Coward: From High Style to Left 'Flat'

The opening this week at London’s Guildhall Art Gallery of the exhibition No?l Coward: Art & Style, and release of a new film version of Coward’s 40s farce Blithe Spirit, prompt posting a Newsweek On Air radio chat about the “The Master” – that ever-elegant, multi-talented man of many media -- with cabaret star Steve Ross, a foremost interpreter of Coward’s wry and witty music and lyrics.

The exhibition of never-before-seen materials from the Coward Archive -- costumes, set designs, paintings and production photos -- marks the 100th anniversary of Coward’s West End debut as a playwright at age 19, and proclaims itself a celebration of “the dazzling visual side of Coward’s life and work by taking a fresh and vibrant look at the glittering world that Coward created… the enormous impact that he and his creative circle had on the fashion and culture of his time, and how his legacy and influence still resonate today.” https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/attractions-museums-entertainment/guildhall-galleries/guildhall-art-gallery/noel-coward

We talked with Ross in 2012 in conjunction with another exhibition, Star Quality: The World of No?l Coward, at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, for which he did a performance of lesser known songs titled No?l Coward: Off the Record, but now on CD. https://archive.org/details/fyeo-fyeo_120408_complete @ 27:30

Ross also recently posted his performance of the overture to a 1999 celebration of Coward’s 100th birthday, with Broadway dance arranger, musical director and pianist, Peter Howard. https://soundcloud.com/steve_ross/noel-coward-overture

Sadly, early word on the new Blithe Spirit, already bumped to streaming in the UK and due in the U.S. next month, is far worse than bitter sweet. Read the headline in Variety: “Flat, Dated Resurrection of No?l Coward Farce Proves Some Things Are Better Left Dead.” Even with Dame Judi Dench and “her usual dry twinkle” as the phony spiritualist, "but whilst somehow eliding all of Coward’s suave verbal snap,” said the review. https://variety.com/2021/film/reviews/blithe-spirit-7-1234884743/

Were Coward still with us, he might well wish to sail away.