High Spirits

Last night I saw the new Ghostbusters movie. I loved the cast and their banter. I was disappointed in the ghosts. The designs were generic and they behaved like bosses in a video game. If the franchise continues I'd like to see more interplay between the ghosts and mortals.

This made me think of the musical High Spirits. Noel Coward agreed to direct this adaption of his play Blithe Spirit though he eventually ceded control to Gower Champion. The supporting role of Madam Arcati, the medium, was expanded for comedienne Beatrice Lillie. Sadly Lillie was in ill health and would improvise large portions of her dialogue. This delighted audiences but enraged Coward.

Elvira, the ghostly wife, gets a fun establishing song: You Better Love Me While You May. The rest of the score is pleasant but forgettable. The play gets regular revivals while the musical is largely forgotten.

"As Coward surely meant it, however, it presents a homosexual whose closet marriage is destroyed by the reappearance of an old boy friend." ~ Ethan Mordden, Open a New Window

Even if “High Spirits” had no other attractions—and it has a stageful—it would be cause for celebration. It has brought back Beatrice Lillie. ~ Howard Taubman, New York Times.

Sail Away

To be a professional pepper upper/ isn’t everyone’s cuppa tea.

But I've wit and guile / and a big false smile

And the tourists rely on me

Noel Coward was impressed by Elaine Stritch’s performance in Goldilocks and offered her a supporting role in his new musical Sail Away. Stritch’s cruise ship hostess would supply the comedy while Jean Fenn’s tourist would engage in a bittersweet romance.

Ethan Mordden (Open a New Window): “Stritch confronted Coward with the rumor that one of the woman leads was going to have her name listed last and set off in a box with the word “and” in front of it. The exasperated Coward replied ‘she shall have her name listed last and set off in a box with the word ‘but’ in front of it.”

Out of town audiences were bored so Fenn’s role was cut and Stritch’s role built up to get the love interest and the jokes. She was a smash. The show wasn’t.

Howard Taubman (New York Times – 1961 review) “As Mimi, the brash, energetic, implacably vivacious cruise hostess, Elaine Stritch gives what must be the performance of her career. She reads lines like an unerring marksman.” Ben Brantley (New York Times – 1999 concert) “Critics fell to their knees in adoration in 1961.That adoration did not extend to Sail Away itself. ''The general feeling was that in 1936 it would have been the best musical of the year,'' wrote the actor Graham Payn, Coward's companion. ''In 1961 it ran for five months.'' The reasons are still apparent.” Ken Mandelbaum (Not Since Carrie): “The failure of both her star vehicles, Goldilocks and Sail Away, did irreparable damage to Stritch’s career.”

It would take eight years for Stritch to appear in another musical on Broadway.

Goldilocks

Who’s been sitting in my chair? Just me. Just me.

By 1958 Elaine Stritch had sung a solo in the revue Angel in the Wings,  played featured roles in revivals of Pal Joey and On Your Toes, and understudied Ethel Merman in Call Me Madam. Goldilocks was to be her breakout starring role. There were some fun songs and a comic supporting role for Margaret Hamilton, but the book was a third-rate Kiss Me Kate. The show closed in 5 months.

Brooks Atkinson – New York Times - 1958

The book undoes what the actors and collaborating artists accomplish, which is a pity…

Miss Stritch can destroy life throughout the country with the twist she gives to the dialogue. She takes a wicked stance, purses her mouth thoughtfully and waits long enough to devastate the landscape.

Elaine Stritch on the dancing bear: “I think he was more or less the funniest guy I worked with - well, certainly in that show. I didn’t like any of the directors. I didn’t like - what else didn’t I like? The whole production.”

Noel Coward was impressed by her performance and offered her a role in his new musical. More on that tomorrow.