Bobby Steggert, Suzanne Bertish, Edward Hibbert Get Pulled Into Vortex Reading April 16 in NYC

By Kenneth Jones
16 Apr 2012

Bobby Steggert
Bobby Steggert

Noël and Company, the new Manhattan company that celebrates the plays of Noël Coward, his contemporaries and artistic descendants, presents The Vortex, a rarely-seen sex-and-drugs family drama by Coward, April 16. The cast features Tony Award nominee Bobby Steggert, Suzanne Bertish, Edward Hibbert, KT Sullivan, Rachel Pickup, Keith Merrill, Mary Ellen Ashley, Matthew Cowles, Jerry Richardson and Jane Strauss.

Gabriel Barre (Off-Broadway's The Wild Party, Summer of '42 and Goodspeed's upcoming Amazing Grace) directs.

The Coward group surfaced earlier this year with a reading of the British writer's Design for Living. Like that reading, The Vortex, a 1924 tale of family turmoil, repressed passions and substance abuse, is seen at the Gershwin Hotel's "Living Room" at 7 PM. A presentation of songs by Coward featuring cabaret and concert star KT Sullivan precedes the reading at 6:30 PM. Violinist Filip Pogady is also part of the experience.

According to the company, whose artistic director is Merrill, The Vortex is "supremely witty and hilarious" but also a "visceral, hard hitting and potent drama. Drug abuse and sexual compulsion fuel this gritty tale of a family laid bare at the altar of truth."

Tickets are $18 and can be purchased at the door at 6 PM on April 16 but it is highly recommended to purchase them at www.noelandcompany.org.

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Noël and Company will also be creating the Summer Salon Series at Lincoln Center for The Noël Coward Festival in June/July.

Read more about the work of actor-playwright-songwriter-director Coward in the Playbill Vault.