Leslie Uggams as Madame Armati the medium in an online reading of Blithe Spirits this year

Members of the seance shocked when they hear what seems to be a spirit from the other side

Charles and his second wife Ruth, with the ghost of his second wife, Elvira, in-between

Watch the live Saturday matinee below of “Blithe Spirit,”  a comedy by Noel Coward about a clash of ghosts, starring Angel Desai, Montego Glover, Renee Elise Goldsberry,  William Jackson Harper, Kendyl Ito, Thom Sesma, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Leslie Uggams.

Noel Coward wrote his comedy in 1941, when wartime Britain needed no reminders about death on stage. His solution: Make all of his characters comically unlikeable.  “You can’t sympathize with any of them. If there was a heart it would be a sad story.”

Update: There are some technical difficulties with Leslie Uggams, so the cast members started discussing their characters, and then the director Schele Williams temporarily took over Leslie Uggams’ role as the medium Madame Arcati. (That’s live theater, folks!)