Mad Dogs & Educated Fleas: Noël & Cole, A Battle of Wits

by Mark Waldrop

For much of the 20th century, Noël Coward (1899-1973) and Cole Porter (1891-1964) epitomized chic and breezy sophistication. Their brand of urbane, irreverent, high-society wit mirrored, if not the public’s actual experience, then its aspirations. People from all classes enjoyed their racy comedy numbers peppered with references to current events and celebrities, nightclubbing and freewheeling love affairs. In a period where the word “elite” had yet to acquire any negative connotation, it was as though everyone was invited to the party and eager to join in the fun. 

As comic lyricists, Porter and Coward shared many traits. Both were master craftsmen, creating complex song structures that showcased their virtuosity with internal rhymes, rapid-fire patter sections and dazzling wordplay. Both possessed a kind of verbal mischief that allowed them to dance around the very limits of good taste and get away with it. Both delighted in pushing the envelope on what subject matter was suitable for songs—and they dealt more frankly with sex than any of their contemporaries. And, of course, both Coward and Porter turned those lyric-writing talents to first-rate ballads, too. Perhaps most significantly, both wrote the music as well as the words, so their best songs have a seamless, quirky freshness that springs from the two elements being born together, rather than one being imposed on the other.

There were differences. Yes, Porter was one of the world’s preeminent songwriters. Coward shared that distinction—but his multifaceted career extended to being a successful actor, playwright, screenwriter, director, poet, memoirist and cabaret performer as well. Both were cosmopolitan world travelers, but Porter was American and Coward was quintessentially English. Porter was born into a very wealthy midwestern family and attended both Yale and Harvard before taking up residence in Paris to pursue his songwriting career. Coward was born into what he described as genteel poverty outside London and never attended college at all, going onto the stage at age 11 and never leaving. Both would always be acutely class-conscious, but they started out on opposite sides of the divide.

Their friendship dated from their first meeting in Paris in the 1920’s —when Coward was already an internationally-famous boy-wonder, and Porter, a relative late-starter, was still striving towards success—and lasted to the day Noël sadly noted Cole’s passing in his diary 40 years later. Throughout their careers, they were often compared, and a good-natured rivalry developed. Each was always keenly aware of the other. They parodied each other, saluted each other and interpolated references to each other into their lyrics. On several occasions, Coward borrowed Porter tunes (with Cole’s blessing) and supplied his own words. Once, late in his career, Porter found himself stuck on a lyric and asked Coward for suggestions; Coward happily obliged.

Lyrics & Lyricists has given each of these gentlemen his own evening many times before. It’s my hope that in this show, looking at their work—and especially their comic numbers—side by side, we can offer a fresh perspective on what made them so great. As a lyricist myself, I can’t think of two artists I’d rather celebrate, and I’m thrilled to share the stage with a group of wonderful performers who share my enthusiasm for this material. I hope you enjoy it.

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Here is a selection of songs from the upcoming Lyrics & Lyricists program, “Mad Dogs & Educated Fleas: Noël & Cole, A Battle of Wits.” Program is subject to change.

A BAR ON THE PICCOLA MARINA (1954)
Lyrics and music by Noël Coward

BEGIN THE BEGUINE
Lyrics and music by Cole Porter
From Jubilee / Musical (1935)  

THE EXTRA MAN
Lyrics and music by Cole Porter
Cut from Wake Up and Dream / Revue (1929)

I went to a marvelous party
Lyrics and music by Noël Coward
From Set to Music / Revue (1938)

IT’S DE-LOVELY
Lyrics and music by Cole Porter
From Red, Hot and Blue / Musical (1936)

(Let's Do It) Let's Fall in Love
Lyrics & music by Cole Porter
From Paris / Musical (1928)

LONDON PRIDE
Lyrics and music by Noël Coward
From Up and Doing / Revue (1941)

LOVE FOR SALE
Lyrics and music by Cole Porter
From The New Yorkers / Musical (1930)

MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN
Lyrics and music by Noël Coward
From The Third Little Show / Revue (1931)

MISS OTIS REGRETS (1934)
Lyrics and music by Cole Porter

(DON'T PUT YOUR DAUGHTER ON THE STAGE,)MRS. WORTHINGTON (1935)
Lyrics & music by Noël Coward

NINA
Lyrics and music by Noël Coward
From Sigh No More / Revue (1945)

The TALE OF an OYSTER
Lyrics and music by Cole Porter
From Fifty Million Frenchmen / Musical (1929)

THAT IS THE END OF THE NEWS
Lyrics & music by Noël Coward
From Sigh No More / Revue (1945)  

YOU’RE THE TOP
Lyrics and music by Cole Porter; additional lyrics by Noël Coward
From Anything Goes / Musical (1934)

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Don Rebic

Don Rebic has been a composer, musical director and pianist for more than 30 years. He began his career as musical director for the 1977 Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar. His other Broadway credits include conducting staff and/or keyboardist for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Sweet Charity with Debbie Allen, Little Johnny Jones with Donny Osmond, Anything Goes with Patti LuPone and others. He conducted the national companies of Dancin’ and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and he was associate conductor for the North American tour of Kiss of the Spider Woman, staring Chita Rivera.

