Deadly Dull ‘Spirit’ Needs Decent Burial

The ghost is not the only thing in “Blithe Spirit” that lacks life at the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company’s Hahn Cosmopolitan.

The actors are willing, but the play, a tired old bag of cliches about a man haunted by his first wife, rattles around on stage like an injured beast begging to be released from its misery. After three hours, the audience, too, knows just how it feels.

One would like to find something nice to say because, after all, the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre is in financial and identity crises that its management is valiantly trying to solve. The artistic director, Will Simpson, who directed the show, and the resident designer, Robert Earl, who designed it, seem to be hanging on the staff by a thread. And the actors, bless them, all locals, work hard to flag life into a tiresomely cute idea that has literally been done to death in the near half-century since Noel Coward first penned “Blithe.”

Even Neil Simon didn’t quite pull off the man-haunted-by-his-dead-wife story in the just-closed “Jake’s Women” at the Old Globe Theatre. But at least there was some freshness in the attempt, some contemporary humor, a compelling subtext in which one felt the writer, whose memories of his own dead first wife followed him in his second marriage, was trying to say something that was desperately important to him.

In “Blithe Spirit,” there is no insight, no urgency, no character development-- fundamental flaws that Simpson’s staid and stodgy staging does not camouflage even superficially. Even the much-awaited resolution depends, maddeningly, on an inexplicable act of an inexplicable minor character. The unexamined life is not worth living, as Plato said, and the unexamined character is not worth presenting--not to a sophisticated theater audience.

After awarding Purple Hearts to the actors--with an extra Bronze Star to Priscilla Allen for a larger-than-life performance as the bicycle-riding medium Madame Arcati--about the best you can say is that the lighting is nice. Give Matthew Cubitto a hand for giving the dead wife, Elvira, played by the wickedly wonderful Rosina Widdowson-Reynolds, a luminously ghostly pallor that caresses her from head to elegantly draped toe in designer Nancy Jo Smith’s one memorable costume. Give Cubitto some more credit for the eerie light emanating from the fireplace and the window. Give Irving Berlin a thumbs up for writing “Always,” Elvira’s much-played favorite song and now, all too soon, this reviewer has run out of kind things to say.

Except this: The Gaslamp Quarter Theatre is deserving of support, but it has to face the fact that it can’t get by on the considerable charisma of its welcoming staff and the swirl of a Coward-style skirt anymore.

Times have changed since the Gaslamp opened a decade ago, as one of the self-appointed revitalizers of downtown. Standards have gone up--way up. Theaters at the forefront have put out their welcome mats for talent from all over the country and, recently, from outside the country, while the Gaslamp has continued to use the same in-house talent over and over and over again.

Robert Earl’s set for “Blithe Spirit” is boring, but how couldn’t it be when he has designed every production at the theater from 1980-1989? It’s time to take a tip from theaters like the Old Globe Theatre and the La Jolla Playhouse: Balance the resident talent with fresh faces and fresh ideas. Surprise the audience, keep them on their toes, make them think.

Yes, the Gaslamp was held back by the delay in building the new San Diego Convention Center. But more foot traffic will not translate into more theater traffic if the shows don’t merit being seen. There is too much competition for the entertainment dollar for that. And the Convention Center is open now. How much longer can it be blamed for opening nights that are only two-thirds full?

Revitalizing downtown by doing theater is a brilliant idea. Empty seats do not mean that there are too many theaters in San Diego, it means there aren’t enough good shows. We need the Gaslamp with its two beautifully appointed spaces. We need the Gaslamp with its stubborn drive and belief in itself and in its commitment to San Diego’s growing reservoir of native talent. We need every space we have and more. But we also need theaters like the Gaslamp to do work that matters, that resonates, that speaks to today or is gloriously amusing. “Blithe Spirit,” sadly, does none of these things. The last Gaslamp season, with few exceptions, did none of these things.

Build a good show and people will come--to far more unlikely places than downtown San Diego.

Build a good show--it’s the one prescription that never fails.

“BLITHE SPIRIT”

By Noel Coward. Director is Will Simpson. Set by Robert Earl. Costumes by Nancy Jo Smith. Lighting by Matthew Cubitto. Sound by Lawrence Czoka. With Parker Tenney, D’Ann Paton, Newell Tarrant, Navarre Perry, Mary Boersma, Priscilla Allen and Rosina Widdowson-Reynolds. At 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday with Sunday matinees at 2 through May 27. Tickets are $20 with discounts for seniors, students and military. At 547 4th Ave., San Diego, (619) 234-9583.