Cocktails With Coward: Mad About The Green Carnations

Sir Noel Coward knew the power of tasteful frivolity in dealing with hardship. During World War II, after London had suffered nightly bombings during the Blitz, his impish little tune, "Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans", advised his countrymen to treat the enemy with proper English dignity once their victory is won:

It was just those nasty Nazis who persuaded them to fight
And their Beethoven and Bach are really far worse than their bite

The party must continue, the champagne must flow and the mood must be gay.

That word "gay", of course, had a double meaning in Coward's world. Though a closeted homosexual, the word was liberally sprinkled through many of his works in ways that could simply mean "festive" or "exceedingly happy" to the general public, while sending a completely different message to those in the know.

Take, for example, this snippet from the song "Green Carnation", named for the flowery symbol of gay men, from his 1929 musical Bitter Sweet:

Pretty boys, witty boys,
You may sneer
At our disintegration.
Haughty boys, naughty boys,
Dear, dear, dear!
Swooning with affectation
And as we are the reason
For the Nineties being gay,
We all wear a green carnation.

Believe it or not, there was a time when audiences at a musical comedy would not all get the true meaning of that lyric.

Both of the above songs are highlights of Cocktails With Coward, a 2-act musical revue playing a limited engagement at Don't Tell Mama. Author/director/choreographer Daniel T. Lavender (an appropriate moniker, considering the theme) has conceived the show as an opportunity to present this versatile genius' songs in the uncloseted atmosphere that wasn't acceptable in his lifetime. Though sexuality is not the main thrust of the show, it's openly there as a casual non-issue and the inside references are sung with nary a wink.

Lavender sets up the evening as a cocktail party where four characters from Sir Coward's plays are among the guests. When the celebrated author is late in arriving, they decide to pass the time by singing his songs, telling stories of his life and bickering over which of his plays was really the most famous. They're joined by a piano playing and singing narrator (Cooper Grodin), a bassist (Byrne Klay), a percussionist (Jason Holmes, who also orchestrated) and two hunky "waiters" (James Ryan Sloan and John Haegele) who silently move a few set pieces around while accepting the leers of castmates of both genders.

Tom Beckett gives the most Cowardly performance as Elyot Chase, the leading man of Private Lives. A role Coward wrote for himself, Elyot may have been created as a straight man to serve the plot, but culturally he is often accepted as a gay man, and in Cocktails With Coward there is the strong suggestion that the character has come out of the closet. Seeming world weary and casually elegant, Beckett expertly handles the comedy of "Mrs. Worthington" and "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" with a gracefully light touch and brings warm, melancholy tones to ballads like "Something Very Strange".

As Tony from Star Quality, Coward's first openly gay character, Zeb Homison has a square-jawed, preppy quality and a clean-cut 1950's sexiness. His dramatic moments are best, including an outstanding "Time and Again". After the two ladies have sung their own refrains of "Mad About the Boy", Homison sings his own which, expectantly, mentions the boy's "gay appeal", but also interestingly includes a mention of his disapproving psychoanalyst.

There's the occasional surges of heat rising in moments between Homison and the dashing pianist Cooper Grodin, whose solos, including an elegant rendition of "Why Does Love Get in the Way?", present Coward in a more contemporary cabaret style.

While the boys smolder, it's unfortunate that the ladies are regulated to rather sexless interpretations. This is certainly by no fault of their own, as their broad comic characterizations are generally appropriate for the material they're assigned.

Natalie Silverlieb, as the ghostly Elvira from Blithe Spirit serves nicely as a peppy ingenue when it comes to bits like "Has Anybody Seen Our Ship" and "Chase Me, Charlie", but her boisterous delivery is a bad fit for the subtle humor of "I've Been to a Marvelous Party."

Gerrianne Raphael, as Judith Bliss from Hay Fever, takes on the "wacky older woman" persona for comedy numbers like "We Must All Be Very Kind to Auntie Jessie" and "I Like America", but her best serious moment, the exceptional Coward ballad, "If Love Were All", is spoiled by an arrangement dominated by distracting percussion accents.

But in general, Jason Holmes' orchestrations work very well, and the percussion is put to much better use when he imitates the clubby sound of Coward's 1950's solo albums. Choral moments sound very good with Seth Bisen-Hersh music directing vocal arrangements by himself and Alex Lefevre.

Cocktails With Coward might be more interesting if the concept of having characters from his plays perform his material didn't seem to fade out so quickly, having the show seem more like a standard musical revue. But aside from minor quibbles here and there, the talented cast, entertaining continuity and polished presentation make this a fine showcase for the master's work, especially for those who can use an introduction to this marvelous world.

 

Photos by Brian Diaz are from a previous production of Cocktails With Coward
Top: Gerrianne Raphael, Zeb Homison, Natalie Silverlieb and Cooper Grodin
Center: Zeb Homison, Cooper Grodin, Natalie Silverlieb and Gerrianne Raphael
Bottom: Cooper Grodin and Zeb Homison

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