Photo by Joan Marcus

Kevin Kline and Noël Coward are truly a match made in heaven and theatre aficionados would agree that he was born to play the self-absorbed, human peacock that is stage star Garry Essendine in Coward's classic comedy. From his entrance alone, Kline demonstrates that he is a master of physical comedy, but at the same time delivers a finely balanced performance that never seems to go too deep into the pitfalls of farce.

Although he is the anchor and driving force of this production, his fellow cast members more than rise to the occasion to put him in his place. Kristine Nielsen plays the long-suffering secretary Monica Reed with nonchalant confidence and hits her snarky one-liners out of the park. We truly believe she knows her employer like the back of her hand and has a protocol for every eventuality his misadventures set in motion. Equally, her tag-team partner would be Garry's wife Liz (a delightful Kate Burton). Although no longer living together, they have remained close and Burton plays the difficult role excellently. You never feel that Liz is never without the upper hand in her relationship with Garry. She calmly switches to damage control when confronted with the latest young lady who has "lost her latchkey" and ended up staying the night with Mr. Essendine. There are no hints of bitterness or jealousy and this is key to the plot's developments. Cobie Smulders is perfectly cast as the tough-skinned siren Joanna Lyppiatt and Ellen Harvey steals almost every scene she is involved in as the Scandinavian housekeeper Mrs. Erikson, enthralled by the supernatural and never without a cigarette dangling precariously from her lips. Harvey is a master class in character acting. And the cherry on the cake is a delightful Broadway debut by Tedra Millan as Daphne Stillington.

Read our interview with Tedra Millan HERE.

The action is contained to David Zinn's busy, but never claustrophobic set which depicts Garry's living room. It is partly messy and partly a shrine littered with all of Mr. Essendine's past theatrical posters. The set symbolically mirrors Garry's personality - chaotic and self-obsessed.

Director Moritz von Stuelpnagel has the pacing of the production down to a tee, especially in the third quarter hitting the audience relentlessly with characters entering left, right and centre to heighten the comic stakes. This is Noël Coward as it was always intended.

I see awards and recognition aplenty heading Mr. Kline's way and you would be foolish not to experience this veteran actor's genius in person. Laughter is his present to Broadway and we are unashamedly grateful!

Click here for tickets to Present Laughter for performances through to July 2, 2017 at Broadway's St. James Theatre.

- by Tom Millward