It's Thursday and time for our theater critic, J. Wynn Rousuck, to join us for another of her weekly reviews of the regional stage. Today, she describes the new production of British playwright Noel Coward's classic comedy, Blithe Spirit: An Improbable Farce in Three Acts, on stage at Baltimore's Vagabond Players.
First seen in London's West End in 1941 and produced on Broadway later that year, Blithe Spirit tells the story of mystery writer and socialite Charles Condomine, whose seemingly untroubled life with his second wife is upended when he engages a medium to seek out spirits as material for his next book. He winds up instead confronting the ghost of his first wife, and mayhem ensues.
Directed at Vagabond by Steve Goldklang, Blithe Spirit stars Alyssa Wellman Houde as Edith, Barbara Madison Hauck as Ruth, Eric. C. Stein as Charles, Ducan Hood as Dr. Bradman, Dianne Hood as Mrs. Bradman, Maribeth Vogel as Madam Arcati, and Kerry Brady as Elvira.
Blithe Spirit continues at Vagabond Theatre through Sunday May 12.