High Spirits

High Spirits
Original Cast Recording
Music	Hugh Martin Timothy Gray
Lyrics	Hugh Martin Timothy Gray
Book	Hugh Martin Timothy Gray
Basis	Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward
Productions	1964 Broadway 1964 West End

High Spirits is a musical with a book, lyrics, and music by Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray, based on the play Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward, about a man's problems caused by the spirit of his dead wife.

Martin and Gray adhered closely to Coward's original text, although they expanded the medium's character to make it the star role. The playwright was delighted with their adaptation, then entitled Faster Than Sound, and agreed to direct it, hoping to cast Keith Michell as Charles, Gwen Verdon as Elvira, Celeste Holm as Ruth, and Kay Thompson as Madame Arcati, with Danny Daniels as choreographer. Coward's dream cast failed to materialize, but he continued with the project.

Productions

After fourteen previews, the Broadway production opened on April 7, 1964 at the Alvin Theatre, where it ran for 375 performances. The cast included Edward Woodward as Charles, Tammy Grimes as Elvira, Louise Troy as Ruth, and Beatrice Lillie as Madame Arcati. Gower Champion aided Coward in directing the musical.^[1] Christopher Walken, billed as "Ronnie Walken" was in the chorus. The production was nominated for eight Tony Awards but did not win any. Other major musical nominees that same year (1964) were Funny Girl and Hello, Dolly! and most major Tony wins went to the latter. An original cast recording was released by MCA.

Coward also directed the West End production, which opened in November 1964 at the Savoy Theatre, where it ran for 93 performances. The cast included Denis Quilley as Charles, Marti Stevens as Elvira, Jan Waters as Ruth, and Cicely Courtneidge as Madame Arcati^[2]. A London cast album was released by Pye Records, for whom Coward himself also recorded four numbers from the show, "Something Tells Me"; "If I Gave You"; "Forever and a Day"; and "Home Sweet Heaven".^[3]

42nd Street Moon theatre company of San Francisco, California, presented a concert version of the musical in March - April 2009.^[4]

Synopsis

Writer Charles Condomine hosts a séance conducted by medium Madame Arcati in the hope that he'll learn her tricks so he can use the information in his new novel. His assumption that she is a fake is proven wrong when she falls into a trance and unwittingly conjures the spirit of his late wife Elvira, although he alone can see her. His present wife Ruth believes that Charles is joking until Elvira moves into the Condomine household and proves her presence by performing poltergeist-type pranks. Elvira's plan to kill Charles so he can join her in the beyond backfires when she accidentally disposes of Ruth instead, and before long the two female apparitions are disrupting their former husband's life with their constant nagging and bickering.

Song list

Tony Award nominations

• Best Musical
• Best Composer and Lyricist
• Best Author of a Musical
• Best Actress in a Musical (Beatrice Lillie)
• Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Louise Troy)
• Best Choreography
• Best Direction of a Musical (Noel Coward)
• Best Conductor and Musical Director

Notes

References

• Mordden, Ethan, Open a New Window: The Broadway Musical of the 1960s, Palgrave (2001), pages 38-40 (ISBN 0-312-23952-1)
• Payn, Graham. My Life with Noël Coward, Applause Books, 1994. ISBN 1-55783-190-4

External links

• High Spirits at the Internet Broadway Database
• Synopsis, etc at NODA site