As a musical director and accompanist, Mr. Rebic has worked with such headlining vocalists as Peggy Lee, Kiri Te Kanawa, Barbara Cook, Karen Akers, Mary Cleere Haran, Maureen McGovern and Ricky Martin. As a jazz pianist, he has played with stars like Randy Brecker, Warren Vaché, Jesse Davis, Jeff Hamilton, Peter Erskine and the Mingus Big Band. In 2005, he released his first solo CD, Together, with the Don Rebic Trio.

Mr. Rebic composes and orchestrates with his partner, Emmy Award winner Patty Stotter. They have produced scores for HBO documentaries, including Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives. He has written more than 50 songs with lyricists Laura Theodore, Sara Krieger of New York Voices and Carol Hall of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Mr. Rebic holds degrees from Oberlin College and Indiana University as a classical pianist, and he continues as a concerto soloist and orchestra conductor. He is currently the artistic director of Singers Forum, a nonprofit organization in New York City which fosters the development and appreciation of the vocal arts. His website is donrebic.com.

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La Tanya Hall

La Tanya Hall’s versatility in a variety of musical genres has allowed her to travel the globe and work with some of the world’s most celebrated artists, including Diana Ross, Quincy Jones, Michael Feinstein, Patti Labelle, Harry Belafonte, Steve Tyrell and Aretha Franklin. She recently completed a world tour with Rob Thomas that included appearances on Late Show with David Letterman, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Today.

Ms. Hall is greatly in demand as an accomplished singer and actress, having lent her skills to numerous recording projects and theater, movie and television appearances. Her Broadway and New York theater performances include the role of Deena in the last national tour of Dreamgirls; Promises, Promises for New York City Center Encores!; and Sally in A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden. She is prominently featured on Bobby McFerrin’s 2010 release Vocabularies (Universal Music). Her first studio album, It’s About Time, was released on Bridge Records in early 2009 and has garnered enthusiastic international reviews. Accompanying her is a big band made up of many of New York’s leading jazz soloists and sidemen, performing arrangements by renowned orchestrator Angelo DiPippo. Her TV shows include Blue Bloods as Sabine Winston, Law & Order, 100 Centre Street, The Sopranos and Now and Again.

This is Ms. Hall’s eighth Lyrics & Lyricists appearance; she made her debut in the 2001 Duke Ellington show and appeared in last year’s The Crowd’s at El Morocco show. Raised in Texas and Colorado, she began singing professionally at age 13 with her father, a jazz pianist who performed all over the world. Her website is latanyahall.com.

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Jeff Harnar

Jeff Harnar is making his 13th appearance at Lyrics & Lyricists. He was artistic director and host of The 1959 Broadway Songbook, which subsequently ran Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters, and he last appeared in 2010’s Misty: Johnny Burke After Hours. Mr. Harnar is one of today’s leading cabaret artists, whose New York venues have included Feinstein’s at the Regency and The Metropolitan Room. He was featured in both the Cole Porter and Noel Coward Centennial Galas at Carnegie Hall. Last June, Mr. Harnar and Andrea Marcovicci celebrated Cole Porter’s birthday at Town Hall with their tribute Easy to Love. Together they will co-host a Cole Porter evening at Lincoln Center on October 18 for the Mabel Mercer Foundation’s 2012 Cabaret Convention. 

In the UK, Mr. Harnar conceived and hosted three seasons of The American Songbook in London. Under his banner, he has presented critically acclaimed engagements by Steve Ross, Maureen McGovern, Karen Akers, Julie Wilson, Liliane Montevecchi, Tony DeSare and KT Sullivan, among many others. He tours nationally with Shauna Hicks in their symphony “pops” concert I Got Rhythm: Mickey & Judy’s Hollywood, which was recorded live at Town Hall. A personal career highlight was opening for The McGuire Sisters on their reunion tour.

Mr. Harnar’s television appearances include The 1959 Broadway Songbook and Remember: Songs of the Holidays for PBS. His four solo recordings, arranged and conducted by Alex Rybeck, are The 1959 Broadway Songbook, Because of You: Fifties Gold, Sammy Cahn All The Way and Dancing in The Dark (PS Classics). Mr. Harnar has won three MAC Awards and four Back Stage Bistro Awards. His website is jeffharnar.com.

