“BITTER-SWEET”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 762, 7 September 1929, Page 24

“BITTER-SWEET”

Noel Coward Writes A Musical Success AUTHOR, LYRIST AND COMPOSER Originality, fantasy, romance, beauty; these qualities are met I together in ‘•Bitter Sweet,” the operI etta by Noel Coward, author, com- | poser and producer, which' has just I been produced in London. | The curtain rises on a typical 1929 | party; the jazz band is playing, and | a girl on the eve of her marriage is wondering whether she shall elope with the pianist. Old Lady Shayne beats on the floor with her stick. "Stop,” she cries, “it’s hideous. None of you know anything beyond that noise and speed. Listen to my story.” So we are taken hack to the 70 s, and see young Sara Mulliek vowing eternal love to her penniless young singing-master. They fly to \ ienna, where her husband is killed in a duel with an Austrian officer. Years later, we find her once more in London, contracting a great match with the Marquess of Shayne, but still faithful to the memory of her dead love. A simple little story, hut told (after a rather quiet opening act) with a -wealth of light and colour and movement in which scenery, costumes, and music are charmingly blended, the entrancing lilt of Viennese waltzes, grave and gay, ever in the background. The dresses for the London scenes are a delight—both the charmingly preposterous bustles and flounces of the '7o’s and the tiny waists and fullblown sleeves of the ’9o’s. Viennese Charm But it was the scene of the Vienna cafe which charmed me most; its plush settees and massed gas globes, its frowsy waiters and bickering band, its company of lively and amorous "Ladies of the Town,” all gave the authentic air of tawdry and slightly disreputable gaiety and high spirits, writes Alan Parsons in the "Daily Mail.” And best of all there was Manon, a diminutive gamine, clad In shimmering tinsel, and shrieking shrill songs in the argot of Montmartre. Ivy St. Helier’s performance is uncannily clever. George Metaxa’s fine voice has never been heard to better advantage, and Peggy Wood’s sincerity and unforced, natural charm were perfect for the part of Sara. The music is always tuneful, apt, and fluent; some of the numbers — “I’ll See You Again,” for instance, “Tokay,” and a sextet for women’s voices—are bound to achieve wide popularity. Here is a new Noel Coward; the final scene has indeed a typical Coward twist to it, but otherwise humanity and gentleness have taken the place of cynicism and mordant satire. Fortunes For All Charles B. Cocnran believes that Mr. Coward’s operetta will be his biggest success, and that it will make his fortune. “I should say that Mr. Coward will make about £250,000 out of it,” he told a reporter. “He has fees and royalties as author, lyrist, and composer. As for my share-—well, I would not take £IOO,OOO, all told, for it. Prom the London run I look to make from £20,000 to £30,000. “In ■* the United States, where ‘Bitter Sweet’ is to be done in October, I should stand to make at least £30,000. Negotiations are also in progress for the talking film rights, which may be worth £IOO,OOO.

“The music publishing and mechanical reproduction rights are worth another £10,000.”