BLITHE SPIRIT Reviews

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 12:46am

Hey All!

Today is Sunday, March the 15th, marking the official opening of the Broadway revival of Noel Coward's BLITHE SPIRIT. I have yet to catch the show, but have hopes of catching it in the springtime. Here's to a super-successful opening night performance, and uber-love from the critics. My best to all involved, cast creative, etc. Rock the Shubert!

Post the reviews here.

Best,
- Mike

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 3:01am

Hm....I have a feeling it will get raves. Even though it's not my thing, I thought all involved were great, with a small exception of Ebersole, but maybe she's gotten better. Or maybe her part is just boring.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 3:34am

Best of luck to the cast and crew! Hopefully I'll be seeing it soon.

[madbrian]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 8:57am

I saw it last week, and I'd be shocked if the reviews were not very positive. The four primary actors are all outstanding.

[BroadwayBoy2]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 10:35am

With some of the best performances of the season, with some of the best direction of the season in which all the design elements in this show are perfect for the material...I am just waiting for the raves to roll in.

BEST OF LUCK CAST AND CREW.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 10:38am

If only they took this cast & put on High Spirits instead.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 10:47am

It's perfect just the way it is, and I doubt many of us will ever see Coward done as well again.

Blakemore trimmed a little out of both acts this week.

I'm sure it will be a big, big hit.

[darwinsf]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 10:51am

I was horribly disappointed with the show. Of course, I saw a preview performance (saw the matinee performance on March 7), but felt that the comic timing was off. The performance I saw was also unpolished in that the leads all were grasping for their lines.

I thought that Angela Landsbury was miscast as Madame Arcati, and during the show started casting her in my mind. Who WOULD be a good Madame Arcati? Dame Maggie Smith, Elaine Stritch, Tracy Ullman (in makeup, of course): they all come to mind.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 1:00pm

I was at yesterday's matinee and there was an enormous feel-good aura throughout the theatre. The laughs were all in place and everyone seemed to be having a good time. For me, pride of place goes to Rupert Everett -- he is funny, funny, funny!!!! And I hadn't been going with high expectations. As an aside, his photographs do NOT do him justice -- he's a stunner. I spoke to him briefly after the evening performance (most of the cast didn't come out after the matinee) and he was totally charming.

[homosezwhat]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 3:16pm

I saw the show on Thursday (the night Brantley was there) and I felt the same feel-good energy in the audience as Ed. The play is so well crafted and the performances are so delightful that the laughs and good energy just kept building until the final curtain.

I was exhausted from laughing so much.

I was amazed by just how satisfying the play is. As we reached the 1/2 way point, I was cautioning myself not to get too excited because there was no way the play could keep topping itself, energy and script wise, and I was SO happy to find out I was wrong.
The four leads are, perhaps not surprisingly, all wonderful clowns (as are 2/3 of the supporting cast) and it was such a tonic to see them all having so much fun with the material.

Rupert was practically perfect. He really brought his A game and delivered the farce beautifully, really committing to the insanity more throughly than I thought he could. Angela Lansbury was a treat, too. Giving us snippets of Mrs. Lovett and Mame as well as a bit of the Madwoman of Chaillot. And we were in the palm of her hand. Ebersole was also a delight. Her energy was so different from everyone else's and it totally worked for me. She made "wheeee!" into one of the funniest lines of the evening.

But, Jayne Atkinson slayed me. Like Denis O'Hare in Take Me Out and Julie White in Little Dog Laughed and Nathan Lane in the Producers, her performance is so alive and specific and thrilling, and the connection she has with the audience is so electric and dynamic, that it is something that must be experienced to be appreciated. It's like sex: you had to be there.

I wish them a long and healthy run and I think this production is just what the doctor ordered for these angry, hopeful times.

(disclaimer: I know Jayne Atkinson.)
<-----

(And I'm hoping to see Jayne, Cherry Jones and Patricia Clarkson starring in a play together before I die. Won't someone write it!?)
Updated On: 3/15/09 at 03:16 PM

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 3:42pm

The Associated Press is Positive:

"Light and airy requires heavy lifting - theatrically speaking.

And for the most part, the starry cast of the latest Broadway revival of "Blithe Spirit" delivers the goods, artfully keeping the classic Noel Coward comedy spinning merrily at the Shubert Theatre...

...Ebersole is more problematic as Elvira. It's a showy role and not only because the character, though dead, is very active on stage. The actress, done up in a diaphanous gown by designer Martin Pakledinaz, looks fashionably spectral. Yet something is lost in Ebersole's odd, high-pitched, rapid-fire chatter that turns some of Coward's more celebrated lines into mush."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gq5D-EpGt_l9aDI-0Ekt4beTGI1AD96UJUF00

Updated On: 3/15/09 at 03:42 PM

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 3:48pm

NY1 [with video] is a Rave:

"Coward called his work "an improbable farce," and, if you think of the period, 1941, as London was being Blitzed by the Nazis, a play linking death with laughter does indeed seem improbable. But "Blithe Spirit was and remains a midcentury comedy classic, and stands more than a ghost of a chance of thoroughly delighting."

http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/95609/ny1-theater-review---blithe-spirit-/Default.aspx

[philcrosby]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 5:17pm

George, is that you?

[pattilupuppy]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 5:34pm

Best of luck to cast and crew...

i saw this last week and loved it

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 6:39pm

An excellent production, featuring a brilliant turn by Jayne Atkinson, with a stellar cast doing fantastic work. I predict raves, it's just an amazing revival.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 7:20pm

I love Angela Lansbury but after seeing Bea Lillie in the musical, I don't know if I'll be able to shake the memories!

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 7:34pm

Variety is Very Negative:

"While the dry martinis flow freely among hosts and guests alike in "Blithe Spirit," those libations do little to loosen up Michael Blakemore's classy but stiff Broadway revival. There are sparkling moments, thanks mostly to the light touch of the sublime Jayne Atkinson and the comedic life-force of Angela Lansbury because she's, well, Angela Lansbury. But overall this is a wispy ectoplasm of the 1941 Noel Coward ghost comedy rather than a full-bodied materialization."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939874.html?categoryid=33&cs=1

Updated On: 3/15/09 at 07:34 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 7:50pm

Well, you can't please everybody.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 7:55pm

I'm sorry, I TOTALLY disagree with Variety's appraisal of Charles. I've been seeing this play since 1956 and Rupert is light years better than any other I've seen -- he's the only one who's ever held his own with the women and he's truly FUNNY. He'd be a natural for Present Laughter which I hope will happen some day.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 8:03pm

Present Laughter is happening as soon as next season - with Victor Garber at the Roundabout.

[madbrian]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 8:16pm

I don't know that I would classify Variety's review as VERY negative.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 8:21pm

Fun piece of trivia revealed in Noel Coward's diaries:

Coward originally intended for Judy Garland and Kay Thompson to play the roles played by Tammy Grimes and Bea Lillie in High Spirits, the musical version of Blithe Spirit.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 8:57pm

If only, PJ. If only.

[LansburyLuPone]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 9:25pm

I LOVED this show! I saw it on the opening preview and it was hilarious. The only problem that evening was with the microphones. I especially liked it when Angela Lansbury went into her dance. Not bad for an 83-year-old! Hope she gets nominated.

[Neverandy]

Posted: 3/15/09 at 9:58pm

Apparently she has been having some serious line problems. She is wearing an earpice to prompt her when she goes up.