Noel Coward's totally-irresistible comedy, Present Laughter, follows a self-obsessed actor (is there any other kind?) in the midst of a mid-life crisis. Freely indulging his considerable appetite for wine, women and sleeping late (not necessarily in that order), the theatre's favorite leading man suddenly finds himself caught between fawning ingenues, crazed playwrights, secret trysts and unexpected twists.
Present Laughter first premiered on Broadway at the Plymouth Theatre in 1946, following an immensely successful wartime tour starring Coward himself. One of his most produced and beloved works, Present Laughter has come to define Coward's singular comedic voice for generations of theatergoers. In addition to Coward, some of the world's most accomplished stage actors, including the likes of Albert Finney, Peter O'Toole, and Ian McKellen, have played the lead role.
Kline's nimble hands deserve their own applause from theatergoers at the St. James. He employs them like semaphore flags, punctuating moments. Like when he turns one of his mitts into a muzzle to quiet a gabby young conquest (Tedra Millan). At times you'd like to hush the talky play, which Coward wrote in 1939. It wasn't performed until 1942, due to the onset of World War II. Set over a couple days in Garry's London home, the action tends to go in circles as he prepares to go on tour in Africa. He ends up juggling seductions and interruptions and moaning about craving solitude. As if. He lives for an audience.
Kevin Kline leads a talented cast in a rather plodding revival of Noël Coward's 'Present Laughter,' an intimate comedy on the boards at the not-so-intimate St. James Theatre. For this, the 1939 comedy's sixth Broadway outing, Kline, 69, plays a successful light comedy actor of 57, who spends much of the play pretending to be in his mid-40s.
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