Oh, Coward!
Interspersing his songs with biographical anecdotes and sketches from his various writings, “Oh, Coward!” celebrates the life and work of British icon Noel Coward.
The opening sequence of this show was among my favorite design moments. As the overture ended, the accompanist played a series of simple scales, and I faded out all the stage lights, leaving just a sodium vapor light over the introductory dialogue, which was an excerpt from Coward's journal. Sodium vapor lights - streetlights, essentially - don't reflect color, which gave the effect of turning the live stage into a black-and-white film. I brought the color back in for the final piano fanfare at the end of the quote.