Dan's Papers - April 10, 2009

When stage and screen legend Angela Lansbury makes her first entrance in the Broadway revival of Noel Coward's frothy 1941 comedy, Blithe Spirit, nearly 15 minutes into the performance, the multiple Tony award-winning grand dame practically stops the show. The extended applause comes in waves that ebb and flow for a full two minutes or more, drowning out the dialogue as the actors move right along with the ensuing action without skipping a beat. They carry on as if unaware of the stupendous outpouring of love coming across the footlights. The Broadway icon, now 83 years old, inhabits the eccentric Madame Arcati, the psychic medium who is the catalyst for the unfolding action. She turns Arcati into a spirited force, weaving magic in the process.

Decked out in outlandishly lavish attire by costumer Martin Pakledinaz, Lansbury is utterly hilarious as the zany Arcati, in a seemingly effortless display of idiosyncratic behaviors that never seem weird, but rather rich with mirthful charm. You never know what she is going to do next and when she launches into her dance as a prelude to going into a trance state, she is a side splitting riot.

Every member of the dazzling cast come up to Lansbury's level once the actress sets foot on stage, making for a devilishly delicious evening of theater. Rupert Everett is debonair as the novelist Charles Condomine, who has invited Arcati to his little dinner party of four as a lark, while compiling research for his latest novel.

However, his attempt to exploit the medium backfires, when Arcati unleashes the naughty ghost of his deceased first wife, Elvira, played by a heavenly Christine Ebersole (last year's Tony award-winning actress for Grey Gardens,) who floats about the stage draped in flowing chiffon, another one of Pakledinaz's inspired creations.

The tension and fun unfold to the accumulating dismay of the novelist's second wife, Ruth, rendered here with solid disbelief by the accomplished Jayne Atkinson, giving the unfolding action an earthbound counterpoint to the evening's other worldly shenanigans. The moment Ruth discovers the ghost of Elvira is actually present results in hilarious pandemonium.

Director Michael Blakemore keeps the evening at a zany pace, while eliciting high comic style from his expert cast, both necessary elements, for the delightful revival of the Coward classic.

Blithe Spirit is playing on Broadway at the Shubert Theater, 225 West 44th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. For tickets call 212-239-6200.

Theater critics Barry Gordin & Patrick Christiano are members of the Drama Desk. Barry is an internationally renowned photographer. Patrick is the artistic director of SivaRoad Productions. Visit their web site at theaterlife.com.