Theatre Register
High Spirits

High Spirits

Shows · High Spirits

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) by bringing the shade of his first wife, Elvira (Tammy Grimes), back from the dead.

Opened
1964
Performances
375
Type
Musical
Era
Golden Age
Music: Hugh Martin & Timothy GrayLyrics: Hugh Martin & Timothy GrayBook: Hugh Martin & Timothy Gray

Productions1 on Broadway

1964 Alvin Theatre Original. April 7, 1964 · Noel Coward (Gower Champion uncredited) 375 performances

Every Broadway staging held in broadway-data, sourced to IBDB. West End runs are not yet held.

Licensing 2 entries

US Concord Theatricals Tams-Witmark available
UK Concord Theatricals Tams-Witmark available

Read from the licensor's own pages and catalogues. Rights move, and an empty row means we have not confirmed a publisher, not that the show cannot be licensed.

In the literature34 passages

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) book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p201

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. book:broadway-its-history-people-and-places-an-encyclopedia-bloom-ken-1949-2nd-ed-new#p394

High Spirits, 50, 210, 227 book:broadway-musicals-the-101-greatest-shows-of-all-time-bloom-ken-1949-vlastnik-fra#p339

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… book:more-opening-nights-on-broadway-a-critical-quotebook-of-compiled-by-steven-suski#p979

“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… book:the-complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-dan-dietz-hardcover-2014-rowman-lit#p574

Tony nominations: Best Direction (Musical), High Spirits, 1964; Best Author (Musical), The Girl Who Came to Supper, 1964. book:the-golden-age-of-american-musical-theatre-1943-1965-naden-corinne-j-rowman-litt#p185

Passages naming this show, found by keyword across 178 books. Where this show turns up in the literature, not curated trivia about it.

Something wrong here? Correct a field or report the problem. Every change is recorded in public under the contributor licence.