The Noel Coward Collection

Noel Coward

2010년 8월 · L.A. Theatre Works · 내레이터: Annette Bening, Shirley Knight 및 Full Cast

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Six phenomenally sophisticated Noël Coward comedies:

Fallen Angels: Julia and Fred and Willy and Jane are happily married and the best of friends, until a postcard arrives with news of the imminent arrival of a certain handsome Frenchman.Gay, debonair, and utterly sophisticated. Performed by: Annette Bening, Harriet Harris, Judith Ivey, Joe Mantegna, John Rubinstein and Kristoffer Tabori.

Hay Fever: A country house weekend goes haywire when the guests and their hosts play a game of romantic musical chairs. This witty masterpiece is filled with Coward’s biting commentary on his own profession. Performed by: Tate Donovan, Arabella Field, Joy Gregory, Jeffrey Jones, Lynne Marta, Serena Scott Thomas, Carolyn Seymour, Eric Stoltz and Simon Templeman.

Private Lives: On the French Rivera, the lights of a yacht are reflected in the water and in the eyes of four hilariously mismatched lovers. Perhaps Coward’s greatest comedy, Private Lives shimmers with romance, desire and bittersweet truth. Performed by: Rosalind Ayres, Marnie Mosiman, Ian Ogilvy, Begonya Piazza and Kristoffer Tabori.

Design For Living: Three terminally stylish friends attempt to uncoil their twisted love triangle in this sexy and scandalous gem. Written in 1932, the play was deemed extremely daring, and is controversial even by today’s standards. Performed by: Michelle Arthur, Claire Forlani, Thomas Hildreth, Tim Morrison, Sarah Rafferty, Douglas Weston and Hamish Linklater.

Present Laughter: Stage star Garry Essendine struggles to plan his trip to Africa while his flat is invaded by a love struck ingénue, an adulterous producer, a married seductress, Garry’s estranged wife Liz and an aspiring playwright who is quite, quite mad. Performed by: Gregory Cooke, Arthur Hanket, Jon Matthews, Ian Oglivy, Siri O’Neal, Christina Pickles, Carolyn Seymour and Yeardley Smith.

Blithe Spirit: A convivial evening party among friends is transformed when a séance conjures the ghost of Elvira, the host’s first wife, who delights in wreaking havoc among the living. An absolutely enchanting Coward comedy. Performed by: Rosalind Ayres, Alexandra Boyd, Judy Geeson, Shirley Knight, Lynne Marta, Christopher Neame and Ian Ogilvy.

Exclusive bonus material: Two rarely-performed shorts by Noël Coward, “Design for Rehearsing” (performed by Michael Gladis, Matthew Wolf and Sarah Zimmerman) and “Age Cannot Wither” (performed by Juliet Mills, Susan Sullivan and JoBeth Williams), as well as two conversations on Coward with Barry Day (Noel Coward Foundation) and John Lahr (The New Yorker).

저자 정보

In 1964, when Hay Fever (1925) was placed in the repertory of the newly organized National Theatre, Noel Coward professed to be grateful: "Bless you for admitting that I'm a classic." A week-long series of Coward played on BBC television in 1969; there have been major revivals in London and New York; plays long out of print have been republished in popular collections. At the start of the 1960s, though, Coward's reputation had been at an ebb, as he skirmished with the angry new drama. Coward had enjoyed no big success since Blithe Spirit of 1941. There have been attempts to assimilate the rehabilitated Coward to contemporary drama. Coward himself profited from the new freedom when, in 1965, his Song at Twilight discussed homosexuality, a subject that he had evaded throughout his career. A juvenile prodigy, Coward was by turns actor, director, composer, lyricist, autobiographer, and author of nearly 60 theater pieces. He even wrote screenplays, notably for In Which We Serve (1942) and Brief Encounter (1946). Although he specialized in light comedy, the so-called comedy of manners, he worked in many forms including patriotic spectacle, revue, musical, farce, even the problem play. Hay Fever, Blithe Spirit, and Private Lives (1930) have proved to be the most durable of his comedies, along with nine short plays presented as Tonight at 8:30. In each, characters demonstrate the combination of perpetual role playing, cool hedonism, and energizing self-absorption.