‘Blithe Spirit’ a comedy of manners

That's the spirit.

The "Blithe Spirit" of Brit wit Noel Coward, that is.

Playwright, composer, actor, director, singer -- you can even catch his 1955 Desert Inn showroom debut on the recording "Noel Coward at Las Vegas" -- Coward's self-proclaimed, endlessly evident "talent to amuse" lives on, almost four decades after his death.

The latest case in point: Coward's "improbable farce" of 1941, "Blithe Spirit," which opens a 12-performance run tonight at Las Vegas Little Theatre.

Part of the company's all-comedy season, "Blithe Spirit" serves up a sly, dry drawing-room comedy of manners that conjures haunting laughter -- literally -- through the power of a slightly unbalanced romantic triangle.

In one corner of the triangle: suave, widowed novelist Charles Condomine (played by Daryl Thomas), who's planning to write a novel featuring elements of the occult.

To aid in his book research, he and no-nonsense second wife Ruth (Anne Marie Somers ) host a dinner party and seance, attended by (among others) zany spiritualist Madame Arcati (Barbara King).

During the seance, Madame Arcati summons the spirit of none other than Charles' "morally untidy" first wife Elvira (Ariana Miner ), transforming the writer (the only one who can see Elvira's ghost) into an "astral bigamist" -- and pitting his past and present wives in a never-say-die battle for his affections.

Written by Coward in a mind-boggling five days (when he wasn't busy with his day job: covert operations with the British Secret Service during World War II), "Blithe Spirit" presents a refreshing contrast to today's raunchier comedies, according to director Brian Scott.

"A lot of popular humor appeals to the lowest common denominator," Scott comments, noting that "Blithe Spirit's" hijinks provoke plenty of laughter -- along with a more sophisticated substance.

"It's very banterish and very funny," adds LVLT president Walter Niejadlik . "But there is more there than just witty people being flip."

One underlying theme that remains relevant, in Niejadlik's view: how a former relationship interferes with and can impact the current relationship, whether the ex is living or dead.

Yet while human nature remains constant, human behavior has changed considerably since "Blithe Spirit" first materialized, Scott suggests.

Where the play's characters -- some of them, anyway -- fear "a scandal" should it become known that "they're mixed up with seances and ghost conjuring," he says, those in today's reality-TV climate would "sell their souls for a little bit of attention."

There's also the matter of making World War II-era British colloquialisms intelligible for 21st-century Las Vegas audiences.

Of course, it helps that King, this production's Madame Arcati, is British -- and has been "so helpful in explaining some of the words and some of the customs," Scott says.

And in rehearsal, Scott often would advise his actors to consult the Internet for insight into unfamiliar terms.

For example, Thomas -- who plays the flummoxed Charles -- had to look up the word "guttersnipe," Scott recalls, and "his eyes were wide" when he learned that it meant "a person belonging to or characteristic of the lowest social group in a city" -- in other words, a street urchin. (As Scott remembers Thomas saying, " 'That's a terrible thing to call somebody.' ")

Getting the comedic pacing just right presents another challenge for contemporary "Blithe Spirit" productions, according to the director.

"It has to clip along, but it can't be rushed," he explains. "You've got to get the rhythm to follow along. I adore it."

As do audiences, past and present. The original 1941 London production ran almost 2,000 performances (setting a record for nonmusical British plays), and Coward later collaborated with director David Lean (who would go on to direct such classics as "Lawrence of Arabia") on a 1945 movie version starring Rex Harrison.

Coward even transformed "Blithe Spirit" into a Broadway musical, 1965's "High Spirits," but it's the original comedy that continues to haunt theaters. The 2009 Broadway revival, for example, featured Angela Lansbury's Tony-winning portrayal of dotty Madame Arcati.

Hardly a surprise, considering the kind of witheringly witty repartee Coward provides for able comic actors, as when Madame Arcati accepts a cocktail from her urbane host with this quip: "You're a very clever man. Anybody can write books, but it takes an artist to make a dry martini that's dry enough."

Precisely, says director Scott, who likens "Blithe Spirit" to "a very smooth, dry martini. When it's done right, there's nothing better."

Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.