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Tag: ‘Blithe Spirit’

  • Angela Lansbury Wows London Audience in ‘Blithe Spirit’

    Angela Lansbury wowed a London audience this week in her return to the West End stage. The 88-year-old is playing the role of medium Madame Arcati in Noel Coward’s stage farce. It is the first time she has appeared on a London theater stage in almost 40 years. Critics seem to absolutely love her.

    The Daily Telegraph’s Charles Spencer wrote about her “astonishing energy and comic panache.”

    “Thirty-five years ago I remember being bowled over by Lansbury’s performance as Mrs Lovett in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd on Broadway. She brings a similar energy and high definition wit to Madame Arcati,” he wrote. “Her voice swoops and soars with superb grandeur and her extraordinary dance routine, in which she seems physically to vibrate as she goes into a trance, is a wonder to behold.”

    “This is a tour de force that will glow warmly in the memory of all who see it,” he concluded.

    That’s a pretty darn impressive critique for an 88-year-old actress.

    Probably best known for her role as Jessica Fletcher in the hit TV series Murder, She Wrote, Angela Lansbury also voiced the role of Mrs. Potts in the Disney film Beauty and the Beast–in both dialogue and song. The above video clip shows her performing the beloved theme from the award winning movie.

    Following her very successful opening night in London on Tuesday, Lansbury said “being back in London felt very natural and terrific.”

    Angela Lansbury made Queen Elizabeth’s ‘Honours List’ for 2014, meaning she is a dame at 88–the female equivalent to knighthood. It seems good things definitely come to those who wait. She has, of course, done lots of remarkable thing in the meantime. She is definitely one classy and incredibly talented dame.

    Image via Wikimedia Common

  • Angela Lansbury Wows On London Stage

    Angela Lansbury may be 88 years old, but that doesn’t mean she can’t steal the stage with her acting abilities. On Tuesday, Lansbury made her first onstage appearance in over 40 years. She plays the character of eccentric medium Madame Arcati in the play Blithe Spirit. Her performance earned her a five star review and has been praised by many critics.

    “Thirty-five years ago I remember being bowled over by Lansbury’s performance as Mrs. Lovett in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd on Broadway. She brings a similar energy and high definition wit to Madame Arcati,” critic Charles Spencer wrote.

    “Her voice swoops and soars with superb grandeur and her extraordinary dance routine, in which she seems physically to vibrate as she goes into a trance, is a wonder to behold.”

    He concluded: “This is a tour de force that will glow warmly in the memory of all who see it.”

    Some critics claimed that although Lansbury played her character well, her presence distracted from the story and pulled the focus from the other actors and actresses.

    Although Lansbury was no doubt one of the most impressive parts of the show, critics are in love with the entire play and gave it rave reviews as a whole.

    Actor Charles Edwards has also received praise from critics for his role as the novelist haunted by his late wife.

    The show opened Tuesday night at the Gielgud Theatre in London.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Angela Lansbury Shines On London Stage

    Angela Lansbury Shines On London Stage

    In January it was announced that Dame Angela Lansbury would be reprising her role as Madame Arcati in Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, on the same stage her mother performed on in 1918.

    In Blithe Spirit, Lansbury’s Madame Arcati, a medium, is invited to the home of socialite and novelist Charles Condomine to conduct a seance. Charles only hopes to get some material for a new novel, but instead sees the ghost of his late first wife Elvira. When the seance is over, Elvira sticks around and tries to ruin Charles’s marriage to his second wife Ruth, who can’t see or hear Elvira.

    Now the critics have had a chance to see the play and they couldn’t be more thrilled with it and Lansbury’s performance.

    Theater critic Charles Spencer said Lansbury was “on sparkling form” and continued, “Thirty-five years ago I remember being bowled over by Lansbury’s performance as Mrs Lovett in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd on Broadway. She brings a similar energy and high definition wit to Madame Arcati. Her voice swoops and soars with superb grandeur and her extraordinary dance routine, in which she seems physically to vibrate as she goes into a trance, is a wonder to behold. This is a tour de force that will glow warmly in the memory of all who see it.”

    If you couldn’t guess, Spencer gave Blithe Spirit a five star review.

    While the Independent‘s critic Paul Taylor also enjoyed the performance, he only gave it four stars, saying, “With her red Princess Leia-style coiffure and clashing arty-meets-hearty wardrobe, Lansbury’s Madame A is a quivering, deliciously erratic blend of bohemian lady novelist and girl guide. It’s the way, though, that she emphasises the medium’s batty and strangely admirable self-belief that makes her portrayal so funny and endearing.”

    Rod McPhee of the Daily Mirror gave a five star review. “Lansbury shows she still has razor sharp comic timing and the arsenal of withering looks and gestures required to play this timeless comedy character. The most subtle change in delivery and tone of voice is perfected by the experienced star, leaving the audience in stitches throughout,” said McPhee.

    Fans also enjoyed Lansbury’s performance, taking to Twitter to share with those not lucky enough to have seen the play.

    Blithe Spirit continues to run through June 7 at the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End.

    Image via YouTube.