THEATER REVIEW | 'BLITHE SPIRIT'
The Medium as the Messenger
By BEN BRANTLEY

There is no choreographer listed among the credits for the genial but bumpy new revival of Noël Coward’s “Blithe Spirit,” which opened Sunday night at the Shubert Theater. Yet for pure originality and expressiveness, it’s hard to imagine any Broadway chorus line topping the solo dances performed here by an 83-year-old woman with a superfluity of bad jewelry, the gait of a gazelle and a repertory of poses that bring to mind Egyptian hieroglyphs.

That’s Angela Lansbury as Madame Arcati, a very self-serious medium on the prowl for vibrations from the spirit world. And when Madame Arcati feels vibrations, she vibrates — sometimes like a tuning fork, sometimes like wind chimes in a monsoon. As for those little neo-Nijinsky dances, they are Madame Arcati’s method for making herself receptive for the arrival of errant ectoplasms. Were I a ghost, I would definitely make a point of revisiting the dreary world whenever this rare medium dances.

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Angela Lansbury to Return to Broadway in Blithe Spirit Revival

By Andrew Gans
October 13, 2008

Four-time Tony Award winner Angela Lansbury, most recently on Broadway opposite Marian Seldes in Terrence McNally's Deuce, will return to Broadway this season in the upcoming revival of Blithe Spirit.

Lansbury will play psychic Madame Arcati in the revival of the classic Noel Coward comedy, according to Variety. Lansbury will join the previously announced Christine Ebersole (Tony winner for Grey Gardens and 42nd Street) as the ghostly Elvira and film star Rupert Everett ("My Best Friend's Wedding," "Another Country" and "An Ideal Husband"), who will be making his Broadway debut. Michael Blakemore, who directed Lansbury in Deuce, will direct at a Shubert Theatre to be announced.

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Buckley, Lee, Gemignani, Brown, Childs, Ebersole and More to Play Birdland

By Andrew Gans
August 1, 2008

A host of Broadway favorites — including Tony Award winners Betty Buckley and Christine Ebersole — are scheduled to play the Manhattan nightclub Birdland this fall.

The fall season at the famed jazz club follows:

Sept. 3-6: John Abercrombie Quartet
Sept. 8: The Jeff Blumenkrantz Songbook
Sept. 10-13: Heath Brothers Quartet
Sept. 15: Laurel Massé
Sept. 16-20: OREGON
Sept. 22: Michele Lee
Sept. 23-27: Betty Buckley
Sept. 29: Alexander Gemignani
Oct. 1-4: Lou Donaldson Quartet with Dr. Lonnie Smith
Oct. 6: Capathia Jenkins and Louis Rosen
Oct. 8-11: Dave Holland Sextet
Oct. 13: Jason Robert Brown
Oct. 20: Ron Abel
Oct. 21-25: Jane Monheit
Oct. 27: Kristen Childs
Oct. 29-30: Enrico Peranunzi Trio
Oct. 31-Nov. 1: Enrico Peranunzi Quintet
Nov. 4-9: Music of Django Reinhardt
Nov. 11-15: John Pizzarelli
Nov. 19-22: Tierney Sutton
Nov. 26-29: Christine Ebersole with Billy Stritch

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Oh, a weekend in the country...

Grey Gardens' Ebersole and Wilson Will Reunite for A Little Night Music

By Andrew Gans
25 Jan 2008

Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson, who both won Tony Awards for their performances in the Tony-nominated musical Grey Gardens, will reunite this summer for concert performances of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's A Little Night Music.

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EEEEEe!

I came back from a frenzy of last minute organizing to see that my request for a cast-signed Playbill from Grey Gardens has been filled :D :D :D

I need to go get a frame for this one :) And even the standby's signed! :D
So the production of Company itself wins but Raul Esparza did not. :X

I'm a bit mixed on that - I mean, Raul! O+O;

I'm not certain that I liked the staging for Being Alive, but guess that it was what it was, even though, I was hoping that the rest of the cast could be there to cheer Raul on.

I saw all the production pieces for this telecast and was amused that The Apple Tree's Gorgeous was part of the segment closeouts... O+O;

Spring Awakening.

:: sigh ::