Coo-ee, it's me. I am delighted that Blithe Spirit is such a Broadway triumph. Regular bloggees will know that I have been unstinting in my promotion of Rupert Everett, and naturally I had a fateful hand in pushing this Cowardy production in his direction. His future is now assured. Google will confirm that the names Rupert Everett and Madame Arcati are recurringly intertwined both in life and now in art. This confusion is doing nothing but good for my visitor figures.
Angela Lansbury, 83, is I suppose an adequate substitute for me as Madame Arcati though I can't help but wonder whether she sometimes muddles her lines and thinks she's still in Murder She Wrote. No one can improve on Margaret Rutherford as me: she brought to Arcati that essential ambiguity that runs through her person in all sorts of ways, a woman misunderstood even in these broad-minded times. The turban doesn't help.
15 comments:
Have you noticed how Rupert Everett can't pronounce his 'r's properly?
Congratulations Madame on the extraordinary reception accorded to Michael Blakemore’s production. I have no doubt that this blog subliminally encouraged all parties to revive Coward's little laugh at Spiritualism.
I like the New York Times Review: "Yet for pure originality and expressiveness, it’s hard to imagine any Broadway chorus line topping the solo dances performed here by an 83-year-old woman with a superfluity of bad jewelry, the gait of a gazelle and a repertory of poses that bring to mind Egyptian hieroglyphs.
"That’s Angela Lansbury as Madame Arcati, a very self-serious medium on the prowl for vibrations from the spirit world. And when Madame Arcati feels vibrations, she vibrates — sometimes like a tuning fork, sometimes like wind chimes in a monsoon. As for those little neo-Nijinsky dances, they are Madame Arcati’s method for making herself receptive for the arrival of errant ectoplasms. Were I a ghost, I would definitely make a point of revisiting the dreary world whenever this rare medium dances."
Don't you feel consummated by this description?
Dear Quentin, thank you so much for drawing to my attention - and do send my love to all those private eye investigators who specialise in tracking down mystery blog authors. the things I know!
Blithe Spirit is not a satire on Spiritualism, but a playful farce which does not question the existence of the afterlife and, without giving too much away, actually confirms me, Madame Arcati, in my clairvoyance, sort of.
You really must try to get out more darling and stop being rude about people who might want to deprive your class of its money - you snobs need doing.
You tell’em sweetie. “laugh at Spiritualism”, the nerve!
www.broadway.com/Blithe-Spirit/broadway_reviews/5023301
That's right, I've only to mention Murder She Wrote and the frickin Google ads pop up for the DVD. Lansbury definitely hit a career low with ghastly pile of sedation TV drama - strictly for hospices.
..I thought she had already retired to the spirit world..literally...
she arises again..ugh...
I could never handle that show, she was the consummate "know it all"..goes to show that dowdiness is still in vogue.
s!
I'm just watching a DVD of a series of Miss Marple films with the insanely wonderful Margaret Rutherford.
I hope Angela has ditched that dreadful American accent from 'Murder She Wrote'.
Did you know her nephew Malcolm Turnbull is the current Federal Leader of the Opposition in Australia ?.His late mother Coral and Angela were sisters.There's trivia for you.
I feel I played a small role in promoting Rupert and we'll be forever linked, even if only orthodontically.
a devoted Coward fan,
veritas
When a media mogul sees sense and gives me my own magazine you shall be my editor-at-large (and paparazzo), Veritas.x
Love Coward. Loath Everett. Perhaps it's the superciliousness and the sense that he's got a very thin skin.
An Aethetes Lament-you must read Everett's superb autobiography "Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins" where he admits to his early life as a thin-skinned snob (which he was).
Like a good red wine, Everett is not only getting better looking with age but becoming a much finer actor.
x veritas.
I am gutted that this production is in New York and not in the West End. I'd love to see it. I think Rupert Everett is a fine actor, okay so he's not Kenneth Branagh but in the right show with the right director, he's brilliant.
Let's be glad Rupes is not Kenneth Branagh. I have just seen The Boat That Rocked and has poor Branagh all at sea in a panto villain role - I can't help but feel that Rupes would have extracted humour from the part.
Angela Lansbury? Pah. Not a patch on Margaret Rutherford. I smell ectoplasm strongly...
@ Anonymous. I bet he licks it well tho.
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