Isn't it remarkable how potent cheap music can be?


Reviewed 3/6/04

Earlier this season, Arizona was the sight of a mauling of Noel Coward in the performance of one of his top plays, Private Lives. For those who have not experienced Coward before this ill-conceived farce, fear not, for the real Coward is resurrected in a musical revue by the ever-dependable Arizona Theatre Company, Oh, Coward!. A project put together a year before Coward's death in 1973, this showcase of Coward's impeccable and manufactured sophistication (plus a fair amount of his bawdiness) puts Coward into context and highlights three talented performers, including two, Mark Anders and Carl J. Danielsen, who caused quite a stir in their twice mounted ATC production of 2 Pianos, 4 Hands. The two are in as fine a form as ever, tickling the ivories and portraying many different characters, and the third of their trio, Anna Lauris, incorporates a delightful feminine presence that makes for an entertaining evening.

In the first act, this revue succeeds at being more than just the stand-and-deliver type that have put me to sleep many times over many seasons, but that kind of inventiveness only lasts so long, and David Ira Goldstein is left in the second act to slide back into the trappings of the genre, but the first act is greatly appreciated. The evening is paced quite well, though Patricia Wilcox's musical staging grows repetitious as the song count piles up. Since this revue finds it's feet planted squarely in the roaring twenties and depression era, everything starts to look like the Charleston, save for a wonderful moment in the second act that requires the frenetic Beguine to tap its way across the stage. Goldstein also has obvious fun with the final song, a revision of a satire that is so clever, it may as well have been coming from the pen of the witty one.

Anders, Danielsen, and Lauris don believable British accents, courtesy of dialect coach Dianne J. Winslo. The trio clicks and connects, strong in voice and solid on their toes. They are full of suggestive perkiness during the bawdy dance hall-style numbers, and drip with world-weary sophistication when the evening turns droll. Lauris is enthralling as she warbles "Mad About the Boy," and all three are simply hilarious when they sing "Don't Put Your Daughter on the Sgage, Mrs. Worthington." There's quite a lot to enjoy here.

Danielsen's band, including Marcus Baker's keyboards, Kale Gans on bass, and Jeremy Nasta 's percussion are spot-on. William Forrester's set is vaguely reminiscent to that of 2 Pianos, 4 Hands, but it has a few surprises of it's own. Dawn Chiang's lighting is expressive, and David Kay Michelsen's costumes work the periods well. Brian Jerome Peterson's sound design works flawlessly.

This is as good as a musical revue can get. It has a mix of songs and styles, it has many great references and quotes from the always-quotable Coward, and the performers are talented. A standing ovation met the performers as they came out for their bows.