Angela Lansbury to star in North American touring production of 'Blithe Spirit'

NEW YORK, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Five-time Tony Award-winner Angela Lansbury is to star in a North American tour of Noel Coward's comedic play Blithe Spirit, the show's producers announced Tuesday.

Performances are to begin Dec. 9 at Center Theatre Group's Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, with an official opening scheduled for Dec. 14.

Following the closing of the Los Angeles engagement Jan. 18, the tour will continue on to SHN's Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco from Jan. 20 through Feb. 1, and to Mirvish Productions' Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto from Feb. 10 through March 15. The production will conclude with a run at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., from March 17-29.

Featuring Charles Edwards, Jemima Rooper, Susan Louise O'Connor, Sandra Shipley and Charlotte Parry, the play is being directed by two-time Tony Award-winner Michael Blakemore.

"During the course of my career, I've had the good fortune to play many, many unique and wonderful roles in the movies, on stage and television," Lansbury said in a statement. "And it is a joy to once again step into the role of Madame Arcati, and bring Noel Coward's classic comedy Blithe Spirit to wonderful audiences here in North America who have supported me for over seven decades."

Lansbury starred in Blakemore's revival of Blithe Spirit on Broadway in 2009. Following its critical acclaim and box-office success in New York, Lansbury returned to the London stage after 40 years to reprise her role of Madame Arcati. Also under Blakemore's direction, the London revival opened at the Gielgud Theatre March 18, 2014.

"Researching for his new novel, Charles Condomine invites the implausible medium Madame Arcati to his house for a seance," a synopsis of the play said. "While consumed in a trance, Madame Arcati unwittingly summons the ghost of Charles' dead wife Elvira. Appearing only to Charles, Elvira soon makes a play to reclaim her husband, much to the chagrin of Charles' new wife Ruth. One husband, two feuding wives and a whisper of mischief in the air -- who will win in Coward's unworldly comedy?"