A Coward revue at the 1968 Vancouver International Festival called
And Now Noël Coward…: An Agreeable Impertinence, was created and directed by
Roderick Cook and starred
Dorothy Loudon. It received scathing reviews from the critics. It was soon revised and presented on Broadway, with mostly the same cast, as ''Noël Coward's Sweet Potato
. Though it received slightly better notices, it lasted only 44 performances. Cook again reshaped the material, as Oh, Coward!'', premiering the work in Toronto in 1970, then touring it to Boston and Chicago. The Toronto production had a cast led by Cook,
Tom Kneebone and
Dinah Christie, with
Herbie Helbig serving as music director. Helbig wrote new arrangements for this version.
Oh, Coward! opened
Off-Broadway with a new cast on 4 October 1972 and was one of the last Noël Coward shows staged during his life. It played for 294 performances at the
New Theatre. Its cast included
Barbara Cason,
Jamie Ross and Cook, who also directed the revue. A London production opened on 5 June 1975 at the
Criterion Theatre, starring Cook, Ross and
Geraldine McEwan, and ran until 2 August 1975. The show later played on Broadway beginning on 17 November 1986 at the
Helen Hayes Theatre, where it ran for 56 performances. Again directed by and starring Cook, the cast also featured
Catherine Cox and
Patrick Quinn. The production received two
Tony Award nominations, Best Actor and Actress in a Musical for Cook and Cox. Of the London production,
Michael Billington of
The Guardian wrote, "the star performer is undeniably Mr Cook himself... with a dangerous tooth-baring smile... he delivers each syllable of each song with a clinical, omniscient precision. Geraldine McEwan, willowy and acidulous in white satin, likewise realises that merciless articulation is the key to Coward performing, and Jamie Ross amiably makes up the trio in the manner of someone completing a country house party."
The New York Times review of the 1986 production noted, "The performance is determinedly low-key and genteel, in keeping with its source. Neither in the selection of material nor in the performances does the show overstep into self-parody, as is often the case in other musical anthologies. As before, Mr. Cook lets Coward speak and sing for himself, which he does, trippingly." A review of the
original cast recording compared it with the contemporary London show,
Cowardy Custard: "The formula is much the same, a show made out of Noël Coward's writing and composing. Where it differs is that
Cowardy Custard was a carefully co-ordinated revue, this is more of a cabaret entertainment, the songs being delivered by the three performers without, as far as one can judge from the recording, any attempt at staging, accompanied by two pianos, bass, drums and percussion... the Coward enthusiast will note the first recording ever of his early trio 'Bright Young People'." ==Songs==