British musicals in the 1930s to 1940s.
The interior of Schlick's cafe in Noel Coward's operetta Bitter Sweet, His Majesty's Theatre London, July 1929, black and white photograph
The operetta Bitter Sweet was a huge responsibility for Coward, as for the first time he was in complete control of a show, as writer, composer, lyricist and director. It was unashamedly nostalgic, but Coward was reflecting a change in public taste, as the brittle, sophisticated 1920s gave way to the more sober, nostalgic 1930s. London critics gave it a lukewarm reception, predicting that it would only run three months but Coward had judged the public mood perfectly. It ran for 18 months in London and transferred to Broadway. The story is told in flashback. Lady Shayne recalls her elopement with Carl, her music teacher the night before her wedding and their life together in Vienna before he is tragically killed in a duel with Captain Lutte, seen seated in this photograph. The hit song was 'I’ll See You Again'. The song 'If Love Were All', included a phrase which came to haunt Coward. ‘All I have is just, a talent to amuse’ became a cliché used by every journalist ever after to describe his talents.
Flyer for Noël Coward's play Cavalcade, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, 1932
Although Noël Coward felt that the first night performance of Cavalcade in 1931 was shaky, the critics loved it. Some of the critical comments ‘astounding’, ‘magnificent’ and ‘breath-taking’ were incorporated into the advertising flier.Yet Coward felt that the show had been misinterpreted. Far from being a jingoistic celebration of England it was not uncritical and used visual irony similar to that Joan Littlewood later incorporated into her production Oh, What a Lovely War! Cavalcade was produced at the time of a general election and this added to the sense that Coward had written a rousing patriotic play. It aroused such nationalistic fervour that when King George V and Queen Mary came to see it, the audience spontaneously burst into the national anthem and the King was forced to make two appearances in the Royal Box to acknowledge the applause. To get away from the frenzied atmosphere, Coward fled England for South America.
First night audience for Noël Coward's Cavalcade at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, The Sketch magazine, October 1931. Museum no. NAL 131655
A Noël Coward first night always guaranteed a high profile audience. The first night audience for Cavalcade in 1931 included not only aristocracy but theatre luminaries such as designer Oliver Messel, the Countess of Dudley, former Gaiety star Gertie Millar and Edna May, star of The Belle of New York. Coward recalled the first night as ‘the most agonising three hours I have ever spent in a theatre’. During a scene change one of the downstage lifts stuck. Some of the audience grew restless and started the slow handclap. Coward was just about to announce that the rest of the show was cancelled when, miraculously, the lift moved and the show continued. All the cast were shaken by the event, but the audience loved the show and Coward was called to make a curtain speech. Taken unawares, he improvised saying that he hoped that the play had made the audience feel that ‘it was still pretty exciting to be English’. This unpremediated remark came back to haunt him in later years, which Coward found especially annoying, as he never intended the play to have a jingoistic message.