NEW REVIEW GO BLITHE SPIRIT
Photo by Craig Schwartz
Noel
Coward's comedy faced an acid test in its first outing: It opened in
the darkest days of World War II, when London was undergoing the Blitz.
It kept Londoners laughing even when bombs were falling, and it has
proved hilarious ever since. As research for his new novel, writer
Charles Condomine (Scott Lowell) calls upon eccentric spiritualist
Madame Arcati (Jane Mcfie) to conduct a séance at his house. She
unwittingly summons the ghost of his predatory, provocative first wife
Elvira (Abby Craden), to the distress and frustration of his second
wife, Ruth (Jill Van Velzer). Endless comic complications ensue. Lowell
is a dapper, slightly preening Charles, and the svelte Van Velzer turns
in a waspish Ruth. Among the highlights of director Damaso Rodriguez's
fresh and funny production, instead of the filmy creature we have come
to expect as Elvira, Craden gives us a galumphing, earthy ghost clad in a
satin-and-lace teddy and flapping crocheted peignoir. Macfie's a brusque
and business-like Arcati, and Alison Elliott scores comic points as a
parlor-maid who insists on performing her duties at warp speed. Gibby
Brand and Jacque Lynn Colton round out the cast as the Bradmans, a local
couple summoned to witness the séance. A Noise Within, 234 South Brand
Boulevard, Glendale; variable schedule. Call theatre for info at (818)
240-0910, x-1, or ANoiseWithin.org. (Neal Weaver)
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