Cowardy Custard
Encyclopedia
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
and was one of the last Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
shows staged during his life. It was devised by Gerard Frow, Alan Strachan and Wendy Toye. A book, also titled Cowardy Custard, was published in connection with the revue, similarly celebrating the Coward image.
The biographical revue premiered in London in 1972, running for 405 performances. A revised version toured in the UK in 2011.
The term "cowardy custard" is a taunt used by schoolchildren in the UK equivalent to "scaredy cat" in the U.S.
History
The working title of the show was Cream of Coward, but CowardNoël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
cabled the producers three months before the opening from his home in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
suggesting Cowardy Custard. He vetoed an alternative suggestion, This Is Noël Coward, which he said was too close to "This Was Noël Coward".
Telling the story of Coward's life through song and biographical snippets, the revue was billed as "An entertainment featuring the words and music of Noël Coward". The Coward numbers featured are songs and scenes from Coward's works of the 1920s to the 1960s, including You were there
Shadow Play (play)
Shadow Play is a short play by Noël Coward, one of ten that make up Tonight at 8:30, a cycle written to be performed across three evenings...
, "Mad About the Boy
Mad About the Boy
Dinah Washington's 1952 recording of "Mad about the Boy" is possibly the most widely known version of the song in modern times. The 6/8-time arrangement for voice and jazz orchestra by Quincy Jones omits two verses and was recorded in the singer's native Chicago on the Mercury label.Washington's...
"; "The Stately Homes of England", "I Wonder What Happened to Him?" and, perhaps most memorably, "Marvellous Party"
I Went to a Marvellous Party
"I Went to a Marvellous Party" is a song with words and music by Noël Coward, written in 1938, and included in the review Set to Music. Although a melody exists, the text is most often recited over a piano accompaniment...
(sung by Patricia Routledge
Patricia Routledge
Katherine Patricia Routledge, CBE is an English character comedy actress and singer. She is best known for her role as character Hyacinth Bucket in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances and Hetty Wainthropp in the British television series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates...
in the original production). The revue also contains previously unpublished material, excerpts of plays and dialogues, material from Coward's autobiographies and some of his poems. Sketches featured include scenes from Shadow Play
Shadow Play (play)
Shadow Play is a short play by Noël Coward, one of ten that make up Tonight at 8:30, a cycle written to be performed across three evenings...
.
The original production and opened at the Mermaid Theatre
Mermaid Theatre
The Mermaid Theatre was a theatre at Puddle Dock, in Blackfriars, in the City of London and the first built there since the time of Shakespeare...
, London, on 10 July 1972 as part of the 1972 City of London Festival
City of London Festival
The City of London Festival is an annual arts festival that takes place in the City of London, England, over two to three weeks in June and July. The Festival is strongly geared towards classical music, but also offers a programme that includes jazz, world music, opera, film screenings, lectures...
and ran for over a year for a total of 405 performances. It was directed by Wendy Toye and employed a cast of twelve (six men and six women), featuring Routledge, Derek Waring
Derek Waring
Derek Waring was an English actor who is best remembered for playing Detective Inspector Goss in Z-Cars from 1969 to 1973...
, John Moffatt, Elaine Delmar
Elaine Delmar
Elaine Delmar is an English singer.She was born as Elaine Hutchinson in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. Her father was the jazz trumpeter Leslie 'Jiver' Hutchinson....
, Una Stubbs
Una Stubbs
Una Stubbs is an English actress and former dancer who has appeared extensively on British television and in the theatre, and less frequently in films. She is particularly known for her roles in the sitcom Till Death Us Do Part and Aunt Sally in the children's series Worzel Gummidge.-Film and...
, Jonathan Cecil, Peter Gale, Anna Sharkey, Geoffrey Burridge
Geoffrey Burridge
Geoffrey Burridge was an English actor noted for his performances in theatre and television.On television, he appeared as Mark Proctor in early episodes of Emmerdale Farm and is also remembered for his guest appearance in Blake's 7 .His extensive theatre credits included many musicals, notably the...
, Laurel Ford, Tudor Davies and Olivia Breeze. The musical director was John Burrows. After its run in London, the show toured the UK with different cast members. It has since been produced by amateur groups. Also in 1972, a revue on similar lines, Oh, Coward!
Oh, Coward!
Oh, Coward! is a musical revue in two acts devised by Roderick Cook and containing music and lyrics by Noël Coward. The revue consists of two men and one woman in formal dress, performing songs based on the following themes: England, family album, travel, theatre, love and women...
, played in New York at the New Theatre, achieving 294 performances.
A recording of the original London production of Cowardy Custard was made by RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
. The production also spawned a book called Cowardy Custard: The World of Noël Coward.
A new version of the show, revised by Strachan, was toured in the UK in spring 2011, starring Dillie Keane
Dillie Keane
Louise M. "Dillie" Keane is an Olivier Award-nominated actress, singer and comedienne. She is perhaps best known as one third of the comedy cabaret trio Fascinating Aida since its 1983 inception, but she has also had a prominent solo career.-Theatre and Fascinating Aida:Keane was nominated for a...
and Kit and The Widow
Kit and The Widow
Kit and The Widow are a double act, performing humorous songs in the vein of Tom Lehrer or Flanders and Swann; they also cite Anna Russell as an influence. They are Kit Hesketh-Harvey and Richard Sisson . They have performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and in West End theatres, and accept private...
