Here is one theatergoer's perspective on Hayley Mills' first night on the New York stage, in Noel Coward's SUITE IN TWO KEYS.

"I attended the March 28, 2000 preview (not to be confused with the upcoming April 10th official opening night). Sitting dead center in the first row of the orchestra section which in the diminutive Lucille Lortel Theater is quite close to the stage, I was witness to many interesting details of the first "shakedown cruise" for this fine production.

In SUITE IN TWO KEYS, Hayley is required to play two separate characters. One is Anne Hilgay, the former wife of a dying man. The other is Hilde Latymer, a German translator who is wife to an eminent writer. Hayley was superb in portraying the two of them. Prior to this I'd only seen her perform live onstage as Anna, in the touring production of THE KING AND I. (I'm not particularly fond of musical theater; far more thrilling for me to observe her in the kind of straight spoken drama that is SUITE.)

Both dramas comprising SUITE IN TWO KEYS are set in the sitting room of a private suite in an expensive Swiss hotel. A mountain peak across Lake Geneva is visible through a large arched window, (looking like...... a large color photo of an Alpine peak, probably from my vantage-point alone). The interior decor by James Noone is quite elegant and comfortable looking, tempting one to lie upon it's couches during intermission. The time is the 1960's; the protagonists of Coward's two short plays are presumably renting the same suite on separate months of the year within the Hotel Beau Rivage. The only character who makes an appearance in both the plays is Felix, a handsome young floor-waiter (played by Christian Maelen).

Coward must have liked handsome young waiters. Felix has short conversations with the other characters in both these stories. He refers to separate incidents in his present life, perhaps to emphasize a passage of time during which the Hilgays moved out of the suite and the Latymers moved in. (There may have been a sub-plot concerning him. However I have not read the third - here unproduced - play in this triad, called "Come Into The Garden, Maude", and it may have concerned Felix further.)

"Shadows Of The Evening" could be a primer on how to "buy the farm" with style. In this first play of the night, Coward addresses the subject of mortality, his own and ours. George, played admirably by Mr. Whitehead, is dying of melanoma. He has perhaps two months to live. George seems to favor the agnostic's approach to death; it to his way of thinking a more honest, courageous and dignified style of dying than one that is filled with religious mumbo jumbo and vague promises of an afterlife. After agreeing that absolute honesty in all things between them is desireable in the last days, George and the two most important women in his short life (Ms. Mills and Ms. Ivey) bravely depart the suite for the casino dressed to the nines. As the lights dimmed to pitch black, Coward seemed to be saying to me "Celebrate life while you can, with those closest to you. The rest is oblivion."

"A Song At Twighlight" is the longer, and for me the more interesting of the two offerings. It deals obliquely with Noel Coward's longtime "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" solution to his own homosexuality, (necessitated by what were in his lifetime, archaic British laws against sodomy). Hayley Mills has a fine ear for accents, and brings to the stage a credible native-born German in the character of Hilde. Some of her script was cut from the Preview, including lines from Goethe that Coward had her character recite in the published version: "Entbehren sollst Du! Sollst entbehren! Das ist der ewige Gesang" - "You must deny yourself! Deny! That is the neverending song". (Could this be a crucial line, in that it makes ironic reference to Coward's own inability to release himself from the closet?)

The only real love of her life having died in WW II, Hilde is resigned now to a loveless marriage with the elderly Sir Hugo, world famous 'man of letters'. She wears a rather severe suit, punctuated later by a green fedora. Once hired as his secretary, she serves that purpose even now. However their static relationship is changed by the unexpected visit from an actress named Carlotta (Judith Ivey). Impetuous Carlotta brings with her a sheaf of lost correspondence. Knowledge of the existence of these letters and of what they imply, bring an end to Hugo's complacency. As the play draws to a close, the two partners sense their relationship is on another footing.

Judith Ivey is a seasoned Broadway performer who projects her own two characters well. Paxton Whitehead, also an able performer, is well cast. Direction by John Tillinger had few flaws. Hayley looked terrific and utterly professional; I regret that I was unable to see her many other stage roles in London. I have tickets to another performance of SUITE in April, and it will be interesting to see what has been changed, honed, or omitted."

- Chas. S.