In the meantime, though, the "Club at Zero Arrow Theatre" is an ideal spot for a summer evening's pleasure. The ART has recycled Christine Jones's glittering cabaret set from last season's "Onion Cellar," but with Coward replacing the Dresden Dolls, the '30s atmosphere tilts away from Weimar decadence and toward Riviera chic. And it works.
Edmiston makes expert use of the set's varied locations, sending ART regulars Remo Airaldi, Thomas Derrah, Will LeBow, and Karen MacDonald (all displaying depth and range in this material, far from their usual fare) from main stage to mirrored alcove to bar to stairway as the moment requires. But, with the help of Karen Perlow's precise lighting, you always know exactly where to look next.
Thus we get a solo or two from the bar, some vaudeville flash in front of the mirrors, and some hilarious ensembles under the giant O of light bulbs above the main stage; Will McGarrahan sits onstage throughout, providing understated but excellent piano accompaniment. "I Went to a Marvelous Party" starts things off with just the right tone of amused ennui, a mood that recurs in "Why Do the Wrong People Travel?" and turns deliciously vicious with "(Don't Put Your Daughter on the Stage,) Mrs. Worthington."
But this melange of songs, dance numbers, and excerpts from Coward's diaries, poems, interviews, and memoirs doesn't stick with that one familiar note. Mark Anders, David Ira Goldstein, and Patricia Wilcox, who concocted the show for Chicago's Northlight Theatre , mix beloved standards and obscure treasures to create an evocative, multifaceted portrait of the brilliant, enigmatic man who created them all.
Thus MacDonald gets both a sidesplittingly absurd sendup of silly musicals in "The Coconut Girl," for which she becomes a dizzy showgirl performing all the roles from leading man to kickline, and a breathtakingly wistful classic, "Mad About the Boy." It's a measure of her expertise, and of the intelligence guiding the show, that each number is irresistible in its way.
