April 17, 2009 - August 29, 2009

“Star Quality: I don’t know what it is, but I’ve got it,” said Noël Coward with his inimitable style, cigarette in hand and twinkle in his eye.
  
For many Coward is known purely as a playwright, creating such classics as Private Lives, Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, and Design for Living, or as the composer of such timeless songs as “Mad About the Boy,” “I’ll See You Again,” and “Mad Dogs and Englishmen.”  Star Quality is the first exhibition to show the full extent of his prodigious talents as a director of plays and movies, actor, cabaret artist, wartime patriot, painter, and patron of charitable causes, as well as his knack for celebrity and his gift for sustaining warm and enduring friendships. 

With unparalleled access to the Coward Archives and drawing on public and private collections in Europe and the U.S., the exhibition brings together dozens of rare photographs, drawings, paintings, original manuscripts, letters to and from a range of luminaries, sheet music,  posters, playbills, set and costume designs, personal memorabilia, audio and video clips, and original costumes, including several of the silk dressing gowns that became Coward’s trademark.

Star Quality: The World of Noël Coward, curated by Brad Rosenstein and Rosy Runciman (UK), was the third incarnation of an exhibition that began its life as Noël Coward in Ten, an exhibition at Ten Chimneys, the Wisconsin home of Coward's dear friends Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. 

Star Quality: Aspects of Noël Coward evolved from the earlier exhibition, and subsequently ran at London’s National Theatre in early 2008 in celebration of what might be termed “Dad’s Second Renaissance.”   "Dad’s first Renaissance" had taken place at the National in 1964 with the presentation of a star-studded production of Hay Fever directed by Coward himself.   In 2008 the National Theatre production was Present Laughter, complemented by the publication of The Letters of Noël Coward edited by Barry Day, the release of a seven-DVD set The Noël Coward Collection, and the exhibition.  The San Francisco show is organized around 15 photographic panels highlighting various aspects of Coward’s life and career, produced by Ten Chimneys and featuring text by Barry Day, the pre-eminent Coward scholar.

Alan Brodie, chairman of the Noël Coward Foundation, said “We are delighted that Star Quality: The World of Noël Coward has been able to enlarge on the original exhibition concept and show Coward’s equally important contribution to American cultural life.  San Francisco was a city Noël Coward loved and visited often.  It is entirely appropriate that this exhibition should take place there, and we are indebted to the Museum of Performance & Design for presenting it.”

This exhibition and related programs were made possible in part by the generous support and assistance of The Mark Ross Foundation, The Noël Coward Foundation, Ten Chimneys Foundation, and the following: American Conservatory Theater, Anonymous Benefactor, Aurora Theatre Company, The Mervyn L. Brenner Foundation, California Shakespeare Theater, Compton Foundation, Inc., 42nd Street Moon, Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation, The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, George Frederick Jewett Foundation, Lamplighters Music Theatre, Morgan Stanley Foundation, The Painters Place, Paragon Community Fund, San Francisco Arts Commission, The San Francisco Foundation, San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund/Grants for the Arts,  The Drs. Ben & Jess A. Shenson Foundation, Theatre Rhinoceros, Wallis Foundation, the Russell Hartley Society of the Museum of Performance & Design, the Board and staff of the War Memorial Performing Arts Center, and the Members of the Museum of Performance & Design.

MPD expresses its deepest thanks to the following for their assistance and for making materials available for this exhibition:  Alan Brodie Representation, Noël Coward Estate, Delfont Mackintosh Theatres, The Raymond Mander & Joe Mitchenson Theatre Collection, Ten Chimneys Foundation, Special Collections, University of Birmingham, Warner-Chappell Music, Inc., and the following: Academy Film Archive, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Trustees of the Broadlands Archives, Ned Comstock, Michael Cox, Dany Dasto, Barry Day, Alexandra Délétroz, Alan Farley, Lisa Foster, Clive Francis, Samuel French, The Garrick Club, The Edwin Gould Foundation, Barbara Hall, John Haynes, Hayward of Mayfair, The Al Hirschfeld Foundation, May Haduong, Houston Grand Opera, Bob Johnson, Geoffrey Johnson, David Leopold, Cameron Mackintosh, Ron Mandelbaum, Richard Mangan, Museum of the City of New York, Billy Rose Theatre Collection, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Noël Coward Society, New York and London, Noël Coward Theatre, Timothy Morgan Owen, The Paley Center for Media, Norman Parkinson Archive, London, Russell Perreault, Photofest, Joan Plowright, DBE, The Lady Olivier, Marcus Risdell, The Shaw Festival, The Shubert Archive, New York, Camera Press, Snowdon, Ken Starrett, The Studio of Ben Solowey, Barry Swaebe, John Perry Collection, University of Bristol Theatre Collection, Special Collections, University of Southampton, Cinema & Television Archive, University of Southern California, TACT, V&A Theatre Collections, Vintage Books, Dominic Vlasto, Bruce Walker, Tony Walton.

Very special thanks to Alan Brodie, Barry Day, Geoffrey Johnson, Sean Malone, and Rosy Runciman.