Ace of Clubs (musical)
Encyclopedia
Ace of Clubs is a 1950 musical
written, composed and directed by Noël Coward
. The show is set in a 1949 London nightclub called "Ace of Clubs". Nightclub singer Pinkie Leroy falls in love with a sailor. Pinkie and her lover get mixed up with gangsters, a lost package and a missing diamond necklace. In the end, the police arrest the perpetrators, and Pinkie gets her man.
The musical premiered at the Palace Theatre, Manchester
, on 16 May 1950, followed by more tryouts at the Liverpool
Empire Theatre and the Birmingham
Alhambra Theatre. It transferred to the Cambridge Theatre
, London, on 7 July 1950, where it ran for 211 performances until 6 January 1951. The cast included Pat Kirkwood, Sylvia Cecil
, Graham Payn
, Jean Carson and Myles Eason. Mantovani
was the musical director. Stage and costume designs were by Gladys Calthrop
.
Despite its modest run, Ace of Clubs contained several songs that survived independently, in Coward's later cabaret acts and elsewhere, including "Sail Away" and "I Like America." A CD of the original London cast recording was released in 2004.
nightclub "The Ace of Clubs" for the owner, Rita. Felix, the compère, introduces the club's girls, who perform their opening number. Benny plans the pickup of a parcel with a gangster, Smiling Snyder. The parcel is in the cloakroom wrapped in a raincoat. When Snyder forcibly steals a kiss from Pinkie Leroy, the club's star, in the middle of her act, a sailor named Harry punches Snyder, who draws his gun and fires. Pinkie takes the raincoat to cover her skimpy costume and escapes with Harry.
Harry and Pinkie discover the parcel in the raincoat, but it falls out and Harry finds it after Pinkie goes back to the club. Benny is already looking for the missing parcel, and Rita, who is in love with him, realises that Benny is involved with the gangsters. At rehearsal the next afternoon, Harry comes by to see Pinkie. Detective-lnspector Warrilove arrives to investigate a jewel robbery and shooting. He suspects Snyder. Benny discourages Pinkie from becoming involved with Harry. That evening Snyder and his associate, Guy, kidnap Harry during the show, but he escapes. Pinkie, afraid for Harry's safety, promises Benny that she will get the parcel. Harry is hidden, and after Benny leaves, he and Pinkie meet.
The next day, Harry return with the parcel, suggesting that they give it to the police. Pinkie disagrees, and they argue. That evening, one of the girls mistakes the parcel for her birthday present and opens it, finding the purloined necklace. Snyder and Gus pick up the parcel in exchange for cash. Rita hears that the stolen necklace has been traced to the club. She asks the gangsters to leave. In the club, Warrilove notices the necklace, which the birthday girl is wearing, and he follows her. Snyder and Gus open the parcel to find the birthday present, a pair of falsies. They return to the club, and Warrilove catches them. All ends happily for Benny and Rita as well as Pinkie and Harry.
thought that Coward had striven too hard for popular success with his score: "In spite of the mixed reception it is possible that Ace of Clubs, for all its crudity and its slightly old-fashioned air, will give a great many people what they consider lively entertainment. But Mr Coward’s usual public will feel that he has temporarily deserted them." The Manchester Guardian was more favourable, calling the show "essentially a good-tempered frolic... unlikely to knock spots off Oklahoma
but it is in essence not only more genial, but more intelligent." It praised Coward’s protégé Graham Payn
, who "dances with consummate grace... singularly fresh and boyish", adding, whether innocently or not, "Benevolent Uncle Noel has found a first-class nephew".
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
written, composed and directed by Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
. The show is set in a 1949 London nightclub called "Ace of Clubs". Nightclub singer Pinkie Leroy falls in love with a sailor. Pinkie and her lover get mixed up with gangsters, a lost package and a missing diamond necklace. In the end, the police arrest the perpetrators, and Pinkie gets her man.
The musical premiered at the Palace Theatre, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, on 16 May 1950, followed by more tryouts at the Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
Empire Theatre and the Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
Alhambra Theatre. It transferred to the Cambridge Theatre
Cambridge Theatre
The Cambridge Theatre is a West End theatre, on a corner site in Earlham Street facing Seven Dials, in the London Borough of Camden, built in 1929-30. It was designed by Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie; interior partly by Serge Chermayeff, with interior bronze friezes by sculptor Anthony Gibbons...
