Editing Blithe Spirit (play) (section)

==Adaptations==

===Film===
''Blithe Spirit'' has twice been adapted for the cinema. A [[Blithe Spirit (1945 film)|1945 film]] was directed by [[David Lean]], and starred two of the principals from the original stage production reprising their roles: [[Kay Hammond]] as Elvira and [[Margaret Rutherford]] as Madame Arcati. [[Constance Cummings]] played Ruth, and [[Rex Harrison]] Charles.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120712001107/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6a573b6a "Blithe Spirit"], British Film Institute. Retrieved 19 March 2014</ref> Coward was out of the country during the filming and was therefore obliged to leave the direction to Lean. The author was less than impressed with the result. He found Lean's direction static and said that the film "wasn't entirely bad but it was a great deal less good than it should have been".<ref>Day, p. 88</ref>

A [[Blithe Spirit (2020 film)|2020 film]] adaptation was directed by [[Edward Hall (director)|Edward Hall]], with [[Dan Stevens]] as Charles, [[Isla Fisher]] as Ruth, [[Leslie Mann]] as Elvira and [[Judi Dench]] as Madame Arcati. In ''[[The Guardian]]'' [[Peter Bradshaw]] gave the film one star out of a possible five: "a festival of mugging and farcical overacting".<ref>Bradshaw, Peter. [https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jan/13/blithe-spirit-review-judi-dench-isla-fisher-noel-coward "Blithe Spirit review – Judi Dench presides over a deathly farce"], ''The Guardian'', 13 January 2021</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' also published an unenthusiastic review: "more screw-loose than screwball ... a ludicrous adaptation of Noël Coward's 1941 stage play, reimagines its source material as little more than a slip-and-fall farce".<ref>Catsoulis, Jeanette. [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/movies/blithe-spirit-review.html "Blithe Spirit' Review: Dead, but Not Loving It"], ''The New York Times'', 18 February 2021</ref>

===Radio===
American radio adaptations were transmitted in 1944 ([[NBC]], with [[Ronald Colman]], [[Loretta Young]] and [[Edna Best]]), 1947 ([[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], with Clifton Webb, [[Leonora Corbett]] and Mildred Natwick), and 1952 (NBC, with [[John Loder (actor)|John Loder]] and Mildred Natwick).<ref>Mander and Mitchenson, p. 377</ref>

[[BBC Radio]]'s first adaptation was broadcast in 1954, with [[Michael Denison]] (Charles), [[Thelma Scott]] (Ruth), [[Dulcie Gray]] (Elvira) and [[Winifred Oughton]] (Madame Arcati).<ref>[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/f5e212e6f9f543ff923b2d0be33c82b0 "Curtain Up"], BBC Genome. Retrieved 2 November 2022</ref> A second version with Denison and Gray was broadcast in 1972, with [[Gudrun Ure]] as Ruth and [[Sylvia Coleridge]] as Madame Arcati.<ref>[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/409671ee015d4f629d5ce1f6fb6f14f0 "The Christmas Play: Blithe Spirit"], BBC Genome. Retrieved 2 November 2022</ref> A 1983 version featured [[Paul Eddington]] as Charles, [[Julia McKenzie]] as Ruth, [[Anna Massey]] as Elvira and [[Peggy Mount]] as Madame Arcati.<ref>"Radio", ''The Times'', 27 December 1983, p. 17</ref> The short-lived British commercial radio station [[Oneword]] presented a 2002 adaptation co-produced with and subsequently released on CD by [[Naxos (company)|Naxos Audio Books]]. The director was [[Sheridan Morley]] and the cast was led by [[Corin Redgrave]] (Charles), [[Kika Markham]] (Ruth), [[Joanna Lumley]] (Elvira) and [[Thelma Ruby]] (Madame Arcati).<ref>Notes to Naxos Audio CD set NA 226312D (2002), {{oclc| 51025166}}</ref> A 2008 BBC Radio adaptation featured [[Roger Allam]] as Charles, [[Hermione Gulliford]] as Ruth, Zoe Waites as Elvira and [[Maggie Steed]] as Madame Arcati.<ref>[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/b01ghlgw " Noel Coward - Blithe Spirit"]. BBC Genome. Retrieved 2 November 2022</ref> In December 2014 an adaptation of the play featured cast members of ''[[The Archers]]'' in a supposed amateur production.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2014/51/blithe-spirit "Afternoon Drama: ''Blithe Spirit''"], BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 29 December 2014</ref>

===Television===
An American television adaptation was broadcast in 1946, with [[Philip Tonge]] as Charles, [[Carol Goodner]] as Ruth, [[Leonora Corbett]] as Elvira, [[Estelle Winwood]] as Madame Arcati and Doreen Lang reprising the role of Edith.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310769/?ref_=fn_al_tt_5  "Blithe Spirit"], IMDb, retrieved 19 March 2014</ref> In Britain, [[BBC television]] broadcast a production in 1948, directed by [[George More O'Ferrall]], with [[Frank Lawton]] as Charles, Marian Spencer as Ruth, [[Betty Ann Davies]] as Elvira and Beryl Measor reprising her stage role of Madame Arcati.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120713124651/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b8bd30ff1 "Blithe Spirit"], British Film Institute, retrieved 19 March 2014</ref> On 14 January 1956 Coward directed [[Blithe Spirit (1956 film)|a live American television adaptation]] for the ''[[Ford Star Jubilee]]'' series, in which he also starred as Charles, with [[Claudette Colbert]] as Ruth, [[Lauren Bacall]] as Elvira and [[Mildred Natwick]] as Madame Arcati.<ref>Lesley, pp. 348–349</ref> A British commercial television adaptation in 1964 was directed by [[Joan Kemp-Welch]], with [[Griffith Jones (actor)|Griffith Jones]] as Charles, [[Helen Cherry]] as Ruth, [[Joanna Dunham]] as Elvira and [[Hattie Jacques]] as Madame Arcati.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140319175003/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b7f516d13 A Choice of Coward No 2 – Blithe Spirit], British Film Institute, retrieved 19 March 2014</ref> Another American television TV production was presented in 1966 on ''[[Hallmark Hall of Fame]]'', with [[Dirk Bogarde]] as Charles, [[Rachel Roberts (actress)|Rachel Roberts]] as Ruth, [[Rosemary Harris]] as Elvira and [[Ruth Gordon]] as Madame Arcati.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292454/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2 "Blithe Spirit"], IMDb, retrieved 19 March 2014</ref>

===Musical===
The play was adapted into the musical ''[[High Spirits (musical)|High Spirits]]'' in 1964, with book, music and lyrics by [[Hugh Martin]] and [[Timothy Gray]]. It had a Broadway run of 375 performances, starring [[Edward Woodward]] as Charles, [[Louise Troy]] as Ruth, [[Tammy Grimes]] as Elvira and [[Beatrice Lillie]] as Madame Arcati.<ref name=mm376/> It had a three-month West End run in 1964–1965, with [[Denis Quilley]] as Charles, Jan Walters as Ruth, [[Marti Stevens (actress)|Marti Stevens]] as Elvira and [[Cicely Courtneidge]] as Madame Arcati.<ref>"''Blithe Spirit'' Becomes a Musical", ''The Times'', 4 November 1964, p. 16; and "Theatres", ''The Times'', 23 January 1965, p. 2</ref>

===Novelisation===
The play was novelised by [[Charles Osborne (music writer)|Charles Osborne]] in 2004.<ref>Millington, Barry. [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/oct/18/charles-osborne-obituary "Charles Osborne obituary"], ''The Guardian'', 18 October 2017</ref>