A WITLESS TWILIGHT

Noël Coward referred to his final play, A Song at Twilight, as his “swan song.” The last installment of his Suite in Three Keys (a trio of plays set in the same hotel suite in Switzerland) opened in London in 1966 starring Mr. Coward alongside stage legends Lilli Palmer and Irene Worth.   Now, The Pasadena Playhouse is attempting to breathe new life into this rarely performed gem with an all-star cast featuring Bruce Davison (Sir Hugo), Sharon Lawrence (Carlotta) and Roxanne Hart (Hilde). Devoid of the caustic wit and cutting sarcasm that was Mr. Coward’s trademark, the revival unfortunately arrives’”in no small part due to the miscasting or misdirecting of Mr. Davison’”on life support.

While the story, which tells the tale of a famous but closeted author who is paid a visit by his former mistress and forced to confront the regrets of his life choices, was inspired by Lord David Cecil’s biography of Max Beerbohm, it was thought Mr. Coward based both his portrayal and the character of Sir Hugo on author Somerset Maugham (in fact his stage makeup was said to have an “uncanny” resemblance to the author). Mr. Coward had danced around gay themes in the past but never as blatantly: a brave act considering it hit the boards in the West End a year before England decriminalized homosexuality. (For historical reference: The American Psychiatric Association didn’t declassify “the love that dare not speak its name” as a mental disease until 1973, and gay sex remained illegal in 13 states until the Supreme Court threw out the sodomy laws in 2003.)

Many “Poofsters” of the time avoided prosecution and persecution and gained acceptance by adopting the traits and attributes of the effete and effeminate socially elite. They weren’t gay; they were aristocrats hiding behind the façade of heterosexuality with sham marriages and well-publicized affairs. To endear themselves to the masses and to masque their own unhappiness, many combined their socially acceptable flamboyant persona with biting humor and acerbic bitchery.   Mr. Coward was the king of such behavior and his oft quoted quips were beloved.

The script is laced with abundant examples of these frothy, droll, and self-effacing observations, but Mr. Davison somehow manages to miss them all. He simply acts angry. No subtext. No wit. No edge. He plays Sir Hugo like a grouchy old man’”period. This approach does not give Ms. Lawrence or Ms. Hart much to work with, although they at least are giving it their all and appear to get the inherent humor of the piece.   The show only truly comes alive when the women get to interact with each other; since they share the stage for less than a quarter of the two-hour-plus running time, that leaves a lot of dead space. The effect of any of the lines that do land when conversing with Mr. Davison is quickly negated as they are sucked into his life-draining curmudgeonly abyss. I don’t know what director Art Manke was thinking. Rounding out the cast is Zach Bandler as the room service waiter Felix. He has very little to do but makes the most of his stage time and is quite charming in the role.

The scenic design by Tom Buderwitz is very elegant but for some reason the set extends past the proscenium making no effort to cover or conceal the ornate carving in the arch around the stage. It looks like a mistake and would have been much less distracting if he had scaled it down and kept the entire set behind the opening. He has also placed a number of wall sconces unusually high. Had I not been so bored I would probably not have noticed their positioning but I was and I did. The lighting, sound, and costumes are all adequate but nothing special.

Director Manke has seven Coward plays under his belt (including the Playhouse’s Fallen Angels last season) and was dubbed “L.A.’s Coward specialist” by the Los Angeles Times. After sitting through this misguided effort I think it would be wise to seek a second opinion.

photos by Michael Lamont

A Song at Twilight
Pasadena Playhouse
39 S. El Molino Avenue in Pasadena
scheduled to end on April 13, 2014
for tickets, call 626-356-7529 or visit www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org