BWW Flashback: Celebrate Angela Lansbury's Birthday With a Look Back at BLITHE SPIRIT's Opening!

It's time to celebrate because today is the birthday of legendary stage and screen actress Angela Lansbury! In honor of the occasion, we're looking back at the opening night of her Tony-winning performance in Blithe Spirit on Broadway! Check out the video to see Lansbury alongside her co-stars Christine Ebersole, Rupert Everett, and more on this special night!

Led by two time Tony Award winner director Michael Blakemore (Kiss Me, Kate; Copenhagen, City of Angels, Noises Off!), Blithe Spirit starred 4 time Tony-award winner Angela Lansbury (Sweeney Todd,Gypsy, Dear World, Mame), Rupert Everett (My Best Friend's Wedding, An Ideal Husband), two-time Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole (Grey Gardens, 42nd Street), and two time Tony nominee Jayne Atkinson ("24", "Recount" Enchanted April). Simon Jones (Waiting in the Wings, The Real Thing), Deborah Rush (Noises Off!) and Susan Louise O'Connor (Walk Two Moons) rounded out the cast.

The production opened at Broadway's Shubert Theatre on March 15, 2009 after beginning previews on February 26, 2009. The show ended its limited run on July 19th, 2009. Lansbury won a Tony Award for her performance as Madame Arcati in Coward hit.

It's the wickedly funny comedy about a successful novelist haunted by his biggest fan - his deceased first wife. What happens when his once-beloved won't take "til death do us part" for an answer? What happens when his new wife finds out they're not alone anymore? Can anyone conjure up a solution?

Angela Lansbury has enjoyed a career without precedent. Her professional career spans more than half-a-century, during which she has flourished, first as a star of motion pictures, then as a five-time Tony Award-winning Broadway musical star, and as the star of "Murder, She Wrote," the longest running detective drama series in the history of television. Her Broadway credits include Anyone Can Whistle, Mame, Gypsy, The King and I, Sweeney Todd, Deuce, Blithe Spirit, A Little Night Music, and Gore Vidal's The Best Man.