Mad About The Boy: Noel Coward: A Celebration - Production & Contact Info (original) (raw)

One in this series of programs on the performing and visual arts. In this edition, devoted to the life and career of Noel Coward, actors Jean Marsh, George Rose, Carole Shelley, and Kristoffer Tabori utilize Coward's writings, sayings, ...See moreOne in this series of programs on the performing and visual arts. In this edition, devoted to the life and career of Noel Coward, actors Jean Marsh, George Rose, Carole Shelley, and Kristoffer Tabori utilize Coward's writings, sayings, scenes from his plays, and performances of his musical numbers to present a well-rounded portrait of the man and his work. After noting Coward's early love of the theater and his first precocious roles, Carole Shelley and George Rose perform a scene from Coward's 1935 play "Tonight at 8:30" in which a married vaudeville couple argue about their act and each others' performances before going on stage. Rose and Shelley then sing "Why Must the Show Go On" from the musical "Break It Up" by Mel Torme and Robert Wells. Jean Marsh and Kristoffer Tabori perform a scene from "The Vortex," Coward's first play, a serious drama about a vain, aging woman and her cocaine-addicted son. Next, Rose sings "You Were There" from Coward's 1936 musical "Shadow Play," and a pianist plays a medley of additional Coward numbers, as examples of his growing reputation as a composer and lyricist as well as a playwright. Marsh reads from a poem written during Coward's nervous breakdown in 1937, after which Shelley sings "Twentieth Century Blues."See less