"Blithe Spirit" April 24, 25, & 26, 2009 Mannheim High School

This weekend has been consumed with Summer's play. It's called, "Blithe Spirit", by Noel Coward. The cast performed very well. It's a play that is "dialogue heavy" and lasts almost three hours! Summer was the hit of the show - she got a lot of laughs and her performance was brilliant! She played Madame Arcati.

Blithe Spirit is a comic play written by Noel Coward which takes its title from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To a Skylark" ("Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Bird thou never wert"). The play concerns socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who is haunted by the ghost of his first wife, Elvira, following a séance held by the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati. Elvira makes continuous attempts to disrupt Charles' marriage to his second wife, Ruth.

The play was first seen on the West End in London in 1941 and set a new long-run record for non-musical British plays of 1,997 performances. It also did well on Broadway later that year, running for 657 performances. Coward adapted the play for film in 1945, starring Rex Harrison, and directed a musical adaptation, High Spirits, on Broadway in 1964. It was also adapted for television in the 1950s and 1960s and for radio. The play enjoyed several West End and Broadway revivals in the 1970s and 1980s and was revived again in London in 2004. It returned to Broadway in February 2009. (copied from Wikipedia).

Summer as Madame Arcati - eccentric and funny!
Summer and her best friend, Jacqueline (playing Ruth).
Madame Arcati basking in a moment of her own greatness.
Madame Arcati discovers the maid (played by Nads) can rid the house of the ghost wives.
Madame Arcati giving Ruth the lowdown on how to get rid of Elvira.
A photo from the original play - from left to right: Arcati, Ruth and Elvira.