When Steve Scott saw the London’s West End revival run of Noel Coward’s classic stage comedy “Blithe Spirit” in Fall 2022, he knew it would be a perfect fit to produce at Dunes Summer Theatre in Michigan City, the same stage where he has served as artistic director since 2022.
“When in London to see that run of this play, I saw actress Jennifer Saunders from TV’s ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ play the part of Madame Arcati, and she was great in the séance scenes,” Scott said.
“Fast forward to us planning our 2024 Dunes Summer Theatre titles for the season, and that’s when we all agreed ‘Blithe Spirit’ was a great work for us to select because it’s a small cast comedy to fit our stage needs.”
Dunes Summer Theatre kicks off its 2024 season May 31-June 16 with “Blithe Spirit.”
Showtimes are at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays.
Written by Coward in 1941, “Blithe Spirit” centers on a sophisticated British novelist haunted by the ghost of his mischievous former wife, after a séance conjures her spirit.
Scott said he was fortunate that the director for the season’s first show, Michael Lasswell, is also a fan of Coward’s biting wit and the outrageous characters penned in his plays.
“Michael Lasswell not only gets to direct our first production, but he is also Dunes’ resident set designer and scenic design is extra key for ‘Blithe Spirit,’ since this play is known for all of the special effects included to tell the story,” Scott said.
“The elaborate set Michael has created is also a universal set so it can be transformed and modified for our other plays projects later in our season.”
Lasswell said he enjoyed the challenge of creating the set.
“There are so many special effects in this play, including things that have to collapse by the finale scene,” Lasswell said.
“We’ve been having a lot of fun finding sneaky ways we can rig the set, creating these effects to show what was once an orderly home is basically destroyed before the audience’s eyes.”
The cast members for “Blithe Spirit’ are mostly new to the Dunes stage, and also new to working with each other, lead by Sean Kelly as novelist Charles Condomine opposite Danielle Bilderback as his second wife Ruth Condomine, both tormented by Danielle Kerr as the now ghostly first spouse Elvira. Mary Jayne Britton plays the family maid Edith and Dean Johanson is Dr. Bradman with Stacy Nelson as his wife Mrs. Bradman and Madeline Pell as Madame Arcati.
Scott said auditions for “Blithe Spirit” and the rest of the shows for Dunes Summer Theatre’s 73rd Season, started in January.
“It’s some great stage energy captured with the talent we’ve assembled,” Scott said.
“I think there was naturally a lot of interest in this particular play title because it is so iconic. Also, for the last revival, many people are familiar that the great Angela Lansbury was in the cast of ‘Blithe Spirit’ playing Madame Arcati.
“Our hope is that audiences will love ‘Blithe Spirit’ so much as our first offering of this new season, that they opt to stop by the box office and convert any single performance ticket purchase into a season subscriber option for all of our other shows for this summer season,” Scott said.
The rest of the titles in the season include “Talley’s Folly” June 28-July 14, “The Bridges of Madison County” July 26-Aug. 11 and “The 4th Annual Dunes Broadway Cabaret Romantic Journeys” Aug. 15-18.
The Dunes Arts Foundation, which operates Dunes Arts Summer Theatre and Education Programs, became incorporated in 1951 and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Philip Potempa is a freelance reporter for The Post-Tribune.
‘Blithe Spirit’
When: May 31-June 16
Where: Dunes Summer Theatre, 288 Shady Oak Drive, Michigan City
Cost: $30-$35
Information: 219-879-7509; dunesARTS.org