Noël Coward on theatre was as dazzling and entertaining as his masterful plays and lyrics.
Here his ideas and opinions on the subject are brilliantly brought together in an extraordinary collection of commentary, lyrics, essays, and asides on everything having to do with the theatre and Coward's dazzling life in it.
The book Noël Coward wanted, promised, threatened to write--and never did.
Including essays, interviews, diary entries, verse, his views on his fellow playwrights: My Colleague Will, Shaw, Wilde, Chekhov, Barrie, Maugham, Eliot, Osborne, Albee, Beckett, Miller, Williams, Rattigan, Pinter, and Shaffer.
On the critics--many of whom irritated him over the years but came to admire him: James Agate, Alexander Woollcott, Graham Greene, Kenneth Tynan among them.
On the plays he wrote, among them: The Vortex; Hay Fever; Private Lives; Design For Living; Blithe Spirit .
The producers who crossed his path: André Charlot, C.
Cochran, Binkie Beaumont.
And the actors in the Coward galaxy: John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Gertrude Lawrence, the Lunts, etc.
His views on the art of acting: auditions, rehearsals, learning the lines, clarity of delivery, timing, control, range, stage fright, fans, theater audiences, revivals, comedy, the Method, plays with a message, taste, construction, Star Quality, etc.
His experience in, and thoughts on: revue, cabaret, television, and musical theater, Bitter Sweet, Conversation Piece, Pacific 1860, After the Ball, Ace of Clubs, Sail Away, The Girl Who Came to Supper, Words and Music, This Year of Grace, London Calling! .
and much more.
Ingeniously, deftly compiled, edited, and annotated by Barry Day, Coward authority and editor of The Noёl Coward Reader and The Letters of Noёl Coward .
About author(s): BARRY DAY was born in England and received his M.
from Balliol College, Oxford.
He has written and produced plays and musical revues showcasing the work of Noël Coward, the Lunts, Oscar Wilde, and others.
Day is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Trustee of the Noёl Coward Foundation and was awarded the Order of the British Empire.
| Playwrights | My |
|---|---|
| On the critics--many of whom irritated him over the years but came to admire him | James |
| On the plays he wrote, among them | The |
| The producers who crossed his path | Andre |
| Coward galaxy | John |
| His views on the art of acting | Auditions rehearsals learning the lines clarity of delivery timing control range stage fright fans theater audiences revivals comedy the |
| His experience in, and thoughts on | Revue cabaret television and musical theater |
| About author(s) | Barry |
Knopf Publishing Group Noel coward on (and in) theatre, hardcover/noel coward
