''Conversation Piece'', billed as "A Romantic Comedy with Music", is a musical written by Noël Coward. It premiered at His Majesty's Theatre, London, on 16 February 1934, and ran for 177 performances over five months. A Broadway production opened at the

44th Street Theatre The 44th Street Theatre was a Broadway theatre located at 216 West 44th Street in New York City from 1912 to 1945. It opened and operated for three years as the Weber and Fields' Music Hall. Its rooftop theatre, the Nora Bayes Theatre, present ...

later that year but ran for only 55 performances.

Background

''Conversation Piece'' was inspired by the book ''The Regent and his Daughter'' by Dormer Creston (1881–1973). Coward wrote the libretto in 1933 while on a sea voyage from

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

to England and composed the score on his return home. From the outset, Coward had the French star

Yvonne Printemps Yvonne Printemps (; born Yvonne Wigniolle; 25 July 1894 – 19 January 1977) was a French singer and actress who achieved stardom on stage and screen in France and internationally. Printemps went on the stage in Paris at the age of 12, and ...

in mind for the leading role of Mélanie, despite the fact that she spoke no English. Printemps agreed to play the part, and with the aid of her future husband,

Pierre Fresnay Pierre Fresnay (4 April 1897 – 9 January 1975) was a French stage and film actor. Biography Born Pierre Jules Louis Laudenbach, he was encouraged by his uncle, actor Claude Garry, to pursue a career in theater and film. He joined the company a ...

, learned the words by rote.Lesley, p. 164 The male lead, Paul, Duc de Chaucigny-Varennes, was given to

Romney Brent Romney Brent (born Romulo Larralde; 26 January 1902 – 24 September 1976) was a Mexican actor, director and dramatist. Most of his career was on stage in North America, but in the 1930s he was frequently seen on the London stage, on television ...

, but during rehearsals Coward came to think Brent was not up to the part, and asked him to relinquish it. On learning that Coward himself proposed to take the role, Brent gladly resigned, "providing you let me still come to rehearsals and watch you find out what a bloody awful part it is." Whether or not Coward came to share Brent's view, he handed the part over to Pierre Fresnay after three months. Other members of the large cast included

Louis Hayward Louis Charles Hayward (19 March 1909 – 21 February 1985) was a Johannesburg-born, British-American actor. Biography Born in Johannesburg, Louis Hayward lived in South Africa and was educated in France and England, including Latymer Upper Scho ...

, Maidie Andrews and

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...

, with

Valerie Hobson Babette Louisa Valerie Hobson (14 April 1917 – 13 November 1998) was a British actress whose film career spanned the 1930s to the early 1950s. Her second husband was John Profumo, a British government minister who became the subject of the P ...

in the chorus. The big tune from the show, "I'll Follow My Secret Heart", caused Coward much difficulty while he was composing the score, and he was on the verge of giving up the whole show: :I poured myself a large whisky and soda... and sat gloomily envisaging everyone's disappointment and facing the fact that my talent had withered and that I should never write any more music until the day I died. ... I switched off the light at the door and noticed that there was one lamp left on by the piano. I walked automatically to turn it off, sat down, and played "I'll Follow My Secret Heart" straight through in G flat, a key I had never played in before. The London production had a truncated run of 177 performances, by contrast with Coward's earlier romantic musical '' Bitter Sweet'', because Printemps had to leave the cast to fulfil a film commitment in France, and no suitable replacement could be found. Later that year, the Broadway run, despite starring Printemps, managed only 55 performances. With the onset of the Depression, times had changed since the success of ''Bitter Sweet'', and ''Conversation Piece'' was unable to find an audience.Suskin, Steven
Coward's ''Conversation Piece''... on LP
Playbill.com, 18 February 2007 In New York, Fresnay played Paul,

Irene Browne Irene Browne (29 June 1896 – 24 July 1965) was an English stage and film actress and singer who appeared in plays and musicals including ''No, No, Nanette''. Later in her career, she became particularly associated with the works of Noël Cowar ...

was Lady Julia, and Carl Harbord was Edward. The London cast released a

cast album A cast recording is a recording of a stage musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording or OCR, as the name implies, features the voices of the sho ...

in 1934. Beginning in the late 1940s, Columbia Records recorded a series of musicals produced by

Goddard Lieberson Goddard Lieberson (April 5, 1911 – May 29, 1977) was the president of Columbia Records from 1956 to 1971, and again from 1973 to 1975. He became president of the Recording Industry Association of America in 1964. He was also a composer, and ...

and musical director

Lehman Engel A. Lehman Engel (born September 14, 1910, Jackson, Mississippi - died August 29, 1982, New York City) was an American composer and conductor of Broadway musicals, television and film. Work in theatre, television and films Engel worked in a variety ...

, including ''Conversation Piece'' in 1951. Coward sang the role of Paul, and the recording featured

opera singer Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretti ...

Lily Pons Alice Joséphine Pons (April 12, 1898 – February 13, 1976), known professionally as Lily Pons, was a French-American operatic soprano and actress who had an active career from the late 1920s through the early 1970s. As an opera singer, she s ...

, the young

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...

Cathleen Nesbitt Cathleen Nesbitt (born Kathleen Mary Nesbitt; 24 November 18882 August 1982) was an English actress. Biography Born in Birkenhead, Cheshire,Before 1 April 1974 Birkenhead was in Cheshire England to Thomas and Mary Catherine (née Parry) Nesb ...

and

Ethel Griffies Ethel Griffies (born Ethel Woods; 26 April 1878 – 9 September 1975) was an English actress of stage, screen, and television. She is remembered for portraying the ornithologist Mrs. Bundy in Alfred Hitchcock's classic '' The Birds'' (1963). Sh ...

Plot

The story is set in Regency Brighton in 1811. Paul, the Duc de Chaucigny-Varennes, an émigré from the terrors of the French Revolution, is passing off Melanie, a beautiful young girl, as his ward – the daughter of an executed friend, the Marquis de Tramont. In fact, Melanie is a dance hall singer. Paul's plan is to marry Melanie to a rich husband such as Edward, Marquis of Sheere, who seeks her hand. The rich Lady Julia Charteris, who is much taken with Paul, encourages Edward's marital plans and tries to woo Paul for herself. But Melanie has long loved Paul, and in a last gamble to turn him away from Lady Julia, she pretends to return to France. Her trick works: Paul realises the depth of his feelings for her and there is a romantic happy ending.

Musical numbers

*Ladies and Gentlemen *Overture *A cloud has passed across the sun *I'll follow my secret heart *Regency rakes *Charming! Charming! Charming! *There's always something fishy about the French *Prologue – Act II *Soldiers! *English lesson – The tree is in the garden *There was once a little village *Melanie's aria – Dear friends *Mothers and wives *Nevermore The Noël Coward Society's website, drawing on performing statistics from the publishers and the

Performing Rights Society PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertakes ...

, ranks "I'll follow my secret heart" among Coward's ten most popular songs."Appendix 3 (The Relative Popularity of Coward's Works)"
, Noël Coward Music Index, accessed 9 March 2009

Notes

References

* Castle, Charles (1974) ''Noël'', Sphere Books, London, *Day, Barry (ed.) (2007) ''The Letters of Noël Coward'', Methuen, London, *Lesley, Cole (1976) ''The Life of Noël Coward'', Jonathan Cape, London, *Morley, Sheridan (1974) ''A Talent to Amuse'', Penguin, London,

External links

Conversation Piece at the IBDB database
* ttp://www.star-dot-star.net/si/007076.html Theatre programme and information about the show {{Noel Coward 1934 musicals West End musicals Original musicals Musicals by Noël Coward