It’s a one-joke play that hinges on a supreme improbability–the ghost of a man’s first wife showing up to rattle the underpinnings of his second marriage–but thanks to the superb comedic gifts of its seven-person cast, Blithe Spirit manages to light up the Ahmanson stage in its West Coast premiere.
Starring is Angela Lansbury as Madame Arcati, the eccentric spiritualist who helped conjure up Elvira the ghost. Lansbury, the old theater dog, digs her teeth into the role and gleefully chomps on it like a rag doll.
The other actors give equally bravura performances, starting with Charles Edwards as the befuddled publisher, Charles Condomine, and continuing with Jemima Rooper (Elvira) and Charlotte Parry (as the #2 wife, Ruth). Also doing yeoman work is Susan Louise O’Connor (as Edith, the hare-brained maid). Simon Jones and Sandra Shipley play the family friends, Dr. and Mrs. Bradman, with confident assurance.
Michael Blakemore, who directed most of the same cast in previous productions of Blithe Spirit (London and New York), keeps the play moving on swift, deft feet, getting maximum laughs out of Coward’s repetitive (but witty and bittersweet) text. Blakemore and his actors are, in effect, putting on a master class in drawing-room comedy.
Also praiseworthy are Simon Higlett’s lavish set and Mark Jonathan’s pristine lighting design.
