Love, Noelis a gem of a show, one that's lit from within by the radiance of Noel Coward's wit and wisdom. Devised by Barry Day, the editor of Coward's collected letters, and directed by Jeanie Hackett, the show stars the actor/singers John Glover and Judy Kuhn. These polished performers, working in a cabaret setting and backed by David O on piano, pay tribute to Coward's life, beginning with his days as a child actor and culminating seven decades later with his death in 1973.
In that span, the renaissance man Coward not only wrote plays, lyrics and movie scripts but worked as a director, producer, actor and cabaret performer. In WW II he also did propaganda work -- and a bit of spying! -- for the British government.
Love, Noel touches on the highlights of Coward's multi-faceted career, with Glover and Kuhn acting as narrators. When not trading lines from his plays, they break into song, breathing new life into such tunes as "The Last Time I Saw Paris" and "I'll See You Again." Mostly, though, Glover and Kuhn quote from Coward's correspondence with such showbiz pals as Gertrude Lawrence, Beatrice Lilly, Enid Bagnold and Elaine Stritch. He confided in them, revealing things about himself which the public never saw -- his fears and insecurities. He also dished the dirt with them, letting them know how he felt about people like Winston Churchill, Marlene Dietrich, Yul Brynner and Greta Garbo (who once asked him to marry her).
Because it was conceived as a cabaret show, Love, Noel skips along in light entertainment fashion, but there are deeper and darker moments, especially in the second act when the aging Coward must cope with the verities: rejection, failure and mortality. Even then, though, the man's innate humanity, decency -- and above all his capacity for friendship and love--remained intact.
