The original production of Blithe Spirit, Noël Coward's comic ghost story, opened in 1941, when the hero Charles Condomine's introductory toast - "To the unseen!" - had particular resonance. The play opens as Charles and his wife, Ruth, prepare for a seance; if it was a frivolous spirit-lifter during wartime, then it has, almost 70 years later, been called up at Broadway's Shubert theatre to relieve glum times once more.
Through long and terrible service in am-dram, even the classiest productions of Noël Coward have a whiff of the village hall about them. Blithe Spirit is particularly hard to pull off, since the audience must believe some of the characters can't be seen or heard by others. The casting in this case is sublime. Rupert Everett, who doesn't have to act to look petulant, is perfect as Charles, a louche novelist who - when his unruly first wife is summoned back from the dead - finds himself enjoying the role of "astral bigamist". Described by his second wife during an argument as a man of "seedy gravitas" with the look of a "wounded puppy", Everett perfectly embodies Coward's delight and contempt for the absurdities of his adopted class.
Angela Lansbury as the medium, Madame Arcati, gets a round of applause just for being alive (she's 83), and with isn't-she-marvellous wonder brings the house down every time she raises an eyebrow. She deserves it. Some actors are funny without seeming to try, and Lansbury, with her buggy eyes and talent for physical comedy, chicken-hops across the stage to gear up for the seance and steal the biggest laugh.
The play doesn't ask much of the two wives: Christine Ebersole as the ghostly Elvira and Jayne Atkinson as a good, brisk Ruth, who in tandem with her husband gives that impression, so beloved of Coward, of England mumbling to itself over the breakfast table. Lines such as these will always seem relevant: "Anything interesting in the Times?" Answer: "Don't be silly, dear."
The inadequacies of the lower orders, and jokes that rest on there being something intrinsically hilarious about going to Folkestone, are a little worn by now - and you can't watch Edith, the dotty maid, without thinking of Julie Walters's Mrs Overall. Still, with a lavish set and excerpts from Coward and Irving Berlin songs between acts, Blithe Spirit is as good a cure for grimness as it ever was.
• Until 19 July. Box office: 001 212-239-6200, telecharge.com
