It’s discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit! Don’t be deceived— though theatre has been far from us these many, many months— St. Gabriel’s Miracle Players are back! And they’re live, on-stage, in-person, with real, live audience members in the house! This fall, the Miracle Players, gratefully housed in the auditorium of the Watershed Public Charter School (same building, new school ownership), are bringing to you a delightfully charming, albeit slightly dated, drawing room comedy— Noel Coward’s Blythe Spirit. Making his directorial debut (or at least the first time since school days some years prior), Paul Ballard brings wit and charm to the stage in a play all about— you guessed it— mischievous ghosts! Appropriately tailing the spooky-season on the calendar, Blythe Spirit has some good humors and special effects for audiences who have long-awaited the return to in-person theatre.
There’s a beautiful drawing room/parlor in the Condomine household, the primary setting for Blythe Spirit and that’s all thanks to Set Designer Lucretia Field. There’s wainscotting on the walls with blue paint below and rosy floral wallpaper above, capturing the essence of a time gone by. The room is furnished, not sparsely, not lavishly— just so, giving the illusion that the Condomine household is of average wealth for the time; they live comfortably. What’s worth noting in most in Field’s set is the way she handles all of the special effects. Without going into too many spoilers, Field’s efforts are most praiseworthy, particularly when it comes to the ‘original appearance’ of Elvira. One might say it inconspicuously mirrors the way a real apparition might appear.
Costumes for the production are a flagrant affair all their own, well worth noting and praising. Team efforts from Costumers Sally Kahn and Heidi Toll give the audience the notion that we’re in a time in the distant past where appearances, particularly for the ladies, are of the utmost importance. The dresses featured on Ruth Condomine, current lady of the house, serve both the fashion of the time and figure of the actress well. And the faded affair featured on Elvira suits her character with exacting measure. The true show-stopping sartorial selection is the everchanging, outlandishly loud outfits featured on Toll’s character, Madam Arcate. Peacock print, turquoises and blues, bangles and trinkets, baubles and lavaliers, they very boldly state that the character is an eccentric eclectic who traffics in the spiritual realm. From toe-tip to turban, you’ll love picking out all the outrageous pieces featured on this zany character.
For a directorial debut, Paul Ballard finds many of the comic nuances laced into the production and highlights them, particularly during the verbal spars and witty repartee involving Charles Condomine and his wife Ruth and late wife Elvira. There are moments, particularly in the first act, where the pacing does drag its feet a little bit, but playwright Noel Coward was certainly writing for a different time and modern audiences may not have the patience for such lengthy, expository scenes. It’s ultimately an enjoyable production with strong performers in the principle roles, making it a good evening back out at live theatre.
All the evening’s fuss centers around the Condomine household. Ruth (Deb Carson) the current Mrs. Condomine, having guests— Dr. & Mrs. Bradman (George Steinrock & Kacy Conley respectively)— over to entertain a spiritualist medium, Madam Arcate (Heidi Toll), so that her husband, Charles (Lenny Taube) can take notes for his latest book. The maid, Edith (Olivia Steinrock) pops in and out, and the whole evening runs comically aground when the delightfully phony Madame Arcate accidentally summons up a true spirit of the past.
Deb Carson, as the somewhat volatile wife character, shows a series of ‘true colors’ when it comes to playing at married life. Starting off deceptively sweet and very attentive, Carson gets a chance to show the character’s true ire with a great many angry outbursts all throughout the second and third act. There are quite a few scenes shared with both Mr. Condomine and Elvira that leave her character sputtering and speechless, driving a good deal of the show’s humor (as those scenes often involve Carson’s character not being able to see or hear the character of Elvira but quipping and snapping directly at Mr. Condomine as he quips and snaps directly at Elvira.) Carson does a remarkable job of holding her own against the ghostly invasion of her house and has perfected the ability of “mis-addressing” a character— a tactic so often used in live theatre when a character is a ghostly apparition that cannot really be seen or heard by most or all of the others on stage.
Playing said sprightly apparition, Laura Toll is the epitome of girlish ghoul when she appears as Elvira, Charles Condomine’s late wife. And yes, late— as in dead, deceased, returned from the great beyond! Toll is cheeky in her line delivery, particularly when poking fun at the Ruth character, Charles’ current wife, and she has a sweet disposition she saves just for her still-living husband. Playfully mischievous, Toll has a great deal of fun drifting all around the set— she is playing a ghost that only Charles Condomine can see and hear— and her physicality reflects as much. She doesn’t walk across the stage, she drifts, almost floating, and even though you can see her bare feet (which aren’t actually bare, if you squint hard enough and are sitting very close to the stage), there is this ethereal quality to the way she moves them, creating this illusion like she really is hovering. Toll has delectable diction and a well-versed cadence when it comes to delivering Noel Coward’s particular stylized dialogue; it works well for her role in this production.
Melodramatic is the closest summation for accurately describing Heidi Toll’s character of Madam Arcate. Zany, cuckoo, doolally, and downright nuts also come to mind. The role of Madam Arcate was practically written for Heidi Toll and she wears it as one would a beloved, family heirloom shawl— draped so snuggly around her that you can scarcely tell where the shawl of the character stops and the actor begins. With her over-the-top gesturing, volume, and utter shenanigans on stage, Toll is a law unto herself, creating this vibrantly vivacious whack-job character like no other can. With stunning sartorial selections to compliment her crackpot characterization of Madam Arcate (and yes, it is difficult to tell which is more outrageous, her hilarious portrayal or her uproarious costumes), Heidi Toll delivers a great deal of the comic nonsense that happens in this production, mostly through the character’s complete and utter inability to actually be a success psychic medium.
Carrying the weight of Noel Coward’s world on his shoulders, Lenny Taube as Mr. Charles Condomine, is the show’s driving force, igniting fire, and protagonistic factor. With animated facial expressions that are simply to die for, Taube turns little humorous moments into gut-busting, laugh-out-loud ones, particularly when it comes to his reactions. He sees his dead wife— BAM. Face and body are in fully panicked overload that has the audience rolling with laughter. He goes verbally at it with his current, living wife— BOOM. The audience is once again struck with the thunderous urge to giggle maniacally. Taube has a true understanding of both comic timing and Coward’s clever wit, which is laced into nearly every passage of the play. There’s even a moment, small though it is, where the Ruth character accuses Charles Condomine of being ‘too drunk’ (in a desperate attempt to justify his irrational, ghost-seeing behavior) and Taube takes the opportunity to sip his tea Kermit-the-Frog style, before absorbing the words, having his eyes bug out of his head, and retort back with a whole slew of hilarity. Each of Taube’s interactions, be they with Ruth, Elvira, or even Madam Arcate, are carefully crafted and help keep the show going.
Facts are so difficult to explain; they’re so fantastical. But the facts herein are rather simple. St. Gabriel’s Miracle Players is live back on stage with in-person audiences (and a meal if you’re so inclined!), Blythe Spirit is quite funny, and it’s only running for two weekends. Be sure to pick up tickets before this show drifts into the realm of the ever ethereal beyond.
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 50 minutes with two intermissions
Blythe Spirit plays through November 14, 2021 at The Saint Gabriel Miracle Players— 6946 Dogwood Road in the Milford Mill neighborhood of Baltimore, MD. Tickets can be purchased at the door, by calling the box office at (410) 747-5626 or by purchasing them online.
