"Blithe Spirit" at the Guthrie Theater

If you're looking for a fun, light-hearted, escapist night at the theater (and really, who isn't in need of that?!), look no further than the Guthrie's sublimely entertaining production of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit. Featuring Guthrie favorites and newcomers in this perfect concoction of a cast, breath-takingly gorgeous design, and the witty words of one of 20th Century England's favorite writers of comedy, Blithe Spirit will keep you warm with laughter on a cold winter's night, and make you forget about the seemingly endless despair happening outside of the theater walls (this is why I prefer to say in the theater as much as possible). Blithe Spirit continues through January 18 and is a hilarious duet partner to that other ghost story across the hall.

"Blithe Spirit" at Lyric Arts

On a cold and snowy winter evening, I made my way through the slow and busy highways and streets to Lyric Arts Main Street Stage in Anoka. It was a long and unpleasant drive - but this is Minnesota, that's what we do. Once inside the warm and inviting theater, I forgot all about the frozen snowy world outside as I was immersed in the ghostly antics of a sophisticated English gentleman and his two wives, one living and one dead. Lyric Arts' production of English playwright Noël Coward's classic comedy Blithe Spirit is funny and charming, with a perfect cast under the direction of Robert Neu, who sets an appropriate tone that's equally charming and silly, and spot-on set and costumes. i.e., it's a welcome respite from this cold midwinter.

In Blithe Spirit, Charles and Ruth Comdomine live a happy peaceful life in their summer home in the English countryside, despite having to train in a rather incompetent new maid Edith. All of this changes one evening when Charles invites a medium named Madame Arcati to the house to conduct a séance, as research for a new book he's writing. Charles and Ruth, along with their friends George and Violet whom they also invite to the séance, view the whole thing with skepticism, and struggle to hold back their laughter as Madame Arcati goes through her process of contacting the dead. After the business is finished, the party breaks up and everyone laughs at the amusement of the evening. Except for Charles, who has begun to hear and then see his late wife Elvira. Ruth believes her husband is ill or insane, until he convinces her of the reality of the ghost, when she becomes upset not just because there's a ghost in the house, but because Charles seems to enjoy being reunited with his former love. Ruth attempts to rid their lives of Elvira, but Elvira has plans of her own.

the love triangle that crosses death
(Jessica Scott, Ryan Nielson, and Allie Munson)

The word blithe is not commonly used in American speech (although occasionally in musicals: "blithe smile, lithe limb, she who's winsome, she wins him"). But this word, meaning "showing a casual and cheerful indifference considered to be callous or improper," is the perfect word to describe the ghostly Elvira. She floats into Charles and Ruth's life on a breeze, all smiles and giggles, and doesn't care about the disruption she's causing, so happy is she to be back in her home with her husband. This spirit is perfectly embodied by Allie Munson; her Elvira is a lovely and ethereal apparition, somehow charming despite the ruckus she's causing to our happy couple. As said couple, Ryan Nielson and Jessica Scott are perfectly charming and sophisticated as Charles and Ruth, until their life becomes a bit derailed upon the arrival of Elvira, and their voices and tempers raise in a properly English sort of way.

The show is extremely well cast from top to bottom, and everyone in the cast sports a deliciously exaggerated accent. While it does not appear that Madame Arcati is a role usually played by a man, in the case of Grif Sadow, it's an inspired choice. He's an absolute hoot as Madame Arcati goes through her strange rituals and trances, but without making the character a complete joke as it becomes obvious that she's for real. Last but not least, Hannah Weinberg is quite the scene-stealer as Edith, the maid who tries so hard to please but can't help bounding from one task to the next in a manner not at all matching the sophistication of her employers. She makes the most of every moment, drawing it out for maximum laughs, highlighted by a hilariously torturous clearing of the breakfast table.

Mark Koski's set is a very real-looking, charming, and detailed room in an English home (perhaps a drawing room, in Downton Abbey terms), complete with books on the shelves, a fireplace, a sofa and sitting area, a gramophone, lush curtains on the patio doors, and most importantly, a fully stocked bar. Samantha Fromm Haddow's '40s period costumes are all lovely and help to define each character, but Elvira's dress is the pièce de résistance. A pale grey that matches her delicately beautiful make-up, the light and layered dress floats around the stage in a perfectly ghostly sort of way.

"If you think that community theater in Anoka isn't good or popular, then you simply haven't seen it recently." So says Alan Berks in his editor's note on the newly revamped website Minnesota Playlist, and I couldn't agree more. Blithe Spirit is a great example of this; there's virtually no difference between this production and something you might see on a professional stage in Minneapolis. But do note the "popular" part of the above statement; Lyric Arts shows have a tendency to sell out their relatively few performances in a run, so make plans now (discount tickets available on Goldstar) to see this charming, funny, well-done escapist comedy (written in 1941 as an escape from war, it works as an escape from winter too).

