Stage Door News
Stage Door News
July 3, 2013 – Kicking off the summer season at the Gravenhurst Opera House is Blithe Spirit presented by Dragonfly Theatre Company. Opening July 9th and running through to July 20th, enjoy a dinner theatre production of the comedic play written by Noel Coward. Blithe Spirit is a community production that will take the stage by storm.
Blithe Spirit takes its title from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “To A Skylark” (Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!/ Bird though never wert”). The play concerns the socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati, to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to gather material for his next book. To his surprise, the scheme backfires when he is haunted by the ghost of his annoying and temperamental first wife, Elvira, after the séance. Elvira makes continual attempts to disrupt Charles’ marriage to his second wife, Ruth, who cannot see or hear the ghost.
The play was first seen in the West End of London in 1941. The play created a new record for the longest-run non-musical British play, totaling 1,997 performances. Later that year it ran for 657 performances on Broadway. Coward adapted the play for film in 1945, starring Rex Harrison, and directed the musical adaptation, High Spirits, on Broadway in 1965.
“The Opera House is a historic landmark in the town of Gravenhurst and the offerings that we are welcoming to the stage this summer enrich our community,” remarks Barbara Anderson-Huget, manager of the Gravenhurst Opera House. “Starting the season with a community theatre production could not be more appropriate.”
Blithe Spirit is a dinner theatre production: dinner at 6:00pm and performance at 7:30pm. Dinner and show tickets are $47.50 and show only tickets are $25.50. Please contact the Gravenhurst Opera House for more information. Tickets can be purchased online at www.gravenhurstoperahouse.com or by contacting the Box Office at 705-687-5550.
2013-07-03
Gravenhurst: “Blithe Spirit” opens the summer season at the Gravenhurst Opera House