Jealous ghost haunts man in Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit at Renaissance Center

Release Date: 8/15/2008. Expired: 9/21/2008

In doing research for his latest book, a novelist creates a netherworld of trouble when a séance brings back the ghost of his insanely jealous first wife. Her desperate attempts to disrupt his current marriage bring on the laughs when the Renaissance Players present Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit at The Renaissance Center Sept. 12-21.

Shows are 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors 55 and over and $7 for children under 13. A special lunch matinee will be at 12 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13. Tickets are $20 and include a buffet lunch and the performance.

Coward's beloved comedy tells of socialite Charles Condomine (Chris Norman), a widower who invites eccentric medium Madame Arcati (Trudy Whiting) to give a séance as research for a novel he is working on. Madame Arcati conjures the spirit of Charles' first wife, the selfish and spoiled Elvira (Tammie Whited), who is increasingly desperate in her efforts to disrupt Charles' current marriage to Ruth (Pam Funderburg). Also caught up in the aftermath of the séance are Dr. George and Violet Bradman (David Mead and Ty Bissell) and the Condomines’ maid, Edith (Chancey Pickard).

Blithe Spirit debuted at the Savoy Theatre in 1941 with Coward directing and went on to set British box office records. Its mark of 1,997 consecutive performances for non-musical plays in the West End was only eventually beaten by Boeing Boeing in the 1970s.

The play came to Broadway in 1941 for a two-year run and a 1987 revival featured Richard Chamberlain, Blythe Danner and Geraldine Page. A 1945 film version starred Rex Harrison while Coward starred alongside Lauren Bacall and Claudette Colbert in a 1956 television version. The play was adapted into a musical called High Spirits in 1964, which Coward directed.

Kim Cantu is directing the Renaissance Players production of Blithe Spirit. The Bon Aqua resident has previously directed productions of The Mousetrap, Arsenic and Old Lace and The Curious Savage.

Norman has appeared in Renaissance Players productions of The Music Man, The Curious Savage and The Miracle Worker, while serving as stage manager for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. He also appeared in the 2001 Gaslight Dinner Theatre production of The Boys Next Door. The Dickson resident has been marketing director at The Renaissance Center since 2000.

Whiting is a six-time Jimmy Award winner and has appeared in Renaissance Players productions of Charlotte’s Web, The Curious Savage, Guys and Dolls, Annie, The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, A Christmas Carol, Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus, Faith County II: An Evening of Culture and Fiddler on the Roof. The Charlotte resident works in human resources for B&H Electronics.

Funderburg has appeared in Renaissance Players productions of The Wizard of Oz, The Curious Savage and The Mousetrap, for which she won Best Supporting Actress in a Play at the Jimmy Awards. She also has played clarinet in the orchestra for several musicals. The Leiper’s Fork resident is a registered nurse.

White Bluff homemaker Whited is appearing in her first Renaissance Players production. She has previously performed in To Kill a Mockingbird, Noises Off, Annie and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with Patchwork Players and Dearly Departed and Animal Crackers with Amadeus Community Theatre.

A recent home-school graduate, Pickard also is appearing in her first Renaissance Players production. The White Bluff resident has had roles in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Much Ado About Nothing, Noises Off, The Present, Dearly Departed, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and 1940’s Radio Hour.

Bissell has appeared in Renaissance Players productions of The Music Man, The Curious Savage, The Wizard of Oz, Annie Get Your Gun, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Guys and Dolls and Arsenic and Old Lace, for which she won Best Actress in a Play at the Jimmy Awards. The Franklin resident also has appeared in productions with Pull-Tight Players and Donelson Dinner Theatre.

Mead made his Renaissance Players debut in the summer production of The Music Man. The McEwen resident appeared in high school and college productions of Arsenic and Old Lace, Hillbilly Wedding and H.M.S. Pinafore, as well as having a bit part in a Johnny Cash movie filmed in Gallatin.

For more information on the Renaissance Players production of Blithe Spirit, call (615) 740-5600 or visit www.rcenter.org. To purchase tickets, call (615) 740-5601.

The Renaissance Center is a fine arts education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Theatre page for more about community and professional theatre.

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