Friday, June 22, 2001 | 8:55 a.m.
"If love were all."
These are the words printed on the tombstone of playwright Noel Coward, who died in Jamaica in 1973.
It's also the title of the signature tune from his 1925 play "Bittersweet."
Those four words inspired actor Don Snell to write a one-man tribute to Coward, who has been called one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century.
Snell, 51, brings the essence of Coward's music back to Las Vegas this weekend at the Winchester Center Theater in his production of "A Private Spirit: The Music and Wit of Noel Coward."
Coward, who made a comeback with American audiences on a Las Vegas stage in 1955, is best known for his comedies "Hay Fever" (1925), "Private Secrets" (1930) and "Present Laughter" (1942).
Coward's witty public persona mirrored the expected, enchanted life of a famous playwright, while contentment in his private life was harder to capture.
"He couldn't live the way he wanted," Snell said. "His love was (Jack Wilson, his manager) but he had to be seen with women. It's that not being able to acknowledge people important in your life that is so important to me."
Snell's 70-minute show centers on a collector, who buys and sells memorabilia on the Internet. He purchases a box of Coward's clothing online. When the package arrives there is an other-worldly surprise. A note inside promises that whoever dons Coward's safari hat will hear his strong, clear voice.
As Snell fits the wide hat over his head, the character begins to sing Coward's hits in perfect pitch.
"In the show, his spirit takes over my body," Snell said. "For the next hour he (the character) talks about what it was like to be Noel Coward."
To his own credit, Snell has appeared in more than 30 films. His most recent credits include bit parts in "Traffic," "Erin Brockovich," and "Never Been Kissed." He has also appeared in regular spots on television such as the daytime drama, "Days of Our Lives."
Snell, who was trained in theater, had always wished to honor the man whose life he felt was an inspiration to anyone who struggled with social and self-acceptance.
The anniversary of Coward's 100th birthday, on Dec. 16, 1999, prompted Snell to write the musical.
"He inspired me with his songs, his wit," Snell said. "It was great fun to sing his songs. The words are full of interior rhyme. I see the audience smiling because (the songs) are funny."
Snell wrote monologues to connect 10 of Coward's songs, plus a medley. He opened at the 75-seat Gardenia Room in Los Angeles on Oct. 28.
He was soon sought after.
The 100-seat Tiffany Theatre in Los Angeles had heard of Snell's one-man show and booked him on Dec. 18, two days after Coward's 102nd birthday.
Comedian Red Buttons attended the opening at the Tiffany Theatre.
"It's a journey back to wit," Buttons said.
Coward touched on social and political issues of the time with a light hand through his words, Buttons said.
"He was a renaissance man who did everything with tremendous talent," Buttons said. "You only come across two like that in a lifetime, him and me. Where's the laugh?"
The Hollywood Reporter reviewed Snell's Dec. 18 show and said that it "is an elegant, debonair evening with a sense of theatricality of which Coward would approve."
Using the witty words and innuendos Coward penned, Snell considers the stage the world in which the playwright lived.
As a dapper young playwright, Coward was often seen with famous women on his arm. Behind the scenes he rode freight instead of first class and hid his relationships with men from the world that adored him, Snell said.
"(The show) is all about what he would talk about now when we can talk about our private lives and not be afraid," Snell said.
Coward's determination and drive impressed Snell as he researched the man behind the music.
Coward had a speech impediment as a child. In an attempt to conquer it, his aunt encouraged him to practice difficult rhymes. He became adept at rhyming, a skill he would become famous for, and overcame his slight lisp.
By age 14 Coward was the breadwinner for his family, working with theatrical companies as an actor. At the relatively young age of 24 he was a revered playwright with the most popular musical in London's West End, "The Vortex." That same year he had three more successful shows playing in London theaters. He garnered an Academy Award in 1930 for the movie "Cavalcade," originally his play.
After his rapid rise Coward slumped during the late '40s and early '50s. It was then that he found a second chance in Las Vegas.
In 1955 Wilbur Clark offered Coward, his close friend, $40,000 to headline at Clark's new hotel, the Desert Inn.
Celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and Red Buttons came to see Coward onstage, Snell said.
"It must have been so incredible to sit at the Desert Inn and see him walk out on the stage with a full orchestra behind him and entertain for hours," Snell said. "He took over a stage."
The Las Vegas appearance led to television specials and more Broadway bookings through the '60s.
"If it weren't for Las Vegas he would have died penniless," Snell said. "It turned everything around for him."
The tribute is a turnaround of sorts for Snell, who has spent the last year fine-tuning the musical.
The highlight of the show for Snell is his rendition of Coward's "Mad about the Boy." It was originally written for three women to sing of love from different perspectives, that of forbidden, tempting and unrequited.
"It's very different when it is sung by a man," Snell said.
Snell plans to perform "Private Spirit" at Theater III in Dallas in October.
Eventually he would like to tour the show in regional theaters around the country as an homage to one of the great songwriters of the Golden Age of musicals.
"He had great wit, great understanding of human nature," Snell said. "He enjoyed life."
archive