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Edward Hibbert

Edward Hibbert was born in New York City and trained at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He most recently appeared on Broadway in Mrs. Warren’s Profession with Cherry Jones, and his other Broadway credits include Curtains, The Drowsy Chaperone, Noises Off, The Green Bird, Me and My Girl and his debut—Eva Le Gallienne’s final Broadway production, Alice in Wonderland. Off-Broadway, Mr. Hibbert received an Obie Award for Jeffrey, and he appeared as Oscar Wilde in Gross Indecency; The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and in The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, My Night With Reg and Privates on Parade. He was also in New York City Center Encores! productions of Anyone Can Whistle and Lady in the Dark.

Mr. Hibbert received a Barrymore Award for John/James Jeckyll in Love! Valour! Compassion! at Philadelphia’s Plays & Players and a Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven. Among his other regional credits are The School for Scandal at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, Rough Crossing at the Bay Street Theatre on Long Island and most recently It Shoulda Been You at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick. He appeared on London’s West End in The Mystery of Irma Vep, Lend Me a Tenor, Hamlet and Twelfth Night.

Among his many television appearances, Mr. Hibbert may be best known as Gil Chesterton on NBC’s Frasier. His film work includes include Taking Woodstock, The Prestige, The Paper, Everyone Says I Love You, The First Wives Club and as the voice of Zazu in the videos The Lion King 2 and 1½. His website is edwardhibbert.com.

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Colleen McHugh

Singer, writer, actor and comic Colleen McHugh began her career as a cabaret artist in Chicago, performing award-winning acts ranging from Harold Arlen and Randy Newman songbooks to Tales of Revenge & Regret. After spending several years writing and performing with Second City’s national touring company, she moved to New York City and made her debut at the King King Room.

Ms. McHugh has since made her Carnegie Hall debut as a special guest artist in Michael Feinstein’s Now and Then concert series, and she was part of a Lincoln Center tribute to Jerry Herman. She has regularly been a featured performer in the Mabel Mercer Foundation’s Cabaret Conventions in New York, Chicago, East Hampton and Philadelphia. In 2008, Ms. McHugh began her Calendar Girl Project: the creation and presentation of a completely different cabaret show every month, for one night only. She has won a 2011 Back Stage Bistro Award, and she has been a 2011 Nightlife Award finalist and a 2012 MAC Award nominee.

In 2005, Ms. McHugh released her debut album, Songs of Self-Delusion, which has been selected as an iTunes Essential. Her second CD, Prêt-à-Porter, featuring Cole Porter’s French-connected songs, will be released on July 9 and be celebrated with a performance at the Birdland Jazz Club. Ms. McHugh has performed in comedy sketches on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and The Colbert Report. She writes original material for theater and cabaret performers, and she writes and produces Reel 13, the weekly classic film series for THIRTEEN-WNET. She holds a degree in history & architecture from the University of Illinois. Her website is colleenmchugh.com.

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T. Oliver Reid

Making his Lyrics & Lyricists debut with these performances, T. Oliver Reid received the 2012 MAC Award for Debut Artist-Male and the 2011 Julie Wilson Award from the Mabel Mercer Foundation. Mr. Reid was the winner of the Metropolitan Room’s “2010 Metrostar Challenge,” which was followed by a one-week run at the club, and he was a featured artist at the opening night galas of the 2010 and 2011 New York Cabaret Conventions. He has also performed at the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel and the Gardenia Supper Club in Los Angeles.

Mr. Reid made his Broadway debut in Kiss Me, Kate with Marin Mazzie and Bryan Stokes Mitchell, and he has since appeared in Follies, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Never Gonna Dance, La Cage aux Folles, Chicago, The Wedding Singer, Mary Poppins and Sister Act. He also appeared in the New York City Center Encores! Summer Stars production of Damn Yankees; the Musicals in Mufti production of Fanny; “Cotton Club Parade,” a joint venture between New York City Center and Jazz at Lincoln Center; and the 25th anniversary concert performance of Dreamgirls. Two days after graduating from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Mr. Reid was cast for the second national tour of Once on This Island. He subsequently performed in a national tour of Guys & Dolls and various regional theaters before moving to New York City.

Along with many cast recordings, Mr. Reid’s debut album, Do I Love You, on the Yellow Sound Lab label, is available on iTunes and amazon.com. His TV credits include Sex & the City and Mercy. His website is toliverreid.com.

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Harriet Harris

Harriet Harris received the 2002 Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her performance as Mrs. Meers in Thoroughly Modern Millie. She was last seen on Broadway in the 2010 revival of Present Laughter, and her other Broadway credits include Cry Baby: The Musical, Old Acquaintance and The Man Who Came to Dinner with Nathan Lane, which was broadcast live on PBS. Last fall, she was seen in Standing on Ceremony: the Gay Marriage Plays and the 2011 Fringe Festival smash hit, Yeast Nation. She received Drama Desk nominations for Jeffrey and Bella, Belle of Byelorussia, and her other New York credits include The Crucible, Man and Superman, Innocents’ Crusade, Christmas on Mars, Rude Entertainment, Macbeth with Raul Julia, Hamlet with Kevin Kline and various productions as a member of The Acting Company.

Ms. Harris just finished a run as Judith Bliss in Noël Coward’s Hay Fever at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Her many other regional credits include It Shoulda Been You, directed by David Hyde Pierce, at the George Street Playhouse, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd at Barrington Stage, Vera in Mame at the Kennedy Center, Amanda in The Glass Menagerie at the Guthrie and Madame Dilly in On the Town at the Paper Mill Playhouse and Reprise Theatre Company, which won her the LA Ovation Award.

Among Ms. Harris’ television appearances are the recurring roles of agent Bebe Glazer in Frasier and Felicia Tillman in Desperate Housewives; regular roles in It’s All Relative, Union Square and The Five Mrs. Buchanans; and guest appearances in Six Feet Under and The X-Files. Her film credits include Memento, Monster-in-Law, Nurse Betty and Addams Family Values. 

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Kyle Brand

Assistant stage manager Kyle Brand has been an assistant for Mark Waldrop on two occasions: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the Paper Mill Playhouse and The Sound of Music at the Olney Theatre Center, north of Washington, DC. As a choreographer, Mr. Brand has worked on Anything Goes, Guys and Dolls, Man of La Mancha at Monomoy Theatre in Chatham, MA, and 110 in the Shade for The Hartt School. Regionally, he has been in Hartford Stage’s A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas and was a part of Goodspeed Musicals’ “Festival of New Artists” in a stage reading of Lincoln in Love, with music by David Friedman.

Recently, Mr. Brand has choreographed and sung back-up vocals for the new band Manicanparty and their first single “Rebels in the Light.” Currently he is a member of the new modern dance company Maya Kite and Dancers. This summer, he will return to the Monomoy Theatre to choreograph its production of Cabaret and play the role of the Emcee. Mr. Brand holds a BFA in music theatre from the University of Hartford, The Hartt School.

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Sean Harkness

Guitarist Sean Harkness recently won the 2012 MAC Award for Recording of the Year for his sixth release, H2: Home for the Holidays, with trumpeter Mike Herriott, on the Opening Day Entertainment label. This follows dual wins in 2011: the MAC Award for Debut Artist—Male and the Back Stage Bistro Award for Instrumentalist. Mr. Harkness has worked with Broadway singers such as Colleen McHugh, Billy Stritch, Alison Fraser, Susan Egan and Carole Demas.

Mr. Harkness has appeared in New York’s leading jazz, cabaret, folk and rock venues, including Birdland, The Jazz Standard, The Blue Note, Cutting Room and Joe’s Pub, and he hosts a new series, “Duos,” on the first Thursday night of each month at the Metropolitan Room with many illustrious guests. Mr. Harkness was the guitarist for the late Jewish singer Debbie Friedman, and he performs regularly with Craig Taubman and Josh Nelson. His website is seanharkness.com.

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Dick Sarpola

Bass player Dick Sarpola plays on Broadway in Nice Work If You Can Get It and has played for more than a dozen other Broadway shows. He toured internationally with Liza Minnelli for more than nine years and has performed with other stars like Sammy Davis, Jr., Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Michael Feinstein, Barbara Cook and Karen Akers.

Mr. Sarpola has also performed and recorded with such jazz notables as George Shearing, Mel Tormé, Peggy Lee, Marian McPartland, Fred Hersch and Howard Alden, and he has appeared at international jazz festivals, including the Newport, JVC and Kool jazz fests. His big band experience includes the Village Vanguard Orchestra, Woody Herman Orchestra and John Fedchock New York Big Band. In the studio, Mr. Sarpola has worked with such diverse artists as Lenny Kravitz, Sting, Celine Dion, Judy Collins and Rufus Wainwright, and he can be heard on the soundtracks of nearly 100 major films.

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Ray Marchica

Ray Marchica is the drummer for Mamma Mia, and has played for such shows as A Chorus Line, Woman of the Year and Damn Yankees. Mr. Marchica has accompanied artists like Leslie Uggams, Bernadette Peters, Betty Buckley, Tommy Tune, Joel Grey, Michael Feinstein, Shirley Bassey, James Naughton and Marilyn Maye.

A graduate of Brooklyn College, Mr. Marchica is a member of The Ed Palermo Big Band, Gary Morgan & PanAmericana! Latin Jazz Orchestra and Mike Longo & the NY State of the Art Jazz Ensemble. He was the drummer for The Rosie O’Donnell Show and the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, and he has recorded with James Brown, Little Richard, Dan Hartman, Roy Buchanan, Amanda Brecker and Barbra Streisand, among others. Mr. Marchica has recorded two CDs with his own group, including In the Ring on the Sons of Sound label. His website is raymarchica.com.

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