The run closed February 27, 1965
- Opened
- April 7, 1964
- Closed
- February 27, 1965
- Performances
- 375
- Previews
- —
- Theatre
- Neil Simon Theatre
Of the 603 productions we hold that opened in the 1960s and record a performance count, this is the 64th longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.
Who was in it36 named
Carol Arthur
Margaret Hall
Lawrence Keith
Syndee Balaber
Gene Castle
Jerry Craig
Jackie Cronin
Altovise Gore
Judith Haskell
Jack Kauflin
Bill Kennedy
Al Lanti
Miriam Lawrence
Renee Lee
Robert Lenn
Alex Mackay
Jacqueline Maria
Stan Mazin
Joe Mcgrath
Don Percassi
Kathy Preston
Sybil Scotford
Tom Thornton
Ronnie Walken
Michael Davis
Frank Derbas
Ian Garry
Daniel Joel
Ray Kirchner
Barbara Newman
6 of these 36 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 30 are set from the identifier in the cast list, which is a slug of the name — so hyphens and full stops are lost and a few come out wrong. We hold nothing else about them. Nobody here is matched to a character: the cast list records who was in the company and not what they played.
Characters10 roles recorded
Beatrice Lillie Madame Arcati
Tammy Grimes Elvira Condomine
Edward Woodward Charles Condomine
Louise Troy Ruth Condomine
Carol Arthur Edith
Margaret Hall Violet Bradman
Larry Keith Dr. George Bradman
Beth Howland Beth
Robert Lenn Bob
Gene Castle Rupert
Only 512 of 13,459 productions carry role names, and these came out of a wiki table — the names arrived with the table's own cell markup on them and have been stripped back. They are not linked to person records because the identifiers in that table do not resolve to ours.
Creative team
- Director
- Noël Coward, Gower Champion, Uncredited
- Choreographer
- Danny Daniels
- Producer
- Lester Osterman, Robert Fletcher & Richard Horner
A producer is one string on this record, however many people or companies it names. Directors and choreographers are held both as text and as identifiers; where an identifier exists the name links to a page.
Tony Awards 0 from 1 nomination
| Best Musical | Nominated |
Around this production
Robert Coleman in the Daily Mirror reported the opening night audience “blistered” their palms with applause. The Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals Dan Dietz Hardcover 2014 Rowman Lit, p. 242
- In their musical version — initially titled Faster Than Sound — Beatrice Lillie (in her 13th and final Broadway appearance) portrayed the antic spiritualist Mme. Arcati who disrupts the second marriage of writer Charles Condomine (Edward Woodward) Broadway Musicals Show By Show Seventh Edition Stanley Green Cary Ginell, p. 201
- High Spirits (5/7/64; 375 performances) top-lined Bea- trice Lillie and Tammy Grimes and was based on direc- tor Noél Coward’s play Blithe Spirit. The musical had a fine libretto and excellent score by Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray. Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 394
- High Spirits, 50, 210, 227 Broadway Musicals the 101 Greatest Shows of All Time Bloom Ken 1949 Vlastnik Fra, p. 339
- while classical actor George Rose—known stateside for his role of the Common Man in the 1961 4 Man for All Seasons—unexpectedly entered the world of musical com-edy (and stayed). As things turned out, the unknown Wisdom did very well for himself on Broadway and was almost able to carry the flat-footed Walking Happy. Bu… More Opening Nights On Broadway A Critical Quotebook of Compiled By Steven Suski, p. 979
- “Faster Than Sound” (with lyric and music credited to Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin) had originally been written for the team’s 1954 musical film Athena; it was performed by Vic Damone and chorus for a nightclub sequence, but was deleted from the final release print. A brief glimpse of the number can be seen as it’s abou… The Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals Dan Dietz Hardcover 2014 Rowman Lit, p. 574
Passages naming this production, found by keyword across 178 books. Where it turns up in the literature, not curated notes about it.
What this page does not know
- No photograph of this staging. 48 of 13,459 productions hold one.
- No recording is held for High Spirits at all.
- Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.