A star-studded gala concert in celebration of the genius that was Noel Coward, in aid of a charity which will help and support the theatre and creatives' industry during this time of crisis anyone? - What a jolly good idea!
In association with The Noel Coward Foundation, this online celebration (streamed through the newly launched website stream.theatre) of the words, music and talents of perhaps England's finest all-rounder was produced and peformed by some of the contemporary theatre and TV world's top names, all giving their time and talents for free in this fund-raising concert. In the UK, Acting For Others and in the USA, The Actors' Fund.
The genius of Sir Noel Pierce Coward (1899 - 1973) extended much further than the comedy-of-manners plays he is now primarily remembered for. He was a consumate actor - making his professional stage debut at the age of 12! - was a poet, musician, singer, director, producer, and was able to turn his hand to almost anything with skill and aplomb. The caricatured house-coat with one hand in his pocket and a cigarette in his other hand, was an image he cultivated and indeed encouraged as his popularity grew. His knowledge, wit, and creativity though are legendary.
I have to be honest and expected more songs in this concert than there were. Instead, the performers read short monologues, poems and even took the lyrics of songs and spoke them as poems. There were even two short excerpts from first. 'The Vortex' and second, 'Me And The Girls'. Many of the pieces in this concert were actually quite new to me, and I thought I knew quite a lot of Coward's ouevre.. evidently not anywhere near enough!
In between all the acts this evening archive photos, video footage etc, were shown - sometimes as overlay to emphasise or ameliorate part of the performers' reading, or other times just to show us something new and surprising about Coward.... especialy those showing him as a young boy on stage were very interesting. The inimitable and hugely talented Robert Lindsay also peppered the evening with some of Coward's witty quips, which both amused and delighted.
The concert started well with Cush Jumbo reading a poem "I've Got To Get Out And Be Social", and ended with a stalwart Patricia Routledge giving a masterclass performance of "I've Been To A Marvellous Party".
Of the 15 actual 'acts' in this concert my favourites simply had to be (in no particular order) Stephen Fry ('A Bar On The Piccola Marina'), Emma Thompson ('Mrs. Mallory'), and Derek Jacobi ('The Boy Actor').
The concert will be available to watch for the next 10 days on stream.theatre and all proceeds will go towards helping those within the entertainment industry whilst the coronavirus is making live entertainment almost nigh impossible.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 20/9/20
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