Noël Coward

Noel Coward was one of the most important pop-cultural figures in pre-WWII England. A noted polymath, he was an actor, playwright, director, songwriter, singer, and screenwriter. Coward's witty, urbane work was the epitome of post-WWI "new world" sophistication, and his quintessentially British approach defined a style for subsequent generations of his artistic countrymen. He was also precocious in his appearance as an outwardly homosexual public figure. The bulk of Coward's songs come from his plays, bearing his trademark mix of the romantic and the satirical, but many of them would become well-traversed standards, crossing the pond to enter the Great American Songbook.