Noël Coward in Brief Encounter - American Conservatory Theater

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songs of noël coward in b r i e f e n c o u n t e r
“alice is at it again”
Cut in rehearsal from Pacific 1860 (1946); performed in cabaret 1951–55. “Originally titled
‘Sweet Alice,’ it was composed along with most of the music for Pacific 1860. However,
Mary Martin [playing the heroine] refused to sing it. Noël Coward later rewrote the lyrics
of the last verse to make them more ‘modern’ as opposed to the original ‘period’ lyrics for
Pacific 1860 and inserted it into his cabaret performances. It became well known as a result
of the Las Vegas cabaret recording and was published that year.”
—The Noël Coward Music Index,
http://www.noelcoward.net/ncmiindex/mainindex.html
“any little fish”
Written in 1930; performed in Cochran’s 1931 Revue and The Third Little Show (u.s. tour
only). “This is a mature revue-type point number, where Coward is really at the peak of
his 20s comedy dance-song powers. Noël Coward might have lifted his title line from
Gershwin’s ‘Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,’ which includes the lyric ‘Fish got to swim and
birds got to fly,’ and which was a u.k. popular success in mid 1928.”
—The Noël Coward Music Index
Milo Twomey and Hannah Yelland in Brief Encounter (photo by Steve Tanner)