The present production of Noel Coward’s Private Livesis, in its totality, an exhilarating experience. A divorced couple, each just re-married, on honeymoons, are in adjoining hotel suites. They meet on the balconies. This first act is a shining classic theatrical gem. Starring Kim Cattrall, an exquisite comedienne with rare comic timing and nuances in her gestures, tones and subtle (and not subtle) actions, and Paul Gross, an excellent actor who gives a fine, straight-ahead performance as these two fight, love, battle, love and hate each other. Cattrall sings, too, and looks lovely. It’s a pleasure to be entertained by her.
Simon Paisley Day is quite convincing as the stiff prig she has just married, and Anna Madeley is a delight as the very pretty, dingy foil for Gross.
Rob Howell’s set for Act One gives us good balcony. For Act Two he gives us a spare, absurd conglomeration of objects, including globes with fish in them and ducks on the walls. His costumes are imaginative, appropriate, inspired.
Act Two has problems — the two leads are alone on the stage. Although sprinkled with fun musical interludes, a terrific dance with zany choreography, piano playing by Gross, Cattrall’s fine singing, this long act has one purpose -- show us the difficulty of their ongoing life together: make love, bicker, dance, make love bicker, music, recapping their past lives together, which gets repetitious and tiring as they lead up to serious conflict. Finally Day and Madeley enter, and there is great comic mayhem. This hilarious finale to the act, concocted by director Richard Eyre, fight director Alison de Burgh and movement director Scarlett Mackmin, is the best chaos/pandemonium in town. The destruction that takes place, the physical action, is absolutely brilliant.
Act Three rolls along with snap as certain things might be resolved (or not), and a good time was had by all. Don’t miss Cattrall; I’m betting on a Tony nomination.
