Brad Rosenstein Hosts 2 Special Noël Coward Presentations at NYPL, 8/10-11

As the exhibition Star Quality: The World of Noël Coward enters the final week of its five-month, twice-extended run, curator Brad Rosenstein returns to The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts to host two special presentations.

On Friday August 10th at 6pm, the Performing Arts Library will present a screening of rare, newly reassembled footage from Coward’s 1929 production of BITTER SWEET at His Majesty’s Theatre, London. Introduced by Brad Rosenstein, curator of the Star Quality exhibition, who reconstructed the footage, the film offers a rare and thrilling glimpse of one of Coward’s finest achievements as it was originally staged by The Master himself. Previous screenings in San Francisco and Los Angeles have been sellout hits that left audiences cheering. At the Performing Arts Library’s Bruno Walter Auditorium. Admission is free. Further details at www.nypl.org/lpaprograms.

On Saturday August 11th at 12 noon, Rosenstein will lead a final curator’s tour of the exhibition, reprising a popular offering from earlier in the run, guiding visitors through the show and sharing historical insights and anecdotes. In the Performing Arts Library’s Oenslager Gallery. Admission is free, and the tour will last approximately 45 minutes.

Star Quality: The World of Noël Coward represents the most comprehensive exhibition on Noël Coward ever assembled, focusing on Coward as playwright, composer, director, stage, screen, cabaret performer, and international celebrity. Since it opened on March 11, 2012, the Exhibition has attracted over 17,000 visitors. With Star Quality at its heart, the ongoing city-wide Noël Coward Festival has been continuing with sell-out shows at the Library’s own Bruno Walter Auditorium; Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater; Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s; the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Academy Theater; The Paley Center for Media, and countless theaters around the city. For further information visit www.noelcowardinnewyork.com and www.nypl.org/lpaprograms.

Star Quality: The World of Noël Coward is presented by The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Noël Coward Foundation in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Museum of Performance & Design. It is an expanded version of an exhibition first seen at Ten Chimneys in Wisconsin, and then at London's National Theatre, San Francisco's Museum of Performance & Design, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles.

Further details on Noël Coward and his work is at www.noelcoward.com.

Pictured: Peggy Wood as Sarah/Sari and George Metaxa as Carl in the original production of Noel Coward’s Bitter Sweet - His Majesty’s Theatre, London, 1929. Photo by Sasha, Courtesy of Noël Coward Collection, Special Collections, University of Birmingham.