscore this quality as well. The ensemble was made up of four veteran ART actors that have appeared collectively in over 200 productions of the American Repertory Theatre ranging the whole spectrum of theatrical roles from Mother Courage to Shylock and back. Surprisingly or not so surprisingly, considering their individual gifts and talents, each actor has a musical or musical theatre background.

Remo Airaldi came from opera, Thomas Derrah from rock bands, Will LeBow from musical comedy and Karen MacDonald started in musical/comedy improvisation (does anyone remember The Proposition or the Next Move?). Like Noel Coward, each cast member exuded lots and lots of charm. For charm is the magical Noel Coward quality. Without it, his songs could be just light musical bonbons or even melodic mediocre doggerel. Instead, the music and lyrics blend and even seem to dance with each other. Each performer also melded gracefully with the others to form a total musical and character performance quartet held together often a bit slyly by charm.

Each of the revue's songs seems to resonate with the others. Though not necessarily alike, there is a certain sensibility, often a campiness, but even more often a sense of wistfulness, a forever reaching without attaining sense fancy dressed in a wittiness. Was this Coward's not so covert gay sensibility or just his very rich personal signature? It probably does not matter. We were entertained.

There is often a period quality to the music. It is not necessarily nostalgia provoking, but it does harken us back to another time, another place. Sunday night the audience was quite mixed in age. This is a truly Cambridge phenomenon. The older members of the audience seemed to particularly relish certain songs that they remembered from their past, while the younger ones seemed focused on the words, music and performances seen and heard for perhaps the first time.

Speaking of the performances, the four players were each a distinct character in the revue. Remo Airaldi was the rotund comic, Thomas Darrah was the graceful song and dance man, Will LeBow was the elegantly cynical dapper Dan and Karen MacDonald was a woman of indeterminate age of elegance and beauty. Each presented separately an aspect to Coward's music and thus, his world. Each was good even, at times, superb, but Karen MacDonald was particularly great.

Her voice was the strongest, the most theatrically modulated and musically adept. At the same time, she was somehow the most confidently relaxed as well. Coward's music suggests a certain sanguine quality, too. MacDonald sort of breathed it in a very natural way. Her "The Coconut Girl" performance was a bravura act. Here she told a narrative while performing many song bits in various voices, comedy schticks while moving gracefully all over the stage set. Karen's timing demonstrating her role in the chorus singing was impeccable. Her voice was wonderful.

This is not to suggest that the others were not worth the price of admission. They were. Airaldi
can tyrrrrr his Âœr's with the best of them. Perhaps, this was part of his opera training. Each time that he soloed, his stage presence was visually magnetic. His Carmen Miranda headgear when he was singing "Nina" a lady from Argentina ( with HHHhhh emphasis on the second syllable) underscored his comedic stage persona.. Darrah showed great versatility and athleticism in his singing and dancing. His Matelot was poignant and lovely.

Sometimes seeming to chew nonexistent scenery, LeBow mugged his way appropriately through a number of tongue in cheek pieces especially "Mad Dogs and Englishmen." His narrow mustache seemed too much like camp film director John Waters' upper lip, but maybe that was just the point. However, he personified a certain type of dignity which may or may not have been warranted. Somehow, when LeBow was on stage, he added a little gravity to the scene. None of the males hit a discordant note. But, MacDonald clearly shined. She is a Boston treasure who was even raised in Southie.

Most of Coward's songs are at once rich and light -a large platter of aural meringue. A few are melancholy and soul-searching. Like "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" a song that is at once culturally critical while being light hearted and fun. Yet, other songs like  "Mad About the Boy" (sung by Thomas Darrah) and "I'll Follow My Secret Heart" are wistful, even lonely. "Mrs. Worthington" is a critique of show business while the theme song of the show "I Went To A Marvelous Party!" is a tour de force of wit and clever wordsmithing. "London Pride" is a patriotic WWII period piece that still resonates. "Would You Like To Stick A Pin In My Balloon" is suggestively sexual and seems to be almost over the top, but still has the cool Coward word play.

The elegant Noel Coward image in smoking jacket, cigarette holder and glass of bubbly was apparently a public relations myth. He worked too damn hard to idle his hours away drinking. His wit, cleverness and sophistication are all on view at this ART summer confection.

Of course Noel Coward's songs are part of a genre, but they are like a well conceived dessert, a little old fashioned but truly refreshing. They are a balance between the sweet and the tart as well as the rich and the light. Yes, this Marvelous Party is a little bittersweet, but presented with a charming and elegant sauce at the ART. Be sure to share in a celebration of this Summer Noel. Word and music gifts will be given to you. Mad Dogs and Englishmen, indeed!