Spirits are high in Jones Auditorium as Fifth Avenue’s Theatre Fellowship prepares its mainstage production of the Noël Coward classic comedy Blithe Spirit. Tickets will be available for purchase in the Chesnut Gallery this Sunday and next Sunday (March 1) in advance of opening night on Friday, March 6.

The play will be performed March 6 through March 15, with evening performances at 7 pm and Sunday matinees at 2 pm. Tickets are $25 for general admission and $35 for reserved seating. Tickets are $20 for a preview performance at 7 pm Thursday, March 5. Tickets can also be purchased online at fapc.org/play, or by call Brown Paper Tickets at 800.838.3006. Tickets will also be available Sundays at noon, and one hour before curtain at the 55th Street box office, if seats are available.

Blithe Spirit was first performed in 1941 in London during wartime, when a comedy about ghosts was considered a risk. But it has proved to be among Coward’s most popular and enduring creations. (It was even musicalized for Broadway in 1964 as High Spirits.)

The story involves novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric spiritualist Madame Arcati to his home to conduct a séance for research. Comic complications ensue when Arcati conjures the spirit of his late wife, the mischievous Elvira, who tries to come between Charles and his second wife, Ruth.

Theatre Fellowship’s Equity Showcase production, directed by Nichole Donjé (with assistant director Roberto Alexander) features Fifth Avenue member Joscelyne Wilmouth, who has appeared in every Theatre Fellowship mainstage production since 2014’s Nude with Violin (also by Coward), as the free-spirited Madame Arcati, She is joined by Fifth Avenue members Sarah-Anne Rodgers* as Mrs. Bradman and Sophia Canfield as the beleaguered maid, Edith. Joining the company are Jason Guy* as Charles Condomine, Shana Farr* as Ruth, Caroline Gombé as Elvira and William Shuman as Dr. Bradman.

Linda Ferm, a longtime Fifth Avenue and Theatre Fellowship member, is producer.

The Theatre Fellowship is excited to revive this play at an exciting time. Last produced on Broadway in 2009, with Angela Lansbury as Madame Arcati, Blithe Spirit was filmed in 1945 with Rex Harrison as Charles Condomine and is being remade for the big screen for release later this year. The of the upcoming film cast includes Dame Judi Dench as Arcati and Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens as Charles.

Get in on the fun, and see it here first!

Matt Roush chairs the Theatre Fellowship Steering Committee.