Theater Three opened a rarely produced Noel Coward play, I'll Leave It To You, on October 17, 2005. Coward's first play, penned when he was 20, it was produced on July 21, 1920 at the New Theatre in London. Bobbie, the aspiring writer/musician, was played by Coward in a part he wrote for himself.
It is set in Mulberry Manor, the home of the recently widowed Mrs. Dermott (Sally Cole), just outside London, where she lives in genteel poverty with her five young adult children who have grown accustomed to a life of idleness. They exist on a meager pension supplemented by money sent by Mrs. Dermott's 'wealthy' brother, Daniel (R. Bruce Elliott) in South America. He pays them a long-awaited visit and breaks the news he is dying of sleeping sickness and has exactly three years to live and intends to leave all his fortune to the one niece or nephew who makes the best mark in the world.
Suddenly they all become quite ambitious and industrious. Evangeline (Catherine Wall) is a budding writer; Oliver (David Dixon) is knowledgeable about machinery; Sylvia (Jessica Turner) has a talent for flower arranging and interior design; Bobbie (John De Los Santos) is a budding actor and composer; and teen-aged Joyce (Aubrey Noelle Dupre) is a bright student who could be doing better in school.
Into the mix come Griggs, the butler (Ted Wold), the maid (Melanie Lang), and Bobbie's vapid girlfriend, Faith Crombie (Lindsey Holloway) and her supercilious mother, Mrs. Crombie (Terry McCracken), on a weekend visit to Mulberry Manor.
To spur the children on to success, Uncle Daniel tells each in confidence that s/he is the one he has selected to receive his entire fortune. The children set to with heretofore unbridled energy to succeed in their chosen fields, at which each becomes successful; before Daniel's scheme is revealed.
Four cast members stand out from the rest. Elliott, who has acted on Dallas stages for many years, is outstanding as Daniel and is matched note for note by McCracken, another Dallas stage veteran. Elliott is so natural you just believe he is Uncle Daniel; McCracken is perfectly cast as Mrs. Dermott. She can convey more by the turn of her head or a raised eyebrow or an inflection than any dialogue can express. Wall carries off the part of Evangeline with an assured air. Wold is quite amusing as the butler and makes the most of his brief appearances. De Los Santos does an excellent turn as Bobbie. On opening night he seemed nervous and talked too fast and ran his lines together in the first act. By Act II he had settled into his character and essayed a charming portrayal of a young Noel Coward.
On the other hand, Sally Cole seems more like she's channeling her previous season's role as Martha Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace. Either she was over-directed by Michael Serrecchia or not directed at all, but she grows very tiresome early on with her slapstick shtick. (The beauty of Noel Coward's writing is its subtlety, which seems to have eluded Mrs. Cole altogether.) I wanted to take Jessica Turner and Aubrey Noelle Dupree, as Sylvia and Joyce respectively, and knock their heads together when they piped up in their unnatural, high, squeaky voices; although their acting is fine. Holloway is all right as Faith, but her ridiculous giggle grows cloying after the first couple of times.
Artistic director Jac Alder's set design evokes the period and place. Serrecchia's directing works except for the aforementioned Mrs Cole. Michael Robinson's costumes are authentic looking - except for that of Cole. As written, her character is a bit dotty, but nowhere did Coward suggest she was elderly and quaint. But all in all, it's hard to ruin a Noel Coward play, and I'll Leave It To You had enough charm to make watching it an enjoyable experience.
