A Morley master class on the Master
Noël at Noël - The Purcell Room

Jack Massarik
The Evening Standard - 21 December 1999

Sheridan Morley is in his element on these occassions. He wrote the authorised Noël Coward biography, A Talent to Amuse, and during this enjoyable two-hour revue, which marked the centenary of Coward's birth on 16 December 1899, he rattled off enough Noëllian stats to fill any conscientious reporters notebook.

Did you know that The Master wrote 432 songs? Believe it. When introducing one (A Room with a View, for example). Morley can tell you not only the date (1927) and place (Hawaii) of its origin, but what Coward was doing there (fleeing bad London notices), and probably his passport number too.

Coward's playboy image, we learn, was a sham. That cut-glass diction, too. A humble, stagestruck south London lad, he had to start work young. Mother ran a boarding-house and father was an alcoholic piano-tuner. Noël's great love for Gertrude Lawrence was not quite what it seemed either. As a lifelong gay, his relationship with her was probably closer to that of Elton John and Princess Diana.

Beyond dispute, though, was his versatility. Other great songwriters (Cole Porter), playwrights (Terrence Rattigan) and stage stars (Jack Buchanan) were around, but not in one package.

But it's the songs that wear best. All flawlessly performed last night by singer-pianist Michael Law, with the voices (and glamorous costume changes) of Helen Goldwyn and Alison Williams, they compare with anything from the Great American Songbook. Even comedy numbers like Mad Dogs and Englishman or Don't Put Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs Worthington have a rigorous craftsmanship about them unknown today. A touch of English genius, and worth celebrating.

Jack Massarik
The Evening Standard - 21 December 1999