New Play in Manhattan

Blithe Spirit (by Noel Coward; produced by John C. Wilson). Last spring Noel Coward,* erasing the war from his mind, stole out of bomb-scarred London to a quiet Welsh country house and in five days tossed off an "improbable farce." At the same time, he pulled off a nearly impossible job. One stage ghost was usually a little more than even Shakespeare could handle; Coward has done handsomely with two. One sprightly stage joke usually gives a playwright a good first act;

Coward has wispily but brightly spun out his joke through a whole evening. Blithe Spirit--as sure a hit for Broadway as it is in London--can be aptly tagged with a single word: it is gay.

It starts off with a frivolous seance that backfires by conjuring up a man's beautiful, mischievous late wife, who floats spectrally through his household, splashing delicate poison on his second marriage. Since the daffy medium who contrived the lady's visit lacks the power to terminate it, in no time things are dramatically at sixes and sevens, though artistically neat as a pin. For Playwright Coward, standing at the juncture of three yawning precipices, nimbly keeps his balance. He makes his preposterous menage seem entirely natural. He maintains so light a touch that Death, far from being morbid, seems as carefree as a debutante. He is so resourceful that nearly every time his tale gets winded, he brings up a change of horses and away it goes again--and only slightly downhill.

The one last precipice over which Blithe Spirit might have toppled is skirted too: the production is delightful, with a trio of actresses nosing out suave Clifton Webb to reap most of the glory. Graceful English Leonora Corbett romps amusingly as the twitting first wife; Peggy Wood (Old Acquaintance) huffs expertly as the twitted second one; and Mildred Natwick (Missouri Legend) plays the medium--who in her trances is wild-eyed as a witch on a broomstick, in her waking moments hearty and chin-up as a Girl Guide leader --with prodigious humor and bounce.

* For news of Playwright Coward last week see p. 47-

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