STAGE

Upstaged: Joan Collins returned to the London theater in Noel Coward’s “Private Lives,” only to leave the audience and the critics raving about a supporting performer, Sara Crowe. “A star is born and steals the show from Joan Collins,” The Daily Mail said after the Wednesday-night opening at the Aldwych Theater. Critic Jack Tinker said Crowe “gave this show’s most bankable star a runaway lesson in the essential elements of a classic Coward performance.” How was Crowe taking it? Said her publicist: “How would you like to be known as the actress who upstaged Joan Collins?” Collins, 57, was last on the London stage a decade ago.