Coward on the Coast: eNewsletter May 15, 2009
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For U.S. Membership Information
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contact:
Mr. Ken Starrett
North American Director
The Noel Coward Society
49 W 68th St, Apt 1-RNew York, NY 10023(212) 877-4259email Ken |
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Greetings!
Featured this week, Bright Young People at A.C.T. in San Francisco. Coming next week: Steve Ross at the MPD and Easy Virtue, the film, directed by Stephan Elliott.
This issue of Coward on the Coast is a test of a new format. Let me know if you like it!
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| What's On in the Bay Area: Part I (May 15 - 31) |
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Bright Young People: The Words and Music of Noel Coward
In this world premiere production, the A.C.T. Young Conservatory dishes up a brilliant, buoyant tribute to Coward.
The Zeum Theatre
221 4th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Tickets: (415) 749-2228 or act web site
(May 8 - 23)
Bright Young People sing their title song.
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| What's On in the Bay Area: Part II (May 15 - 31) |
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Star Quality: The World of Noel Coward
Museum of Performance & Design
Veterans Building, Fourth Floor
401 Van Ness Avenue #402
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 255-4800
At
the Museum of Performance & Design (MPD), Star Quality continues
through August 29. For a slide show with 10 photos of the exhibition,
click here .
Special Events Sponsored by the MPD
Cocktails & Laughter: a Rendezvous Party
Sponsored by Grey Goose Vodka. For the LGBT Community. Doll up for a special 1920's themed party with performances by San Francisco Opera's Adler Fellows, hors d'oeuvres, and Grey Goose Vodka martinis. In cooperation with the Rainbow Subscribers Program of the SF Opera.
At the MPD (May 20)
Coward the Songwriter
A Talk with Music by Steve Ross.
At the MPD (May 27)
Mad About the Boy:
An Evening with Steve Ross and Noel Coward
At the San Francisco City Club
155 Sansome St
San Francisco, CA 94104
(415) 362-2480
(May 29)
For more details on MPD special events: click here .
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Easy Virtue (the film)
Directed by Stephan Elliott.
Opening in the Bay Area on May 29th
A jazzy update of Coward's play, with Jessica Biel, Kristin Scott Thomas, Colin Firth, and Ben Barnes. For tickets and information, see:
Easy Virtue web site
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What's On in Southern California (May 15 - 31) |
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 Present Laughter
Directed by Gail Bernardi
Westchester Playhouse
8301 Hindrey Avenue
Los Angeles, CA
(310) 645-5156
kentwoodplayers.org
Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM.
Sundays at 2 PM.
(May 8 - June 13)
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Private Lives
La Quinta Playhouse
Old Town La Quinta, CA, 92253
Tickets through Brown Paper Tickets:
brown paper tickets
laquintaplayhouse
(May 8-31)
Hay Fever
Little Fish Theatre
777 Centre Street (at 8th)
San Pedro, CA 90731
(310) 512-6030
Thursday - Sunday
Sunday May 17 SOLD OUT
little fish theatre
(Apr 17 - May 23)
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Easy Virtue
Directed by Stephan Elliott
Opening in Los Angeles on May 22
A jazzy update of Coward's play, with Jessica Biel, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Colin Firth. For tickets and information:
Easy Virtue web site
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Opening Night 
Bright Young People:
The Words and Music of Noël Coward
Directed byCraig Slaight
The A.C.T.
Young Conservatory
Opening night at the Zeum Theatre in San Francisco was a happy family event. The actors in Bright Young People
range in age from 13-18, and the enthusiastic opening-night audience
was primarily parents, siblings, and friends -- a welcome sight for
anyone who wants to foster interest in Noel Coward in a younger
theatre-going crowd.
Set in "a country estate garden outside Kent, 1935", Bright Young People
follows the relationships of four young romantic couples, plus a fifth
comedic pair: Crestwell the butler, and Alice the maid (from Relative
Values). A lovely garden setting is established by garden benches and
stage-high screens forming a proscenium, artfully painted with trees,
shrubs, and other greenery. Center stage, a small nude statuette on a
sturdy pedestal is put to good use in many comic numbers.
Beautifully
dressed in period gowns and tuxedos, the young actors bring freshness,
sparkle, sincerity, and angst to some of Coward's most hilarious and
poignant moments for young lovers. Congratulations to all members of
the ensemble: Danielle Bowen (Tamalpais High School), Rachel Cunningham (Saint Ignatius College Prepatory), Christopher Garber (Crystal Springs Uplands School), Hannah Gorman (The Urban School of San Francisco), Simone Hudson (The Urban School of San Francisco), Michael Martinez (Sacred Heart Cathedral), Marguerite Scott (Saint Ignatius College Prepatory), Ryan Semmelmayer, Abram St. Amand Poliakoff (Menlo School), and Jeffrey Taylor (Aragon High School). The band consists of Robert Rutt, who is also responsible for the arrangements, and young musicians Alec Page (The Urban School of San Francisco) and Audrey Vardanega
(The Crowden School). Orchestra Director/Pianist Robert Rutt is a joy,
not only for his playing but also in comedic turns on Carl Linden's
lines from Bitter Sweet (Carl is, above all, a composer and an accompanist.)
For this new Revue, Creator/Director Craig Slaight
has skillfully blended dialogue (primarily of lovers meeting or lovers
quarreling) from ten plays (I'll Leave It to You, The Vortex, Hay
Fever, Easy Virtue, Semi-Monde, Bitter Sweet, Cavalcade, Shadow Play,
This Happy Breed, and Relative Values), interwoven with 16 songs:
familiar Coward tunes (such as Mad About the Boy, World Weary, and If
Love Were All) and rarer musical numbers from early Coward Revues (What
Love Means to a Girl Like Me from London Calling! (1923), Specially for
You from Charlot's Revue (1924), First Love from On With the Dance
(1925), Bright Young People from Cochran's 1931 Revue) and - in perhaps
its first performance -- the lovely song: We are Living in a Changing
World, which Coward later transformed into This is a Changing World for
Pacific 1860.
Musical Director Jane Erwin Hammett (who played Sarah/Sari in the Lamplighters' Bitter Sweet in Concert on April 16th) and Choreographer Christine Mattison are
to be commended for their adept crafting of musical numbers that
emphasize the teenagers' energy and potential. It's a joy to see
Bright Young People with such promise!
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Cheers,
Kathy Williams
U.S. West Coast Liaison
The Noel Coward Society |
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