''Ace of Clubs'' is a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

written, composed and directed by

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) 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 ...

. 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 () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, on 16 May 1950,''The Manchester Guardian'', 17 May 1950, p. 5 followed by more tryouts at the

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Empire Theatre and the

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Alhambra Theatre. It transferred to the

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 for Bertie Meyer on an "irregular triangular site". Design and construction It was des ...

, London, on 7 July 1950, where it ran for 211 performances until 6 January 1951."Cambridge Theatre ''Ace of Clubs''", ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 8 July 1950, p. 8 The cast included Pat Kirkwood,

Sylvia Cecil Sylvia Cecil (c. 1898 – c. 1983) was an English singer and actress. She began her career in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, with whom she performed, off and on, from 1918 until 1937. She also performed in ...

Graham Payn Graham Payn (25 April 1918 – 4 November 2005) 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 ac ...

, Jean Carson and Myles Eason.

Mantovani Annunzio Paolo Mantovani (; 15 November 1905 – 29 March 1980) was an Anglo-Italian conductor, composer and light orchestra-styled entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature. The book ''British Hit Singles & Albums'' stat ...

was the musical director.Mander and Mitchenson, pp. 419–420 Stage and costume designs were by

Gladys Calthrop Gladys Edith Mabel Calthrop (''née'' Treeby; 29 March 1894 – 7 March 1980) 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 Calthr ...

. 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.

Background

After the Second World War Coward strove for a time to regain his pre-war popularity. His 1945 revue '' Sigh No More'' ran for only 213 performances in the West End, and the failure of his

Pacific 1860 ''Pacific 1860'' is a musical written by Noël Coward. The story is set in a fictional Pacific British Colony during the reign of Queen Victoria. It involves a romantic and sentimental story about a visiting Prima Donna and her conflict betwe ...

'' in 1946–47 was in contrast to the success of the show that followed it at

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster. Notable landmarks ...

Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popu ...

's ''

Oklahoma! ''Oklahoma!'' is the first musical theater, musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, ''Green Grow the Lilacs (play), Green Grow the Lilacs''. Set in farm country outside the town of ...

'', which ran for more than ten times as long. ''Ace of Clubs'' was one of several other less successful Coward works of the period.

Cast

*Elaine – Bubbly Rogers *Rita Marbury –

*Benny Lucas – Raymond Young *Sammy Blake – Robb Stewart *Felix Fulton – Myles Eason *Ace of Clubs Girls: :*Dawn O'Hara – Sylvia Verney :*Doreen Harvey – Margaret Miles :*Sunny Claire –

June Whitfield Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11 November 1925 – 29 December 2018) was an English radio, television, and film actress. Her big break was a lead in the radio comedy ''Take It from Here'', which aired on the BBC Light Programme in 1953. ...

:*Ruby Fowler – Erica Yorke :*Greta Hughes – Pamela Devis :*Betty Clements – Lorna Drewes :*Mimi Joshua –

Vivien Merchant Ada Brand Thomson (22 July 1929 – 3 October 1982), known professionally as Vivien Merchant, was an English actress. She began her career in 1942, and became known for dramatic roles on stage and in films. In 1956 she married the playwright H ...

:*June April –

Lisbeth Kearns Lisa Daniels (31 December 1930 – 12 February 2010) was a British stage, film and television actress. After beginning her career on the West End stage she moved to Hollywood and worked predominantly in the United States. She also worked as a ...

:*Baby Belgrave – Jean Carson *Hercules Brothers – Victor Harman, Ronald Francis, Stanley Howlett *Joseph Snyder –

Elwyn Brook-Jones Elwyn Brook-Jones (11 December 1911 – 4 September 1962) was a British theatre, film and television actor. Life Brook-Jones was born in Kuching, Sarawak, on the island of Borneo. After a private education, he attended Jesus College, Oxford. Hi ...

*Gus – Patrick Westwood *Pinkie Leroy – Pat Kirkwood *Harry Hornby –

*Clarice – Eileen Tatler *Eva – Renee Hill *Yvonne Hall – Jean Inglis *Mavis Dean – Gail Kendall *Detective-Inspector Warrilove – Jack Lambert *Policeman –

Michael Darbyshire Michael Darbyshire (15 October 1917 – 20 November 1979) was an English actor of stage and screen. He is perhaps best known for his role as Hubert Davenport, the Victorian ghost, in the long running BBC TV children's comedy series ''Renta ...

*Mr Price – Philip Rose *Mrs Price – Stella White *Juvenile delinquents –

Peter Tuddenham Peter Tuddenham (27 November 1918 – 9 July 2007) was a British actor. He was well known for his voice work, and provided the contrasting voices of the computers in the science-fiction series Blake's 7 (BBC, 1978–1981). Life and career Tudd ...

, Colin Kemball, Norman Warwick *First plain-clothes Man – Manfred Priestley *Second plain-clothes Man – Christopher Calthrop *Drummer – Don Fitz Stanford *Waiters – George Selfe, Richard Gill, Jacques Gautier Night club habitués and visitors :Source: ''Theatrical Companion to Coward''.

Synopsis

Benny runs the

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

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

Act 1 * "Top of the Morning" – Baby and Ace of Clubs Girls * "My Kind of Man" – Pinkie * "This Could be True" – Pinkie and Harry * "Nothing Can Last For Ever" – Rita * "Something About a Sailor" – Harry * "I'd Never, Never Know" – Pinkie * "Three Juvenile Delinquents" – Juvenile Delinquents * "Sail Away" – Harry * "Josephine" – Pinkie * Reprise: "My Kind of Man" – Pinkie * "Would You Like to Stick a Pin in my Balloon?" – Ace of Clubs Girls Act 2 * "In a Boat on a Lake with My Darling" – Sextet * "I Like America" – Harry and Ace of Clubs Girls * "Why Does Love Get in the Way?" – Pinkie * "Three Juvenile Delinquents" Juvenile Delinquents * "Evening in Summer" – Rita * Reprise: "Sail Away" – Harry * *Time for Baby's Bottle" – Baby, Yvonne, Mavis * "Chase Me, Charlie" – Pinkie * Reprise: "Nothing Can Last For Ever" – Rita * Reprise: "My Kind of Man" – Pinkie :Source: ''Theatrical Companion to Coward''.Mander and Mitchenson, pp. 421–422

Critical reaction

'' 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 ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' was more favourable, calling the show "essentially a good-tempered frolic ... unlikely to knock spots off ''

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

'' but it is in essence not only more genial, but more intelligent." It praised Coward's protégé

, who "dances with consummate grace ... singularly fresh and boyish", adding, whether innocently or not, "Benevolent Uncle Noel has found a first-class nephew".

Background

Cast

Synopsis

Musical numbers

Critical reaction

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources