A jaunty celebration of Noël Coward's wit

Theater Review |

Oh, to be in London the day after seeing "A Marvelous Party." Well, maybe the London of a long time ago.

A celebration of the life, music and brio of Noël Coward, "A Marvelous Party: The Noël Coward Celebration" dazzled an adoring opening-night audience Thursday at ACT — A Contemporary Theatre.

The crowd — on its feet more than once — was surely full of Anglophiles, who might have been imagining themselves in a bustling Victoria Station 50 or 60 years ago, energized by the quintessentially English wit of such Coward songs as "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" and "Why Do the Wrong People Travel?"

Or perhaps they pictured themselves in London's West End in the 1930s or '40s, where the prolific Coward sometimes had two or three productions on stage simultaneously.

Coward, born to humble origins, was a busy playwright, actor and composer of popular songs. "A Marvelous Party" is as much a tribute to Coward's mirth, intelligence and sense of fun as to his life.

As far as the life-story part goes, it's more a series of impressions than a slavish biography. Devised by David Ira Goldstein (who also directed the revue) and original cast members from an award-winning Chicago production — Carl Danielson, Mark Anders, Patricia Wilcox and Anna Lauris — "A Marvelous Party" neatly telescopes chapters in Coward's long career in theater.

In its opening minutes, the charming cast of ACT's show (including originals Anders and Lauris, along with Richard Gray and David Silverman) spotlight a youthful, inexperienced Coward squeaking through an audition. Suddenly, a much older Coward is on the other side of the stage, brushing off jittery actors blowing auditions for one of his own plays.

The moment segues into the cabaret number "Mrs. Worthington," a hoot about a stage mother.

A "Music Hall Medley" makes British vaudeville out of several clever tunes layered with sexual innuendo, including "Any Little Fish" and "Would You Like to Stick a Pin in My Balloon?" The cast matches the obliquely risqué material with an understated — but hilarious — physical performance.

The show's comic pitch rises with Gray's wonderfully coy take on "Matelot," Anders' perfect attack on the diction-challenging "Mad Dogs" and, above all, Lauris' virtuoso turn on a scene from the 1963 musical "The Girl Who Came to Dinner."

Act Two underscores the older Coward's songwriting emphasis on elusive love ("I'll Follow My Secret Heart"), unexpected desire ("Mad About the Boy") and endurance ("Sail Away"). The yearning in his writer's voice is balanced by a disciplined sense of survival.

Beyond simply entertaining, "A Marvelous Party" has a fierce determination to bring Coward to the audience. There's even a segment that demonstrates what Coward's lyrics might sound like if he were writing today, incorporating allusions to 2008 local and national politics.

That might sound risky, but it is surprisingly funny. Coward might be gone, but his brand of wit needn't be trapped in the amber of a lost age.

Tom Keogh: tomwkeogh@yahoo.com.