Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...There is also wit, frivolity and energy aplenty. Such qualities are de rigeur for Coward. And thanks to the impeccable musical direction of Doug Peck, who accompanies on a baby grand, the purity of the notes and the accuracy of the lyrical articulations are near flawless. But more importantly, the trio of aptly elegant performers — Kate Fry, Rob Lindley, John Sanders — seem trapped together here in some glamorous, dangerous, sexually complex threesome that both reminds us of the banality of our own prosaic life and makes us grateful for comforts that don’t require such obfuscation. And, well, such a lot of hard work."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...The room you find yourself in (a magical set design by Kevin Depinet) has rich architectural molding, a sleek black-and-white tiled floor, potted palms, little tables draped in silver cloth and, most crucially, a grand piano. And all this becomes the ideal backdrop for "Oh, Coward!," the alternately witty and rueful revue of Noel Coward songs initially devised by Roderick Cooke in the early 1970s."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Under Doug Peck's impeccable musical direction, Kate Fry, John Sanders, and Rob Lindley deliver martini-dry takes on Coward classics such as "Why Do the Wrong People Travel?" and find the wistful, self-revelatory heart of "I Travel Alone." Droll but not twee, this show is a delight from start to finish."
Copley News Service - Recommended
"...At his best, and he’s often at his best in this revue, Coward was a brilliant wordsmith, with ingenious rhymes, frequently aimed at satirizing the foibles of his fellow Englishmen and Englishwomen. That talent to amuse permeates the show but does give it an insubstantial feeling. Those stylish, upper class people gliding through life make entertaining company, but after a while their breezy, insouciant attitudes grow, if not tiresome, at least a bit brittle."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...In dozens of plays and hundreds of songs from the first half of the last century, Coward defined a now mostly vanished archetype of urbane British life: witty, elegant and aloof. This revue scatters the Master’s ruminations on travel and social life among 40 or so of his best-known numbers. With its performers in dinner jackets or evening gowns, sipping cocktails in the cabaret-styled space, the piece risks seeming insufferably twee, but a combination of artful arrangement and exquisite realization instead yields a small treasure. Like Mad Men, Oh Coward! briefly resurrects the past in all its unknowable glamour."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Doug Peck’s piano work and his skilled arrangements fueled Coward’s score. The three-part work by this outstanding cast landed favorites like the musical ditties–”Chase Me, Charlie, ” What Ho, Mrs. Brisket” and ‘Has Anybody Seen Our Ship?” The classic Coward songs–”Mrs. Worthington” and “I Went to a Marvelous Party” highlighted this revue."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...Working with a storefront theater's limited capacities has to be even harder in this venue, a "storeback" theater located at the back of a bookstore, but Kevin Depinet was up to the task. We have the feeling of being in someone's drawing room, set up with the first row being cafe tables and the lighting by Jesse Klug sets the mood for each of the numbers. Doug Peck handles the music to perfection and Claudia Anderson's dialect coaching hit the nail on the spot. I know that doing an English accent can be difficult, but going between upper class and Cockney as they do is even harder and at no time did these three performers falter, in song or narration."
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...With a glass of champagne or a martini, party gossip is best delivered with playful wit. OH COWARD! has a superstar tri-fecta! Under The Masters’ (both Coward and Corti) influence, Fry, Lindley and Sanders are beautifully synchronized in songs and stories. The best part of their harmonized performance is the genuine enjoyment that radiates. In true imagined Coward fashion, these three seem to have spontaneously taken over a party with their flawless entertainment skills. OH COWARD! is THE party of the year!"