, with Stuart Neal and Savanna Stevenson. It includes unpublished material and excerpts from Coward’s diaries and memoirs, as well as the songs and scenes. Charles Spencer
Charles Spencer (journalist)
Charles Spencer is a British journalist. He has been the drama critic of The Daily Telegraph since 1991. In 2006, Compton Miller of The Independent wrote in a profile: "This convivial ex-alcoholic is best remembered for his description of Nicole Kidman's nude scene in The Blue Room as 'pure...
in The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
wrote, "This loving tribute to Noël Coward … now revised for a smaller cast ... is a classy delight … from Dillie Keane's hilariously hooting, rubber-legged drunk-act during 'I've Been to a Marvellous Party' ... to Kit Hesketh-Harvey
Kit Hesketh-Harvey
Christopher John "Kit" Hesketh Harvey is a British musical comic performer, translator, composer and scriptwriter.Born in Nyasaland , he was educated as senior chorister at Canterbury Cathedral and then Tonbridge School in Kent before moving on as a choral scholar under John Rutter to Clare...
's amazing hip-swivelling during the Latin American number 'Nina'."
Musical numbers
From Mermaid Theatre programme, 10 July 1972 and sleeve notes to cast recording, RCA SER 5656/57. Numbers marked * were retained in the 2011 revival (with additional numbers listed below)- Opening medley
- If Love Were All*
- I'll See You AgainI'll See You Again"I'll See You Again" is a song by the English songwriter Sir Noel Coward.It originated in Coward's 1929 operetta Bitter Sweet, however soon emerged as a standard in its own right and became one of Coward's best known compositions...
- Time and Again
- Has Anybody Seen Our Ship?
- Try To Learn To Love
- Kiss Me
- Go Slow, Johnny
- Tokay
- Dearest Love
- Could You Please Oblige Us With a Bren Gun?
- Come the Wild, Wild Weather
- Spinning Song
- Parisian Pierrot
- Play, Orchestra, Play*
- You Were There*
- Any Little Fish*
- A Room With a View*
- When You Want Me*
- Specially for You
- Beatnik Love Affair
- I'm Mad About You
- Poor Little Rich Girl*
- Louisa*
- Mad About the BoyMad About the BoyDinah Washington's 1952 recording of "Mad about the Boy" is possibly the most widely known version of the song in modern times. The 6/8-time arrangement for voice and jazz orchestra by Quincy Jones omits two verses and was recorded in the singer's native Chicago on the Mercury label.Washington's...
* - The Stately Homes of England*
- Twentieth Century Blues*
- I've Been to a Marvellous PartyI Went to a Marvellous Party"I Went to a Marvellous Party" is a song with words and music by Noël Coward, written in 1938, and included in the review Set to Music. Although a melody exists, the text is most often recited over a piano accompaniment...
* - Mrs Worthington*
- Why Must the Show Go On?*
- London sequence
- London PrideLondon Pride (song)"London Pride" is a song written and composed by Noël Coward.- Composition :Coward wrote "London Pride" in the spring of 1941, during the Blitz. According to his own account, he was sitting on a seat on a platform of a damaged railway station in London, and was "overwhelmed by a wave of sentimental...
* - London is a Little Bit of All Right
- What Ho, Mrs Brisket
- Don't Take our Charlie for the Army
- Saturday Night at the Rose and Crown
- London at Night
- London Pride
- There are Bad Times Just Around the Corner*
- Alice is at it Again*
- The Passenger's Always Right
- Useless Useful Phrases*
- Why Do the Wrong People Travel?*
- Mad Dogs and EnglishmenMad Dogs and Englishmen (song)"Mad Dogs and Englishmen" is a song written by Noël Coward and first performed in The Third Little Show at the Music Box Theatre, New York, on 1 June 1931, by Beatrice Lillie. The following year it was used in the revue Words and Music and also released in a "studio version"...
* - Nina*
- I Like America
- Bronxville Darby and Joan*
- I Wonder What Happened to Him*
- Miss Mouse
- Let's Do ItLet's Do It, Let's Fall in Love"Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" is a popular song written in 1928 by Cole Porter. It was introduced in Porter's first Broadway success, the musical Paris by French chanteuse Irène Bordoni for whom Porter had written the musical as a starring vehicle...
(music by Cole PorterCole PorterCole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
; lyrics rewritten by Coward "with some additional topical lines") - Closing medley
- Touring Days*
- Nothing Can Last Forever*
- Would You Like to Stick a Pin in my Balloon?
- Mary Make-Believe
- Dance, Little Lady
- Man About Town
- Forbidden Fruit
- Sigh No More
- There's a Younger Generation
- I'll Follow my Secret Heart
- If Love Were All
2011 version
In addition to the numbers marked with an asterisk above, the 2011 revival of the show featured:- Together with Music
- Some Day I'll Find You
- In a Boat on a Lake
- The Coconut Girl
- I Travel Alone
- Never Again