, London, on 7 July 1950, where it ran for 211 performances until 6 January 1951. The cast included Pat Kirkwood, Sylvia Cecil
Sylvia Cecil
Sylvia Cecil was an English singer and actress. She began her career in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. She soon moved on to musical comedy, including the musicals of Ivor Novello and Noël Coward, as well as variety and radio. Her career spanned at least...
, Graham Payn
Graham Payn
Graham Payn was a South African-born English actor and singer, also known for being the life partner of the playwright Noël Coward. Beginning as a boy soprano, Payn later made a career as a singer and actor in the works of Coward and others...
, Jean Carson and Myles Eason. Mantovani
Mantovani
Annunzio Paolo Mantovani known as Mantovani, was an Anglo-Italian conductor and light orchestra-styled entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature. The book British Hit Singles & Albums states that he was "Britain's most successful album act before The Beatles .....
was the musical director. Stage and costume designs were by Gladys Calthrop
Gladys Calthrop
Gladys E. Calthrop was an artist and leading British stage designer. She is best known as the set and costume designer for many of Noël Coward's plays and musicals.-Life and career:...
.
Despite its modest run, Ace of Clubs contained several songs that survived independently, in Coward's later cabaret acts and elsewhere, including "Sail Away" and "I Like America." A CD of the original London cast recording was released in 2004.
Synopsis
Benny runs the SohoSoho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
nightclub "The Ace of Clubs" for the owner, Rita. Felix, the compère, introduces the club's girls, who perform their opening number. Benny plans the pickup of a parcel with a gangster, Smiling Snyder. The parcel is in the cloakroom wrapped in a raincoat. When Snyder forcibly steals a kiss from Pinkie Leroy, the club's star, in the middle of her act, a sailor named Harry punches Snyder, who draws his gun and fires. Pinkie takes the raincoat to cover her skimpy costume and escapes with Harry.
Harry and Pinkie discover the parcel in the raincoat, but it falls out and Harry finds it after Pinkie goes back to the club. Benny is already looking for the missing parcel, and Rita, who is in love with him, realises that Benny is involved with the gangsters. At rehearsal the next afternoon, Harry comes by to see Pinkie. Detective-lnspector Warrilove arrives to investigate a jewel robbery and shooting. He suspects Snyder. Benny discourages Pinkie from becoming involved with Harry. That evening Snyder and his associate, Guy, kidnap Harry during the show, but he escapes. Pinkie, afraid for Harry's safety, promises Benny that she will get the parcel. Harry is hidden, and after Benny leaves, he and Pinkie meet.
The next day, Harry return with the parcel, suggesting that they give it to the police. Pinkie disagrees, and they argue. That evening, one of the girls mistakes the parcel for her birthday present and opens it, finding the purloined necklace. Snyder and Gus pick up the parcel in exchange for cash. Rita hears that the stolen necklace has been traced to the club. She asks the gangsters to leave. In the club, Warrilove notices the necklace, which the birthday girl is wearing, and he follows her. Snyder and Gus open the parcel to find the birthday present, a pair of falsies. They return to the club, and Warrilove catches them. All ends happily for Benny and Rita as well as Pinkie and Harry.
Musical numbers
- Top of the morning –
- My kind of man – Pinkie
- This could be true – Pinkie, Harry
- Nothing can last for ever – Rita
- Something about a sailor – Harry
- I'll never, never know – Pinkie
- Three juvenile delinquents – The Delinquents
- Sail away – Harry
- Josephine – Pinkie
- Would you like to stick a pin in my balloon –
- In a boat, on a lake, with my darling – Pinkie, Harry
- I like America – Harry
- Why does love get in the way so? – Pinkie
- Evening in summer – Rita
- Baby's bottle –
- Chase me, Charlie – Pinkie
Critical reaction
The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
thought that Coward had striven too hard for popular success with his score: "In spite of the mixed reception it is possible that Ace of Clubs, for all its crudity and its slightly old-fashioned air, will give a great many people what they consider lively entertainment. But Mr Coward’s usual public will feel that he has temporarily deserted them." The Manchester Guardian was more favourable, calling the show "essentially a good-tempered frolic... unlikely to knock spots off Oklahoma
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
but it is in essence not only more genial, but more intelligent." It praised Coward’s protégé Graham Payn
Graham Payn
Graham Payn was a South African-born English actor and singer, also known for being the life partner of the playwright Noël Coward. Beginning as a boy soprano, Payn later made a career as a singer and actor in the works of Coward and others...
, who "dances with consummate grace... singularly fresh and boyish", adding, whether innocently or not, "Benevolent Uncle Noel has found a first-class nephew".