Everett praised for Broadway debut

Rupert Everett's debut performance on Broadway has won the praise of theatre critics.

Everett, 49, is playing novelist Charles Condomine in Noel Coward's 1941 comedy Blithe Spirit, and stars with 83-year-old Angela Lansbury as psychic Madame Arcati. Christine Ebersole has taken on the role of Condomine's first wife Elvira, who torments him from beyond the grave.

The AP deemed the Another Country star as "a worthy successor to Rex Harrison, who starred in the 1945 film version".

Meanwhile, The New York Times read: "Mr Everett does shallow splendidly, and even finds a few teasing currents of depth in the dapperer-than-thou Charles....Mr Everett presents [him] with candid clarity, while never breaking the brittle, bantering rhythms of Cowardspeak."