Ruthie Henshall joins BLITHE SPIRIT

Whatsonstage are reporting that Ruthie Henshall is to join Alison Steadman, Robert Bathurst & Hermione Norris in the West-End transfer of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit next year.

Blithe Spirit is aiming for a March 2011 opening at the Apollo theatre in London, following a pre-West-End national tour.

Updated On: 8/31/10 at 08:43 AM

Good casting. The Playbill announcement mentions that Ruthie Henshall appeared in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Is that a forthcoming episode? Perhaps even the one with Cheyenne Jackson?
Playbill

Ruthie Henshall joins the Theatre Royal Bath production of 'Blithe Spirit'.
Opens at the Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, 9th March 2011.
Previews 2nd March.
Closing 18th June 2011.

She Joins previously mentioned Alison Steadman as Madame Arcati.
Hermione Norris as Ruth Condomine.
Robert Bathurst as Charles Condomine.

Ruthie Henshall plays Elvira.
Her West End stage credits include 'Marguerite' at the Haymarket in 2008.
'The Woman In White', Palace in 2005.
'Peggy Sue Got Married', Shaftesbury Theatre in 2001.
'Chicago' as Roxy Hart in 1997 and 2009.
Nancy in Cameron Mackintosh’s 1996 revival of 'Oliver!'
She won the award for Best Actress in a Musical for 'She Loves Me' in 1995.

'Blithe Spirit' is directed by Thea Sharrock.
Designed by Hildegard Bechtler.
Lighting by Mark Henderson.

Novelist Charles Condomine and his second wife Ruth are literally haunted by a past relationship when an eccentric medium manages to conjure up the ghost of Charles’s neurotic first wife, Elvira, at a seance.
They have assumed the preposterous Madame Arcati is a fraud who will simply entertain their dinner guests with a little chicanery and supply Charles with material for his forthcoming novel.
But when Elvira appears!
Visible only to Charles, and is determined to sabotage his current marriage, life and the afterlife begin to get complicated.

***************************************
Full tour run.

Theatre Royal, Bath. Nov 3th-13th
Theatre Royal, Brighton. Nov 16th-21st
Arts Theatre, Cambridge. Nov 22nd-27th

Off the road for Christmas and New Year.

Milton Keynes Theatre, Milton Keynes. Feb 14th-19th
Richmond Theatre, Richmond Upon Thames. Feb 21st-26th

Apollo Theatre, London. Mar 9th -June 18th

Updated On: 8/31/10 at 06:13 PM

I think, if anything, Ruthie's career is NOT at a low point.

Since when does doing a Noel Coward play in the West-End constitute ones career hitting a low point?

I believe her run in Chicago on Broadway has been extended so clearly it's a success. Meanwhile, as with many other performers associated with musicals, she wants to remind people that she is first and foremost an actress. What better venue?

---

First of all : I love Ruthie Henshall. The only criticism I would permit myself to have is that she's been pulling the same "funny faces" for more than 15 years (and it doesn't matter whether she's singing Sondheim, Kander & Ebb, or others).

I didn't critise her as a performer, but her career seems to have reached an anti-climax.
Would she have have returned to Chicago in the WestEnd and would she have been in Blithe Spirit IF her career had been going differently ?
I'm not critising her performance in Chicago, but returning to a part she created in the WestEnd after 13 years or so can't be a good sign.
If I were an actor I would not like to be stuck in the same role for that amount of time.

Blithe Spirit is good fun. I saw the 2009 Broadway production, but it's not exactly Shakespeare, is it ? ... and the best part in that play goes to Alison Steadman

Updated On: 9/2/10 at 04:58 PM

I disagree. I am an actor, andlet me tell you - that is exactly what i'd do.

I don't think Ruthie's career has ever been better. The general public recognise her from Dancing on Ice, her perfomance in Les Misérables has been viewed by thousands more people due to the Susan Boyle phenomenon, and she's lighting up the West-End and Broadway in Chicago. She has her own tour which is sellig well also.

Marguerite beig a flop says nothing about Ruhie's career. Drowsy flopped but would you say Elaine Paige's career hasgone downhill? I wouldn't.

I think this is a wonderful opportunity for Ms. Henshall, and I don't understand what would posess you to think otherwise...

Blithe Spirit is good fun. I saw the 2009 Broadway production, but it's not exactly Shakespeare, is it ?

It's a crowd-pleaser of a play by a popular (and dead) English playwright, one of the characters is a ghost, and it gets trotted out pretty frequently yet people are always queueing up to see it when it makes an appearance. Apart from the name on the poster, how is that NOT Shakespeare?

I think you're being very mean to Blithe Spirit. If you think about it, it's WAY more of a challenge to do something perceived as frothy well than it is to do something more generally considered high-brow. I mean, you're aware that comedy is really frickin' difficult to pull off, right? :P

---

You weren't referring to me there, were you? You certainly couldn't describe me as a fan of either! But I'm capable of putting personal bias aside and talking fairly about a play, so sorry if that confused you. :3

---

"If you really think Ruthie's career has never been better, then think again. Her career peaked between 1993 and 1997 (Crazy for you, She loves me and Chicago)."

It depends on how you assess success. As you mentioned, She Loves Me wasn't a hit, yet it won RH an Olivier. After Chicago, Broadway beckoned, including a second stint in Chicago (was that a comedown?) and another stint in Miss Saigon (again, a comedown?), and of course, playing opposite Carol Burnett and George Hearn in a Sondheim revue.

The West End hasn't provided as many fine opportunities, but I think that Blithe Spirit, especially with this cast, is a better vehicle than the sub-par Peggy Sue/Marguerite. Madame Arcati may be the traditional scene-stealing role, but if played well, Elvira is a central, sexy, fun presence in the piece.

Perhaps I'm misreading your comments, but it almost sounds to me like your equating RH playing in Blithe Spirit with say, touring in 'Allo 'Allo: Live on Stage! (?!)

And I must say, I love that, for Henshall, "the play's the thing". I saw her recently as Roxie, and her performance was light years ahead of her first stint (I wish they re-recorded her solos for itunes or something, to preserve her 2nd Roxie stint).

A great play.
I just want to see that shrill voiced woman in it!

@philitalia How can you attribute any of these factors to Ruthie?

Let me turn this on its head...you're old and therefore have no idea what you're talking about

Updated On: 9/4/10 at 04:45 AM