Noel Coward
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When novelist Charles Condomine invites a medium into his house in order to learn about the occult for his new book, the last thing he or his second wife dream is that the séance will bring back his first wife, Elvira, who wants Charles all to herself! Things are further complicated by the fact that only Charles can see her, which results in some hilarious exchanges and misunderstandings. Elvira's plots to get him to 'the other side' do not go to...
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Julia and Fred and Willy and Jane are happily married and the best of friends, until a postcard arrives with news of the imminent arrival of a certain handsome Frenchman. Gay, debonair, and utterly sophisticated. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Annette Bening, Harriet Harris, Judith Ivey, Joe Mantegna, John Rubinstein and Kristoffer Tabori.
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A gallery of friends, lovers, relatives and theatre acolytes sparkle around stage star Garry Essendine like bubbles in fine champagne. While Garry struggles to plan his upcoming trip to Africa, his elegant London flat is invaded by a love struck ingénue, an adulterous producer and a married seductress–not to mention Garry's estranged wife Liz and the memorable Roland Maule, an aspiring playwright who is quite, quite mad. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast...
4) Hay Fever
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A country house weekend goes haywire when the guests and their hosts play a game of romantic musical chairs. This 1920's masterpiece is filled with wit, sexual sophistication and Coward's biting commentary on his own profession. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Tate Donovan, Arabella Field, Joy Gregory, Jeffrey Jones, Lynne Marta, Serena Scott Thomas, Carolyn Seymour, Eric Stoltz and Simon Templeman.
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Three terminally stylish friends, who share rivalrous affections, attempt to uncoil their twisted love triangle in this sexy and scandalous gem. Written in 1932, the play was deemed extremely daring, and even by today's standards is considered controversial. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Michelle Arthur, Claire Forlani, Thomas Hildreth, Tim Morrison, Sarah Rafferty, Douglas Weston and Hamish Linklater.
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Six phenomenally sophisticated Noel Coward comedies in one beautiful collection: Blithe Spirit; Design for Living; Fallen Angels; Hay Fever; Present Laughter; Private Lives. Six full-cast performances featuring: Annette Bening, Joe Mantegna, Eric Stoltz, Yeardley Smith, Shirley Knight, Ian Ogilvy and many more.
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On the French Rivera, the lights of a yacht are reflected in the water and in the eyes of four hilariously mismatched lovers. Perhaps Coward's greatest comedy, Private Lives shimmers with wit, romance, desire and bittersweet truth. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Rosalind Ayres, Marnie Mosiman, Ian Ogilvy, Begonya Piazza and Kristoffer Tabori.
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"The book Noël Coward wanted, promised, threatened to write—and never did. Including essays, interviews, diary entries, verse, his views on his fellow playwrights: 'My Colleague Will,' Shaw, Wilde, Chekhov, Barrie, Maugham, Eliot, Osborne, Albee, Beckett, Miller, Williams, Rattigan, Pinter, and Shaffer. Coward on the critics—many of whom irritated him over the years but came to admire him: James Agate, Alexander Woollcott, Graham Greene, Kenneth...
11) Blithe spirit
Series
Criterion collection volume 606
Description
A sprightly supernatural comedy with winning performances, David Lean's delightful film version of Noel Coward's theater sensation stars Rex Harrison as a novelist who cheekily invites a medium to his house, accidentally summoning the spirit of his dead first wife--a severe inconvenience for his current one.
12) Brief encounter
Series
Criterion collection volume 76
Description
Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson star as middle-class suburbanites whose casual friendship evolves into a passionate yearning for each other. But as their affections grow stronger, they must face a difficult decision that will affect both of their lives forever.
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Vacuum cleaner salesman Jim Wormold is recruited by the British Secret Service. He becomes an unlikely agent in Cuba. To avoid working while cashing the checks, Wormold spins a web of lies about foreign government secrets. When the local coppers decode his fake messages, all hell breaks loose in Havana and Wormold must become the spy he dreads in order to survive his own swindle.
14) Blithe spirit
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"Best selling crime novelist Charles suffers from terrible writer's block and is struggling to finish his first screenplay. His picture-perfect new wife Ruth is doing her best to keep him focused so they can fulfill her dream of leaving London for Hollywood. Charles' quest for inspiration leads him to invite the eccentric mystic Madame Acarti to perform a seþance in his home. He gets more than he bargained for when Madame Acarti inadvertently summons...
15) The Italian job
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Charlie, the mastermind of a Venice heist, is overseen by John, a lifelong criminal. But the thieves are ruthlessly double-crossed by one of their own, Steve. In order to get their stolen gold bars back, Charlie enlists John's reluctant safecracking-prodigy daughter, Stella. But Steve proves himself to be one step ahead of them, and Charlie finds that he'll have to make some daring last-minute changes to their plan by creating the largest traffic...
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A rich uncle announces he has a terminal illness and plans to leave his estate to one of his sister's children but under one condition. The family scrambles to accommodate his needs and meet the requirements of the inheritance. Mrs. Dermott is a widow and mother of five adult children-Oliver, Evangeline, Sylvia, Bobbie and Joyce. They live together in a large country house that they can no longer afford. The children are stagnant with no careers or...
18) Easy virtue
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John Whittaker is a young Englishman who falls madly in love with Larita, a sexy, glamorous American woman. The two impulsively decide to get married. He takes her home to meet his family, she arrives like a blast from the future. John's mother takes an instant disliking to Larita and undermines her every move. But Larita will blow their entrenched British stuffiness right out the window.