City Lights Theater’s jovial revival of Noel Coward’s classic farce “Blithe Spirit” works on all levels.
Noel Coward is one of the great observers of the world’s many subtleties, an enchanter with helpings of sly, sardonic wit. Take for example what his character Madame Arcati says in the splendiferous ghost story “Blithe Spirit” about, well, spirits.It is a subtle, sagacious quip, a smidge of what makes Coward and his his keen perception so revered in the annals of drama history.
The company’s production, directed with broad, comic strokes by Mark Anderson Phillips, keeps the action rolling in the play’s nearly three-hour run time. The production pushes against modern sensibilities of today’s audiences, those accustomed to shorter run times without an intermission; this play has two. The show commits to a tight pace, executed more often than not.
The magic of the play is actual magic. Scenic designer Ron Gasparinetti has imbued his highly ambitious set with many bells and whistles — the only thing the set seems to be missing is his credit in the program as a character. That mystique begins with the sèance table and concludes with the set’s phenomenal commitment to storytelling, making the play’s conclusion pop with evocative glee.
There are many levels to Coward’s characters who are “of the earth, earthy”; Psarras and Marquis discover their lot through high levels of energy which leave them knackered by the conclusion of the proceedings. They make it clear they have no interest in mixing with society’s guttersnipes, their flailing and flighty nature always interesting and entertaining.
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