Coward on the Coast: eNewsletter May 21, 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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Join our email list
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Featured in this issue, the West Coast opening on May 22 of Easy Virtue, directed by Stephan Elliott, and Steve Ross in San Francisco May 27 & 29.
Closing soon: this is the last weekend for Bright Young People at A.C.T. and Hay Fever at the Little Fish Theatre in San Pedro.
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Easy Virtue Opens May 22 in L.A., May 29 in S.F.
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Easy Virtue (the film)
Directed by Stephan Elliott.
A jazzy update of Coward's play, with Jessica Biel, Kristin Scott
Thomas, Colin Firth, and Ben Barnes. For comments on the May 6th screening at the San Francisco International Film Festival, click here .
For tickets and information, see:
Easy Virtue web site
Opening May 22 at these Southern CA theatres:
THE LANDMARK - Los Angeles
ARCLIGHT HOLLYWOOD 15 - Hollywood
LAEMMLE'S PLAYHOUSE 7 - Pasadena
MONICA FOUR - Santa Monica
ARCLIGHT SHERMAN OAKS - Sherman Oaks
WESTPARK 8 - Irvine
LIDO - Newport Beach
Opening May 29 in these S.F. Bay Area theatres :
San Francisco
CENTURY 9 SAN FRANCISCO CENTRE
EMBARCADERO CENTER CIN. 5
EMPIRE THREE CINEMAS
KABUKI CINEMA
Other Bay Area cities:
ALBANY TWIN - Albany
CAMERA 7 THEATRE - Campbell
GUILD - Menlo Park
SEQUOIA TWIN - Mill Valley
CENTURY FIVE - Pleasant Hill
CINEARTS AT SANTANA ROW - San Jose
REGENCY CINEMAS SIX - San Rafael
HILLCREST CINEMA FIVE - San Diego
LA JOLLA VILLAGE THEATRE - La Jolla
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Star Quality at the MPD
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Star Quality: The World of Noel Coward
Museum of Performance & Design 401 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 402 San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 255-4800 Wednesday - Saturdays / Noon to 5 PM Continues through August 29 at the MPD. For more information and details on special events: star quality |
Steve Ross in San Francisco May 27 & 29
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 Coward the Songwriter
A Talk with Music by Steve Ross
Museum of Performance & Design
Veterans Building, Fourth Floor
401 Van Ness Avenue #402
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 255-4800
One of the definitive interpreters of Noël Coward's music, Steve Ross comes to the
Museum for a delightful presentation on Coward's work as one of the
pre-eminent popular songwriters of the 20th century -- a rich blend of
insights, anecdotes, and songs.
Tickets: MPD. Members $10/Non-members $15
(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
City Club web site
A
wonderful evening with Steve Ross, "The King of New York Cabaret", and
the music of Noël Coward. At The City Club of San Francisco - a rare
opportunity for non-members to enjoy the club.
Open bar, hors
d'oeuvres, three-course dinner with wines, dessert, ports, and an
intimate cabaret performance of the songs of Noël Coward by the
incomparable Steve Ross.
Tickets: City Club and MPD. Members - $150/ Non-Members $175.
(May 29)
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What's On in Southern California (May 21 - 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/Saturdays 8 PM
Sundays 2 PM
(May 8 - June 13)
Dylan Little, The Daily Breeze: "What might be a typical week for Garry Essendine in the Kentwood Players production of 'Present Laughter' is fast-paced fun for everyone in the audience. The play is consistently witty and full of laughs."
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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)
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Hay Fever
Little Fish Theatre
777 Centre Street (at 8th)
San Pedro, CA 90731
(310) 512-6030
Thursday - Sunday
little fish theatre
(Apr 17 - May 23)
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Last Weekend for Bright Young People
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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)
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Stephan Elliott's Easy Virtue
The 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) · May 6, 2009
Fifteen years after his filmThe Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert wowed viewers at the SFIFF, writer/director Stephan Elliott returned to San Francisco with Easy Virtue, enchanting the audience at its first U.S. screening with beautiful, tuneful, action-packed, sexy, darkly-comic, star-filled, irrepressible riffs on Noël Coward's play. San Francisco loves Stephan ... and his glamorous young leading lady, Jessica Biel: they are the Cover Girl (and Boy) for the SFIFF's miniguide (Stephan commented that he took the picture of the two of them together on the motorcycle as a joke, but the Festival loved it!)
In a talkback that followed the screening, Elliott exchanged quips with an adoring crowd and described his film as about one-third Coward and the rest Elliott & Co. (with much credit to his writing partner, Sheridan Jobbins). How does a three-act, suburban-drawing-room melodrama become an upstairs/downstairs, indoors/outdoors, Hunt-bashing, aristocrat-biting comedy? Rebellion. Think of Brando in The Wild One ("What are you rebelling against?" "Whaddaya got?") Elliott's Easy Virtue takes on all comers, showing his partiality for characters who are the outsider or underdog.
A visual delight, Easy Virtue's cinematography celebrates not only the Technicolor Jazz aspects (Larita and all her charms), but also many of the very things that the story line deplores: riding in the Hunt; the mouldering Stately Home, complete with conservatory; a grey English sky mistily embracing an ancient oak. Like a terrific crossword puzzle, the film presents dozens of associative references (some gusting up to full-blown homage) to earlier films; for example, 2 Across: Larita and Mr. Whittaker tango (likely referent: the tango music in the score for Hitchcock's 1929 silent film of Easy Virtue). Easy Virtue's soundtrack is a mix of old and new: Coward and his contemporaries, plus original music by Marius de Vries of Moulin Rouge fame. (Perhaps Dominic Vlasto and Alan Farley will comment on the musical choices in a future Home Chat?) People burst into song at the drop of a ... well, anything.
Netflix, bless them, recommends films based on your previous ratings of other films. Taking a stab at such a list: the more you love the following films or directors or actors, the more (I predict) you will enjoy the new film, Easy Virtue:
1. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Stephan Elliott, 1994)
2. My Man Godfrey (Carole Lombard & William Powell, 1936)
3. The Trouble with Harry (Hitchcock, 1955)
4. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
5. Tom Jones (Tony Richardson, 1963)
6. The Ruling Class (Peter O'Toole, 1972)
7. Cold Comfort Farm (Kate Beckinsale, 1995)
8. Everyone Says I Love You (Woody Allen, 1996)
9. Gosford Park (Robert Altman, Kristin Scott Thomas, 2001)
10. Love Actually (Colin and "Colin", 2003)
11. The Illusionist (Jessica Biel, 2006)
12. The Chronicles of Narnia (Ben Barnes, 2008)
In San Francisco (a tolerant town), there is room at the Coward banquet for both reverent and irreverent renditions of Coward's work. At the banquet,Easy Virtue is the Desert Quandong jam (a wild Australian fruit, available at bushtuckershop.com) in the sandwich, which is not to downplay the nourishment provided by roast beef or bread and butter - or the pleasant buzz from a favorite cocktail - but just to suggest: enjoy variety and open up a bit to interpretations. Let's misbehave!
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Cheers,
Kathy Williams
U.S. West Coast Liaison
The Noel Coward Society |
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