Noel Coward Festival Kicks Off in NYC 3/12

The Noël Coward Foundation today announced further details of the Noël Coward Festival which will run in conjunction with the previously announced Exhibition STAR QUALITY: The World of Noël Coward at the New York Public Library (NYPL) for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. NYPL will also be presenting a number of Coward related programs in the Bruno Walter Auditorium. For further information visit www.nypl.org/lpaprograms.

On Monday, March 12, the Festival kicks off with a special screening of the Best Picture Oscar winner CAVALCADE (1933) presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Monday Nights with Oscar film series at the Academy Theater at Lighthouse International.. Hosted by Exhibition curator, Brad Rosenstein, the event will debut a display of images and posters from Coward’s films in the Academy’s theater lobby .

Tickets for CAVALCADE are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with valid ID. Tickets are available for purchase at www.oscars.org. For more information, please contact the Academy at AcademyNYC@oscars.org, or call 212.821.9251.

Other Festival highlights include:

- April 5: The Drama Bookshop is hosting COWARD & CO. Devised and narrated by Barry Day with Simon Callow, Edward Hibbert, Dana Ivey and Steve Ross. This event will celebrate the publication of THE TREASURES OF NOEL COWARD published by Andre Deutsch, THE COMPLETE VERSE OF NOEL COWARD published by Bloomsbury.

- April 16: The Acting Company is presenting a reading of A SONG AT TWILIGHT featuring Jayne Atkinson, John Glover and Laila Robins directed by Maria Aitken.

- April 23: The Paley Center for Media A CAVALCADE OF COWARD featuring Nancy Anderson, Simon Jones and Steve Ross

- May 11 – 13: Lincoln Center Film Society is presenting COWARD ON FILM - a weekend of screenings and discussions reflecting Coward’s influence on the world of film as writer, director, composer, actor and producer.

Throughout this period there will be readings, cabaret performances, productions and discussions around the city. Other organizations committed to taking part include, The Julliard School, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Feinstein’s, Light Opera of New York and The Actors Company Theater and The Mabel Mercer Foundation. Full details are on www.noelcowardinnewyork.com.

“We have been overwhelmed by the support received from so many organizations throughout New York City and we are delighted to be working again with the Academy, who presented their own version of the Exhibition in Los Angeles last year ,” said Alan Brodie, chair of the Noël Coward Foundation. “Noël Coward would be very proud that 2012 will truly be a year which confirms his status as an honorary new Yorker – a city he loved.”

“The Academy is pleased to take part in this citywide celebration of Noël Coward,” said Patrick Harrison, the Academy’s New York Program Director. “The exhibition and screening of the recently restored print of CAVALCADE by the Academy Film Archive was very well received in Los Angeles last year. It is only fitting that this program is given the opportunity to dazzle fans of Coward in New York.”

Star Quality: The World of Noël Coward, is a major exhibition focusing on Coward as playwright, composer, director, stage, screen, and cabaret performer, and international celebrity. It represents the most comprehensive exhibition on Noël Coward ever assembled, including unique material from the collections of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

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