Written by Noel Coward
Directed by Michael Blakemore
Synopsis: Angela Lansbury returns to Broadway in the revival of Noel Coward's classic 1941 farce Blithe Spirit, also starring Christine Ebersole and Rupert Everett.
NEW YORK TIMES:
"Mechanical comedies creak as they age, and “Blithe Spirit” is no exception. But if it is perfectly paced, it can still keep an audience in a state of tickled contentment. Mr. Blakemore’s production is not, at this point, perfectly paced,"
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK POST:
"Like her character, daffy medium Madame Arcati, Lansbury creates mischievous chaos in "Blithe Spirit" - some of her co-stars seem to struggle to keep pace with her somewhat loose M.O"
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NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:
"This conventional “Spirit” is more earth-bound. The set is basic, the pace on the slow side, and though the cast speaks the author’s zingers with efficiency, the play doesn’t fizz like this champagne should."
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THEATERMANIA:
"There are abundant reasons for racing to top-drawer director Michael Blakemore's just-about-perfect revival of Noel Coward's 1941 boulevard-comedy trifle Blithe Spirit, now at Broadway's Shubert Theatre, but the chief attraction is definitely Angela Lansbury's side-splitting performance as the zany medium Madame Arcati."
Read the whole review HERE.
VARIETY:
"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. "
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NEWSDAY:
"Coward hasn't had much luck on Broadway in recent years, and this "Blithe Spirit," for all its pleasant charms, doesn't entirely reverse the curse. How odd that Blakemore - the British master director of such stylish braininess as "Copenhagen" and such stylish foolishness as "Noises Off" - does not locate more of the luxurious, brittle sheen and the high-style physical humor in this farce about a married novelist bewitched by the ghost of his first wife. Instead, we get old-fashioned scene titles, hokey effects and a pretty dowdy set. "
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BACKSTAGE:
"Blakemore treats the premise and the characters seriously and allows the comedy to emerge without forcing it."
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AMNY:
"Michael Blakemore’s production is competent, but so old-fashioned and reverential that Coward’s script starts to creak with old age. For better or worse, the dark undertones of the story are completely ignored. The cast looks as if it is still finding its footing and refining its comic timing. Because the production is in a rather large theater, the cast has serious problems with vocal projection."
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NY1:
" But "Blithe Spirit was and remains a midcentury comedy classic, and stands more than a ghost of a chance of thoroughly delighting. "
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TIME OUT NY:
"All one asks of a Coward revival are actors with high comic style and verbal felicity,handsome sets and a brisk pace, which Blakemore & Co. graciously provide"
Read the whole review HERE.
