Playwright: Noel Coward, music and lyrics
At: Northlight Theatre
Phone: ( 847 ) 673-6300; $34-$56
Runs through: Jan. 8
By Jonathan Abarbanel
Fans of Noel 'The Master' Coward will have a field day with this effervescent new revue, handsomely staged with simple elegance by David Ira Goldstein and performed with stylish authority by Mark Anders, Carl Danielsen and gifted comedienne Anna Lauris. Call it elan, brio, panache or pizzazz, these three have it. Whether it's Anders casually enunciating 'Mad Dogs and Englishman' in a manner NOT imitative of Coward, or Danielsen sincerely rendering Coward's musical epitaph 'If Love Were All,' or Lauris climaxing Act I with Coward's musical comedy burlesque, 'The Coconut Girl,' there are treats aplenty.
And Coward isn't easy. Take his lyrics for 'Don't Put Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington' and 'Mrs. Wentworth-Brewster' ( both performed in the show ) . Just when you expect a line to end a quatrain with a rhyme, it runs on to a second quatrain in a different meter. Only Coward—writing performance pieces for himself—could compose music that perfectly matched his witty but odd lyrics, often incorporating key changes that sound too studied and arch although entertaining. Lacking formal musical training, Coward never learned you shouldn't do such things, not that he wouldn't have anyway. The cast, backed by a bright trio, handles all with aplomb.
The show's roughly divided between specialties written for revues and cabaret, and Coward's more serious incidental songs and operetta numbers. The revue songs smack of ribaldry and corn, albeit clever corn, for Coward very much was a traditionalist whose heart never completely left the English music hall. A Marvelous Party offers several lesser-known revue gems such as 'What Ho! Mrs. Brisket,' the double entendre 'Would You Like to Stick a Pin in My Balloon?' and the aforementioned 'The Coconut Girl.' But apart from these unfamiliar revue tunes, A Marvelous Party mostly replays Coward's greatest hits, and one wonders why.
There already are at least two other perfectly charming Coward revues, Cowardy Custard and Oh, Coward. Why create another one if you aren't going to mine substantially new territory? There's also one real misstep: the inclusion of Coward's parody of Cole Porter's 'Let's Do It,' written by Coward for his 1950's Las Vegas solo act. The cast admits it doesn't play well today and offers updated parody lyrics of their own. Why bother? Surely, for the show's penultimate number, they could have found a suitable song by Coward himself?
Familiar as they may be, the Coward words and music are wonderful to hear and A Marvelous Party does them proud. But it's odd how Coward's music so frequently is anthologized but rarely performed in context. Wouldn't it be swell to see a full production of Bitter Sweet or Conversation Piece or Sail Away, rather than just hear songs from them?