The idea is a simple one: Cole Porter and Noel Coward return from Heaven for a holiday performance, just enough time to present over 30 songs in a two-act musical revue.
Theater-goers sat elbow-to-elbow in Off the Wall’s shotgun theater for a fast-paced Sunday matinee that used witty dialogue to tie together some of the best-known songs from the last century. With Dale Gutzman as Coward and Jeremy C. Welter as Porter, the duo welcomed party guests decked out in tuxedos and formal gowns.
A dozen actors and a two-piece orchestra comprised the revolving cast, offering chestnuts such as “Anything Goes,” “Don’t Fence Me In,” “Night and Day” and “Let’s Do It.” “Mad About the Boy” found four actresses of varied ages and social standings (from schoolgirl to cleaning lady to high society matron in a mink) declaring their love for an unattainable movie star, with Liz Norton’s powerful voice taking the spotlight.
Porter and Coward’s rapier wit may have sailed over the heads of some of their audience in their heyday, but in hindsight these wordsmith’s coded signifiers and double entendre can been viewed as roadmaps to their almost-acknowledged homosexuality. Gutzman and Welter take the opportunity to explain what might not have been so obvious in a recitation of the lyric to Coward’s “Green Carnation,” or the between-the-lines inferences of “Don’t Fence Me In.”
Yet, it wasn’t all camp. Gutzman introduced “London Pride” as being sung on London streets during the German Blitz of World War II. “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” recalled a time when England was convinced it ruled the world. There were in-jokes, “Nina From Argentina” featured “bored” backing vocalists decked out in straw hats and maracas, “on loan from the Sunset Playhouse,” which brought a withering glance from Porter. He also delivered a barb as Coward led up to intermission, suggesting it would give him a chance “find a light for your obviously fake cigarette.”
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Intermission began, or never really ended, with stagehands Larry Lukasavage and Thomas Welcenbach sweeping the stage and then opening the next act with “Brush Up Your Shakespeare.” Globe-trotting and steamer trunks got updated with references to cell phone selfies in Coward’s “Why Do the Wrong People Travel,” and “(When It’s Cocktail Time in) Siberia” acknowledged the prevalence of drinking culture throughout the performance.
The clarion call of “Blow, Gabriel, Blow!” sent the message that it was time for Porter and Coward to re-shuffle off this mortal coil. The finale, “Let’s Do It,” is a sly update the incorporated refences to Vice President Mike Pence, Aretha Franklin, Taylor Swift, Julia Child and “young men who’ll sell antiques.” It was a twist worthy of the Capitol Steps.
