Watch Angela Lansbury bring Blithe Spirit to life

Separately, Angela Lansbury and Blithe Spirit have been around for ages. One is the 89-year-old British star of Murder, She Wrote; the other is a witty 64-year-old play by Noël Coward that ran for nearly 2,000 performances in its initial stretch. Put the two together, though, and you get an entirely new piece of theatrical magic. In this new production—which sold out in New York and London—Lansbury plays Madame Arcati, an eccentric psychic who mistakenly summons the ghost of her client’s dead wife during a séance with his new wife. The wives proceed to feud over their husband—albeit indirectly, given only he can see the dead wife—in the company of the idiosyncratic Arcati, whose personality is as colourful as her copper hair and billowing caftans. Lansbury won a Tony for the role in 2009. With sharp delivery and star presence, she commands the stage and makes an old work feel brand new.

Feb. 11 to Mar. 15. $35–$175. Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St. W., 416-872-1212, mirvish.com.