"Hay Fever" at the Guthrie

Noel Coward's play Hay Fever is one of those plays that you go to for pure enjoyment.  There's not much that's deep or thought-provoking about it, but not every play has to be.  It's just a delightfully silly romp through the life of a wealthy, spoiled, eccentric family. 

Judith Bliss is a recently retired stage actress, who continues to live her life as if she's on the stage.  Everything is a production; she creates drama just to be able to act it out.  Her husband David is a novelist who spends most of his time in his study.  Their children are, as expected, spoiled and privileged and as dramatic as their mother.  The Bliss family has a "country house" outside of London, and each member of the family invites a friend out for the weekend, without telling any of the others.  They're terrible hosts, alternately ignoring and insulting their guests.  Each of the four guests has their own reason for accepting the invitation to the country; this is a wealthy and famous family whom everyone wants to know.  But they soon learn that the Bliss family is not so pleasant to be around, despite their eccentrically charming home.

This is a dream cast of Guthrie veterans, returnees, and newcomers.  The most veteran of the cast is Barbara Bryne as the family's servant, who steals every scene she's in.  TV and Broadway actor Harriet Harris returns to the Guthrie to play Judith (she most recently appeared in The Glass Menagerie in 2007, I also saw her in another Noel Coward play, Present Laughter, opposite Victor Garber on Broadway a few years ago).  She is deliciously over the top as Judith must be, milking every moment of drama for the greatest effect.  Simon Jones is another TV and Broadway vet returning to the Guthrie (most recently seen in Shadowlands in 2008), playing the family patriarch, a sort of straight man to the craziness around him.  Cat Walleck, a newcomer to the Guthrie, is fierce and funny as Sorel Bliss, very much her mother's daughter.  Completing the family is Guthrie fave John Skelley as Simon Bliss.  He has such an easy, natural charisma on stage that he is, as always, a joy to watch.  Add to all that the perfectly cast guests, and it's a wonderful, tight, ensemble that plays the histrionics and awkward silences equally well.

I recently said that the set of The Birds, in the Guthrie's studio theater, was the most detailed set I'd ever scene.  I might have to amend that statement after seeing this set, except that in The Birds the details are crammed into a small space, while the Bliss house expands over the large thrust stage, including huge brick exterior walls and flowers in the garden as well as the busy interior.  Every surface of the home is painted or covered in a charming, eccentric style.  Janet Bird designed both the set and the gorgeous 1920s period costumes, and the look is delicious.  She and the director, Christopher Luscombe, appear to be transplanted from London's West End for this production, perhaps adding to the delightful British-ness of the play.


A fabulously talented cast, a classic play, beautiful set and costumes - just another night at the Guthrie.

"Brief Encounter" on Broadway

Brief Encounter is a production of the Kneehigh Theatre Company out of Cornwall, England. It made three US stops, including at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, before landing on Broadway at Studio 54. I saw it in March of this year and absolutely loved it, one of my favorites of the year so far. It’s innovative, fresh, and perfectly lovely. I didn’t notice any differences between the show I saw at the Guthrie and the one I saw on Broadway, except for a few casting changes. It’s a nine-person cast, some of whom function primarily as musicians and some primarily as actors, but almost all of them do some of both. Brief Encounter is technically a play (it was listed as such on the TKTS board), even though it contains just as much music as a musical. But it’s more like a play with musical interludes, rather than a traditional musical with characters breaking into song. It’s based on the Noel Coward play Still Life as well as his movie adaptation, Brief Encounter. It uses film and music to help tell the story of two people who meet at a train station and fall in love, despite the fact that they’re married. Their romance is doomed from the start, but that doesn’t stop it from being beautiful, life-changing, and buoyant.

There are frequent little vignettes in the show that interrupt the main action of the play, which makes it feel almost vaudevillian. Here is where the ensemble cast shines. Before the show starts they walk around the theater, dressed as 1930s movie theater ushers, and singing and playing songs of the period. They all play multiple characters and multiple instruments. The sweet and funny “new love” story between Stanley and Beryl and the “love again” story of Myrtle and Albert serve as a nice contrast to the doomed love story of the main characters.

Brief Encounter is innovative in the way that it uses media to depict the inner and outer action of the story. There’s a screen at the back of the stage where images such as sky or water are projected. At times scenes are projected onto a smaller screen made of vertical strips at the front of the stage, allowing the actors to step in and out of the picture. The train is depicted as a little toy train pulled across the stage, and also by a projection onto yet another screen pulled across the front of the stage. At one point the lovers literally swing from chandeliers. There was a Q&A after the show, and one of the actors commented that what is normally felt internally is expressed externally in this show.

Every movement is so specific, so full of meaning, that not a moment is wasted on any corner of the stage at any time during the show. From the way someone holds a teacup, to a gentle touch between lovers. It’s a delightful show that will break your heart, make you laugh, and give you hope. It feels like something that should be done at some little experimental theater, which I think it was, and I’m thrilled that it ended up on Broadway.

Update: watch a video about opening night here.