Back in April, when I learned Diane, Katie, and Patrick were going to see Noel Coward’s Fallen Angels during Diane’s trip to New York City for Mother’s Day, I grabbed a collection of Noel Coward plays and read Fallen Angels. Last week I watched the play on BroadwayHD.com for $19.95–much less than a Broadway ticket and just as good!
Fallen Angels was published in 1925 and was almost banned because of its licentious premise. Two friends, Julia (O’Hara) and Jane (Byrne), learn that that a handsome Frenchman whom both women had premarital affairs with is coming to town while their husbands are away golfing.
Both women have been married for seven years, but the prospect of an encounter with their former lover excites them. Of course, drinking is involved as the friends wait for the handsome Frenchman to arrive. And, the drinking sparks friction between the two friends. As both women get sloppy drunk, some of the play’s funniest moments occur including slow-motion tumbles down stairs, crawling over armchairs, and hilarious telephone cord tug-of-wars!
Although this play is a 100 years old, it’s still funny and entertaining. Rose Byrne and Kelli O’Hara bring plenty of feisty comedy to their roles. It doesn’t get much better than this! Are you a Noel Coward fan? GRADE: A
Like mad dogs and Englishmen, I would go out in the noonday sun to catch a Noel Coward play.
Jerry, me too! Noel Coward’s FALLEN ANGELS–a 100 years old!–is still funny and clever! Of course, Rose Byrne and Kelli O’Hara delivered incredible performances!
Yes, I’m a Coward fan. Whenever we had a chance to see one of his plays in London, we took it.
We’ve seen:
1973 Private Lives – London – Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens had been replaced by John Standing and Jill Bennett by then. How can you resist a couple deeply in love one minute, then saying, “Some women should be struck regularly, like gongs,” the next.
1974 Noel Coward in Two Keys – Broadway. Originally Suite in Three Keys – three separate plays – starring Coward in 1966. The New York production had only two of the plays – A Song At Twilight and Come Into the Garden, Maud, and starred Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy and Anne Baxter.
1975 – Private Lives (2) – Broadway. Maggie Smith and John Standing.
1981 – Hay Fever – Dublin. We saw this with our friends Bob and Sue on our only trip to Ireland.
1981 – Present Laughter- London, two weeks after the last entry. Donald Sinden starred.
1995 – Cavalcade – London. Jeremy Clyde and Gabrielle Drake starred.
1999 – Hay Fever (2) – Geraldine McEwan and Stephen Mangan.
2000 – Waiting in The Wings – Broadway. Lauren Bacall and Rosemary Harris starred. We saw this with our friends Hal & Sonya Rice.
2010 – Present Laughter (2) – Broadway. Victor Garber starred.
2017 – Present Laughter (3) – Broadway. Kevin Kline starred.
Jeff, that’s an impressive list! I wish I could get PRESENT LAUGHTER with Kevin Kline on Blu-ray. But it’s available on BroadwayHD.com so I’ll have to be satisfied with that.
My cousin just got BroadwayHD.com too, to watch this and Next to Normal (a show I hated).
One more thing: in college, I took several theater courses. At that time I read ALL of Coward’s plays.