By Steven Suskin
04 Aug 2009

Noel Coward's Bitter Sweet [Sepia 1130]
There was a time, back in the late 1920s/early 1930s, when Noel Coward could hardly open a tin of sardines without being smacked in the face with a brace of huzzahs. It is an exaggeration to suggest that he was the British theatre's answer to America's the up-and-coming comedic playwright S. N. Behrman, the up-and-coming dramatic playwright Eugene O'Neill, and the up-and-coming composer-lyricist Cole Porter combined; but with plays like The Vortex and Hay Fever, and musical revues like This Year of Grace!, Mr. Coward certainly had all bases covered. Not only that, he starred in some of them too.

So it surely must have come as a surprise to nobody when Coward decided to write book, music and lyrics for a 1929 operetta-like musical which — of course — turned out to be a grand success. Bitter Sweet it was called, the "bitter" in the title coming from the circumstance that the leading man got himself shot and killed in the second act. This appeared on the heels of Show Boat, which might have partially influenced the unhappy love story. Coward was no Kern nor no Hammerstein, neither, and his musical did not displace that 1927 landmark. But Bitter Sweet ran a good 697 performances when it opened in the West End in July 1929, and it got off to a fast start in New York when Flo Ziegfeld — the producer of Show Boat — opened it at his eponymous playhouse (home of Show Boat ) that November. A little thing called the Stock Market Crash intervened, however, with benumbed audiences running out after five months. Coward, by the way, directed both productions. While Bitter Sweet was still playing in London, let it be added, dear Noel dashed off, directed, and starred in a little item he called Private Lives.

Bitter Sweet has not, heretofore, garnered much attention from me. Sepia, a U.K. label which specializes in reissuing vintage musicals on CD, has now brought us a compilation of Bitter Sweet recordings. After several listenings, I find Coward's score growing on me. "Extraordinary how potent cheap music is," the playwright had his alter ego state in that same Private Lives, in which he saw fit to use the song-hit of Bitter Sweet. "I'll See You Again" is potent, certainly; not cheap, however, as it surely contributed a pretty penny to the master's personal exchequer. A fine song it is, too. The show also contained a second standard, "If Love Were All," from whence came the sentiment "I believe that since my life began, the most I've had is just a talent to amuse." "A talent to amuse" might be Coward's epitaph. Bitter Sweet brings two additional songs, heretofore neglected by me, which similarly amuse: a pleasant duet, "Dear Little Cafe"; and the lively gypsy plaint "Ziguener."

Coming along long before the advent of the original cast album, this Bitter Sweet has been assembled from several parts. Most complete is a 1958 studio cast recording featuring Vanessa Lee, with Roberto Cardinali as the foreign piano teacher to whom she gives her heart. Ms. Lee does a fine job, but she and her associates are hampered by an overwrought orchestration from Brian Fahey and Ray Terry. Even so we get 11 tracks, nine songs plus overture and finale. (There was also a complete recording made in 1988, which is not represented here.) Then come four tracks recorded by original cast members in 1929. Peggy Wood, the American star who was imported for the occasion, sings "I'll See You Again" and "Dear Little Cafe" with George Metaxa, as well as giving us her somewhat wild rendition of "Ziguener." Also present is Ivy St. Helier, who introduced "If Love Were All." (These tracks are conducted by Reginald Burston with his pit orchestra, suggesting that they feature the original orchestrations by a fellow called Orellana.) Next come "I'll See You Again" and "Ziguener" from Evelyn Laye, the British star who was imported to New York for the Broadway presentation. The 23-track CD continues with four selections from Jane Marnac, star of the 1930 Paris production, and ends with the master himself giving yet another rendition of "I'll See You Again."

Why import an American for the London edition and a Brit for t'other? Bitter Sweet was apparently intended for Ms. Laye, one of the biggest stars of the day. But Coward and producer Cochran had paired Laye's husband Sonny Hale with Jessie Matthews in the aforementioned 1928 revue This Year of Grace!. Mr. Hale left Ms. Laye for Ms. Matthews, with the wronged party apparently holding it against Mr. Cochran. So over came Ms. Wood, best remembered as a dramatic actress but originally a Broadway chorus girl who attained stardom as heroine of the biggest musical hit of World War I, Maytime. Ms. Wood created the role of Sarah in Bitter Sweet. Ms. Laye, apparently knowing a good role when she saw someone else on the stage triumphing in it, took the job in Ziegfeld's production and ultimately replaced Wood on the West End. Love, fame, fury and ego — it all sounds like a Noel Coward operetta.

(Steven Suskin is author of "The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations" as well as "Second Act Trouble," "Show Tunes," and the Opening Night on Broadway" books. He can be reached at Ssuskin@aol.com)