If anyone has the “right” to sing Noël Coward, it is the British stage, movie and TV actor John Standing. Descending from a long line of noted thespians, his mother, Kay Hammond, actually created the role of Elvira in Coward’s Blithe Spirit, on stage as well as on film.

Standing actually spoke (as is a common practice) “I’ve Been to a Marvelous Party” (a ditty regarding a decadent celeb party in France in the mid-1930s) with a wicked Rex Harrison style of patter, setting the tone of the evening. The songs were funny, bawdy and often naughty with a couple of classic ballads (“You Were There,” “I’ll See You Again”) lining the coffer.

While not a classic singer (his funniest line of the evening was “I sing like a foot”), his voice was certainly clear and strong in the majority of tunes—of a staccato, patter-type pattern. Lower keys might render the ballads more comfortable to sing, but it is hard to question the work of such a definitive performer.

We were treated to comedic classics with a hysterical, hair-raising, tempo-accelerating “(Don’t Put Your Daughter on the Stage,) Mrs. Worthington” and a polished yet demented “Mad Dogs and Englishmen.” Proving that everything old is new again, 1952’s “There Are Bad Times Around the Corner” was quite timely.

If you fancy yourself a bit of an intellectual, while laughing out loud at the same time, my advice is to put John Standing’s Performing Noël Coward in your queue and see it A.S.A.P. You have ’til March 6 to catch it at the Café Carlyle.

Melody Breyer-Grell
Cabaret Scenes
February 25, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org