Tom Stoppard, author of The Real Thing, Arcadia, Shakespeare in Love and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, gives us this hilarious spoof of Noel Coward's sophisticated comedies.

Adapted from Play at the Castle by Ferenc Molnar, with musical numbers especially composed by Andre Previn, Stoppard's script depends less on doors being flung open and slammed shut, than on linguistic jokes peeking through the portholes.

Set in 1932 on the ocean liner ss Italian Castle en route to New York, this play sparkles with rapid repartee, bilingual puns and dazzling wit.

Two flamboyant playwrights on a deadline, a temperamental leading lady with a secret, a fading matinee idol with lecherous intent, a composer with a bizarre speech impediment and a steward on his maiden voyage, who has not yet found his sea legs, provide an hysterical combination.

The only way to cross the Atlantic.