By Cindy Whitehair
There are days when I believe that I was born in the wrong era. I tend to enjoy the music of the 30’s and 40’s more than I do current music. Which is why I jumped on the chance to review Westminster College’s production of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit. Written in 1941, during World War II, this supernatural comedy is a perfect, light-hearted distraction from the daily grind.
Charles Condomine (Tyler Palo) and his wife Ruth (Daisy Sherman) asked the local medium, Madame Arcoti (Viviane Turman) to conduct a séance in their home as research for his next book. They have invited their friends, Dr. and Mrs. Bradman (Tage Gould and Briony Denker), to be their guest. The séance has unexpected consequences – in the form of the ghost of Elvira Condomine (Sierre DuCharme-Hansen), Charles’ late wife. Things go about as well as you would expect when you have two women vying for the affections of the same man.
The Westminster Theater is a lovely venue and well-appointed for a show set in the late 30’s/early 40’s. The set (by Nina Vought) was exactly what you would expect a formal living room in an upper class British home should look like. The music played before the show, during the show, and at intermission were absolutely perfect and set the mood to perfection. Costume designer Erin M. West did a wonderful job – especially for the quirkiness of Madame Arcoti. The hair/wigs for the women was also a highlight – especially for Ruth Condomine. I was very pleased to see that this show included a dialog coach (Mandi Titcomb) and it showed. The actors accents were, for the most part, perfect. The lighting design (Spencer Brown) was creatively used to help give Elvira her ghostly visage. The special effects (yes, special effects – this is a ghost story and yes – things get broken!) by Harrison Corthell were fun, too. The make-up (Chloie Greenberg and Vanessa Vega) was really the only mixed bag in this show – the ghost make up was tremendous! I can’t rave enough about it. However, the middle-age make up for Dr. Bradman was perplexing. I don’t know what they were trying to do, but it was distracting to say the least. But all in all, this show was well done technically.
I have seen this show done a few times now and I must say, I really enjoyed the directorial decisions that Melanie Nelson made – especially with Charles and Madame Arcoti. Many times, Charles is portrayed as this ramrod spined Brit with no emotion and Madame Arcoti is over the top eccentric. In this production, Madame Arcoti was a little more subdued (but still wildly eccentric) and Charles had more than a few wild moments – which you would expect for someone who has his ghost wife living with him and his new wife! He was allowed to have emotions and (sometimes) be just a little physically comedic (a style that suited Mr. Palo well.)
Blithe Spirit is a show about women and the women really shined in this production. Sierre DuCharme-Hansen was delightfully coquettish as ghostly Elvira and Daisy Sherman’s Ruth ran the emotional gamut that one would expect a woman in this situation would go through. Viviane Turman was an absolute treat as Madame Arcoti. But there is one person to keep your eye on. The person who is at once key to the story but is supposed to be “invisible” – house maid Edith (Katelyn Limber). She works hard to be the good, unobtrusive servant, but her nature just keeps getting in the way!
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Blithe Spirit is just an all-around fun show – a great escape for a few hours.
Westminster Theater presents Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit. Performances are Thursday, Friday & Saturday through April 15, 2017. Tickets are $10.00 online and at the door. The theater is located at 1840 South 1300 East in Salt Lake City.
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