High Spirits: staged concert to star Howard McGillin, Carol Kane and Veanne Cox

The York Theatre Company has announced casting for High Spirits, the second of three Spring 2009 Musicals in Mufti staged concert presentations, playing at the Theatre at Saint Peter�s from 12 - 14 Jun 2009.

High Spirits will feature Academy Award-nominee Carol Kane (Hester Street) as 'Madame Arcati,' Tony Award-nominee Veanne Cox (Company) as 'Ruth' and Tony Award-nominee Howard McGillin ('Anything Goes,' 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood') as Charles.

The cast will also include Beth Glover as 'Mrs. Bradman,' Daren Kelly as 'Dr. Bradman' and Kirsten Wyatt (Grease) as 'Edith.' The concert will be directed by Marc Bruni with music direction by Steve Freeman. Further casting will be announced shortly.

In the supernatural musical comedy High Spirits, a happily remarried widower gets a surprise visit when a kooky medium mistakenly summons back his first wife from the �Other Side.� Based on No�l Coward�s 'Blithe Spirit' (currently enjoying a revival on Broadway), this telepathic tuner was written by Hugh Martin (Meet Me in St. Louis) and Timothy Gray and competed for the 1964 Tony Award for Best Musical alongside 'Funny Girl' and 'Hello, Dolly!.'

The original production was directed by Coward and featured Beatrice Lillie, Tammy Grimes, and a young Christopher Walken in the Ensemble.

�Mufti� (pronounced MUFF� tee) means �in street clothes; without the usual trappings� and each show in the Series is presented script-in-hand, with minimal staging. To date, the York has presented over 70 Mufti concert revivals of musical theatre gems from Broadway, Off-Broadway and London, celebrating such writers as Richard Rodgers, George Abbott, Larry Grossman and Joseph Stein. The 2009 Spring Series begins with The Grand Tour (29 - 31 May 2009) and ends with Knickerbocker Holiday (26 - 28 Jun).

Notable Musicals in Mufti presentations have included 'Enter Laughing, The Musical' (which inspired The York�s record-breaking Off-Broadway production), 'Take Me Along,' 'The Grass Harp,' 'Carmelina,' 'Plain and Fancy,' 'Lucky Stiff,' 'Darling of the Day,' 'Mata Hari,' 'Carmen Jones,' 'Billion Dollar Baby' and '70, Girls, 70.'