Some Of My Favorite Plays

Don Juan in Hell by George Bernard Shaw

Don Juan in Hell consists of a philosophical debate between Don Juan , and the Devil , with Doña Ana and the Statue of Ana's guardian looking on. This version has a star studded cast with Charles Boyer as Don Juan, Charles Laughton as the Devil, Cedric Hardwicke as the Commander, and Agnes Moorehead as Doña Ana.

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Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward

The play concerns socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to gather material for his next book. The scheme backfires when he is haunted by the ghost of his annoying and temperamental first wife, Elvira, following the séance. Elvira makes continual attempts to disrupt Charles's marriage to his second wife, Ruth, who cannot see or hear the ghost.

This version stars Ian Ogilvie--as Charles Condomine- Rosalind Ayres as Ruth and Judy Geeson as Elvira . Shirley Knight Madame Arcati.

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M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang

Based on a true incident involving a French diplomat who carried on an affair for 18 years with a man the diplomat thought was a woman , this play looks at the life and loves of Rene Gallimard, who learns that his Chinese mistress of twenty years is actually a man and Communist spy. This is one of my personal favorites.

Starring: B.D. Wong as Song Liling, John Lithgow as Rene Gallimard, Margaret Cho, David Dukes, Joanna Frank, Arye Gross, Kathryn Layng

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Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula by Loren D. Estleman.

The year is 1890. A ship is discovered adrift off the English coast, its crew missing, its murdered captain lashed to the wheel, and its only passanger is a sinister black dog. This impenetrable mystery is clearly a case for the inimitable Sherlock Holmes, but for the first time in his illustrious career the great detective is baffled. Clearly the crew have been murdered and dumped overboard, but what can account for the captain's expression of imponderable terror and his acute loss of blood, or the ship's strange cargo - fifty boxes of earth?
The game is afoot, and Sherlock Holmes, aided as ever by the faithful Dr. Watson, finds himself on the trail of no mortal enemy, but the arch-vampire himself - Count Dracula...

Sherlock Holmes...........John Moffatt, Doctor John Watson........Timothy West, Count Dracula..............David March, Professor Van Helsing.....Aubrey Woods
Thomas Parker..........Michael Maloney, Mr. Caffyn................Noel Howlett, Mary Watson........Theresa Streatfeild, Vampire.................Frances Jeater. Inspector Lestrade...Nicholas Courtney, Mrs. Barton.............Katherine Parr, Red Bridger................John Hollis