No\u00ebl Coward was a man of many talents. Besides writing witty plays like \u201cPrivate Lives\u201d and \u201cBlithe Spirit,\u201d he was a prolific songwriter.<\/p>\n
\u201cCowardy Custard,\u201d presented by Stanford Repertory Theater, provides a tasty sampling of those songs, performed by four engaging young singers.<\/p>\n
In this show devised by Alan Strachan, Gerald Frow and Wendy Toye, the 20 songs are narrative or satirical. \u00a0Directed by Brendon Martin, it starts on a snappy note with the foursome marching in singing \u201cHas Anybody Seen Our Ship?\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the highlights are \u201cMad Dogs and Englishmen,\u201d sung by student Andre Amarotico and recent graduate Dante Belletti, and \u201cDon’t Put Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington,\u201d sung by student Samantha Rose Williams. She and student Ellen Woods are featured in \u201cMad About You.\u201d<\/p>\n
Belletti returns in \u201cMad About the Boy\u201d as Amarotico seems indifferent. This song is an apparent reference to Coward’s closeted homosexuality, but this production then steers away from that as the two women join in.<\/p>\n
Other highlights are \u201cSomeday I\u2019ll Find You,\u201d followed by the concluding \u201cI\u2019ll See You Again,\u201d featuring all four.<\/p>\n
Woods is a sweet-voiced soprano, while Williams has a more operatic voice with a wide range. Local audiences may recall her as Eliza Doolittle in Broadway by the Bay\u2019s \u201cMy Fair Lady.\u201d Both men sing well, too.<\/p>\n
All four are multi-talented, executing choreography by Jamie Yuen-Shore.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re accompanied by three fine young musicians: Wyatt Smitherman on violin, Christopher Davis on bass and music director Makulumy Alexander-Hills on piano.<\/p>\n
The show is presented in the Nitery Theater in Old Union. It\u2019s an intimate space with four rows of theater seats on a riser plus round tables, mostly for four, dispersed through the rest of the space.<\/p>\n
The only drawback is that it isn\u2019t air-conditioned, so it can become quite warm even though SRT provides a bottle of water at each seat.<\/p>\n
Running about 75 minutes with no intermission, \u201cCowardy Custard\u201d is the concluding feature of SRT\u2019s No\u00ebl Coward Festival. It featured several events, including a topnotch production of \u201cHay Fever,\u201d with Amarotico in the cast.<\/p>\n