Though many readers have probably seen video recordings of the group (As of this writing, nearly the entire show can be found on Youtube, that’s how ubiquitous it is), the live experience truly contains a palpable magic that a recording cannot capture.

Though no less epic in scope, the Lyric has jettisoned the typical lush, period sets in favor of a modernist design by Tobias Hoheisel that suggests both the monolithic nature of classical architecture and the weighty severity of a Cold War-era fortress, all concrete and rebar.

The challenge inherent in a performance like this is to bring across the distinctly British humor of Coward’s writing to an American audience... which can seem to modern ears almost painfully twee.