After the Ball -- Noel Coward takes on Oscar Wilde

The Irish Repertory Theatre is one of those small, but ever interesting and serious rep companies in New York. Why don't we have more of these in San Francisco? They perform Bernard Shaw, Sean O'Casey, Oscar Wilde -- always interesting stuff.

This season, in a lighter vein, they hauled out a musical reworking Noel Coward once made of Oscar Wilde's "Lady Windemere's Fan."

Coward's acerbic wit is not so much in evidence in this musical, which dates from the early fifties, and enjoyed moderate success, despite many modifications Coward was forced to make when one of his stars turned out to be less of a singer than he thought. Still the charm is still there.

Kathleen Widdoes, who pays the Duchess of Berwick (and a sort of Chorus) shows why she's a pro-- whether it's Shakespeare or sitting room satire. For sheer singing chops, Greg Mills, as Mr. Hopper, and Mary Iles as Mrs. Erlynne were delightful. Kristin Huxhold as Lady Windemere was beautiful to look at, but had some distracting mannerisms and a weaker voice, but the multi-talented David Staller (who studied cello under Mstislav Rostropovich) made for a heartfelt Lord Darlington.

The Irish Rep has a chance in the near future to purchase the building they live in and have launched a capital campaign to raise the funds. To donate, check out their website. They're worth supporting.