Suite in Three Keys

Suite in Three Keys was planned by Coward as his theatrical swan song: "I would like to act once more before I fold my bedraggled wings."^[1] He wrote the three plays in the expectation that Margaret Leighton would be his co-star, but she vacillated for so long about accepting the roles that he cast Lilli Palmer instead.^[2] In each of the plays there are two main female parts, and Coward chose Irene Worth for the second role.^[3] The only character common to all three plays, Felix, the young Italian waiter, was played by Sean Barrett.^[4] The other characters, nine in all, are English, American or German guests or visitors at the hotel, played by Coward, Palmer and Worth.^[5]

The trilogy comprises:

• A Song at Twilight (premiered 14 April 1966)
• A double bill (premiered 25 April 1966):

• Shadows of the Evening, and
• Come Into the Garden, Maud

They originally ran in repertory for a limited season ending on 30 July 1966.^[4][6] All were directed by Vivian Matalon.^[7] There were 64 performances of A Song at Twilight and 60 of the double bill.^[4]

Coward had intended to appear in the trilogy on Broadway, but his health was deteriorating, and he was unable to do so. In 1974, a year after his death, A Song at Twilight and Come Into the Garden Maud were presented on Broadway as Noël Coward in Two Keys; Shadows of the Evening was omitted, and at 2020 has not had a Broadway production.^[8]

• Coward, Noël (1994). Plays, Five. Sheridan Morley (introduction). London: Methuen. ISBN 978-0-413-51740-1.
• Day, Barry, ed. (2007). The Letters of Noël Coward. London: Methuen. ISBN 978-1-4081-0675-4.
• Hoare, Philip (1995). Noël Coward, A Biography. London: Sinclair-Stevenson. ISBN 978-1-4081-0675-4.
• Mander, Raymond; Mitchenson, Joe; Barry Day; Sheridan Morley (2000) [1957]. Theatrical Companion to Coward (second ed.). London: Oberon. ISBN 978-1-84002-054-0.