Steel Beam conjures up frightfully fun 'Blithe Spirit'

"Blithe Spirit" may be Noël Coward's frothiest comedy, an ethereal confection of a play that nevertheless shows the playwright's keen and cutting wit.

The original production ran for 1,997 performances in World War II England, and while it's become something of a period piece, there's life in the old ghost yet - as Steel Beam Theatre's hilarious staging shows.

Produced in three acts with two intermissions, just as it would have been at its 1941 London opening, this delectable play centers on novelist Charles Condomine and his second wife, Ruth, a debonair couple who invite the local psychic for dinner and a seance. They, and their other guests, Dr. and Mrs. Bradman, are skeptics: The evening is merely a ruse to provide background for Condomine's upcoming book.

But the medium, Madame Arcati, turns out to be the real thing. She accidentally conjures up Condomine's deceased first wife, Elvira, who refuses to leave - turning the Condomine household into an otherworldly menage a trois.

Elvira isn't the kind of ghost who clanks about in chains and a sheet. She's ethereally lovely and sharp as knives. Although only Charles can see her, she still manages to infuriate the priggish Ruth, who becomes bent on exorcising her spirited rival.

Terry Domschke directs a delightful production, full of deft touches. Everything from the carefully arranged period drawing-room set to the clever costumes shows a fine attention to detail. The timing could be a trifle more brisk, but that's a quibble.

Donna Steele's marvelous Madame Arcati provides panache over and above the lines of the script. Orange-haired, behatted and draped in necklaces, she galumphs around the stage, jingling in colorful costumes and comic triumph - at turns fussy old woman and majestic mystic - emanating palpable glee at each spiritual manifestation.

R. Aaron Thomann is ever so urbane as Charles, stirring up martinis and placating his live and ghostly wives with wonderful expressiveness. At first convinced he's going mad, he selfishly comes to appreciate having his first wife's wit on the premises ... at least until the dead woman's real purpose for reanimating becomes apparent.

Jocelyn Mills plays an effervescent Elvira, glittering with ectoplasmic makeup and always ready with a riposte. Katherine Bettinghaus provides counterpoint as a fuming, but elegant Ruth, although her emotional scenes sometimes seem a little forced. Meredith Koch offers some fine comic turns as the inept maid Edith, hurrying and scurrying, while Thom Reed and Nancy Kolton fill out the cast as the stolid Bradmans.

There's nothing at all deep about this play - it's as wispy as an unseen spirit - but it's a fearsomely good time.