a Saturday night out: Press Wine Bar & Blithe Spirit at Great Lakes Theater

I’m on a roll: another Saturday night, another visit to PlayhouseSquare. My date for the evening: the one and only Aunt Kathy.  We were long overdue for a Girls Night Out, so we took it upon ourselves to soak it all up via some good food, beverages and entertainment.

Starting off with an early dinner at Press Wine Bar in Tremont, my first visit to the new hot spot was a nice treat:

From top left clockwise:

• The soup du jour featuring an apple and celery puree
• The Arugula Salad with a poached pear, candied walnuts, blue cheese, pear and walnut dressing
• The Roasted Chicken Breast with sage and goat cheese risotto, roasted cauliflower and mushroom madeira sauce
• The Five Spice Seared Ahi Tuna with black bean spread, pickled red onion and apple relish

As for beverages, as we were at a wine bar, I stuck with a simple Chardonnay while Aunt Kathy went out on a limb to be pleasantly suprised by her choice of a Pimm’s Cup (with Pimm’s Liqueur, 7-Up, Angostura Bitters and cucumber slice).  We enjoyed our early dinner, the kind and attentive service from our server Emilie and the quiet of the restaurant, all before heading downtown for the night’s entertainment.

When Chris from Great Lakes Theater originally reached out to me at the beginning of February about the company’s recent Social Media Night, I knew I wouldn’t be able to attend due to my obsession with an 1980′s musical group.  But he was kind enough to extend an invitation for me and a guest to check out GLT’s latest offering with another unique pre-show event opportunity.

Aunt Kathy and I were quite excited for Stage Fright! The Haunted Hanna and the Ghosts of PlayhouseSquare, a pre-show talk featuring nationally renowned expert Mary Ann Winkowski: a paranormal investigator, author, lecturer, television/radio personality and consultant for the hit CBS show Ghost Whisperer.

Boy, did we learn a lot that night…

• Yes, there were ghost in the theater with us – probably ones that we brought with us!
• Ghost thrive off of human energy – thus why theaters are such a popular spot for them.
• Upon their death, a spirt has 24-48 hours to cross from this world into that white light into the other side. The longer they wait, the smaller the hole to the light gets. When they get stuck, they need the help of folks like Mary Ann to get there.
• Once a spirit crosses over into the white light, they can go back and forth as they like.
• Animals’ spirits too can get stuck on this side. Mary Ann had a great story about her passed cat and dog.
• If you don’t remember your dreams on a regular basis, put some mugwort under your pillow. Within three weeks. you’ll start remembering your dreams. (I think I’m going to try this!)

Mary Ann’s 45-minute talk filled with tales of ghosts and spirits was the perfect teaser to GLT’s performance of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit.

Amanda’s review of the performances is spot on. We giggled like school girls when Madame Arcati danced her pre-trance shimmy, chuckled at the banter between husband and wives (yes, plural), and asked “where’s ours” when the dirty martinis were being handed out like candy. It was the perfect piece of classic theater to bring me back to why I love the art form so much. 

Want to get a bit more insight behind Blithe Spirit? Check out the director’s night discussion where Charlie Fee does just that for the interested classic theater goer.

Blithe Spirit runs through this weekend (March 10) and you can purchase tickets at the PlayhouseSquare website.  Personally, I’m pretty excited about this second half of their 2012 – 2013 season, ending with Guys & Dolls and Much Ado About Nothing. Get yourself to the Hanna Theatre, Cleveland – there’s plenty goodness to see in there… even the haunted kind!

Disclosure: I was invited to attend a pre-show event and performance of Blithe Spirit at Great Lakes Theater and received complimentary tickets to the show. All thoughts and opinions are my own.