Broadway superstars Steven Pasquale and Phillipa Soo have been married for almost a decade, and yet New York City audiences have not yet seen them together onstage… until now! This February, the duo joins forces on the New York City Center stage for the first show of the Encores! season, High Spirits.
Directed by Tony Award nominee Jessica Stone and Encores! Music Director Mary-Mitchell Campbell with choreography by Ellenore Scott, this rarely revived musical is adapted from Noël Coward’s beloved comedy Blithe Spirit. Pasquale and Soo play novelist Charles Condomine and his wife Ruth, whose marriage is upended when the eccentric medium Madame Arcati unwittingly conjures the ghost of Charles’s late first wife, Elvira.
“I know a lot of couples who the idea of working together all day and all night would kind of make them crazy… but that is not the case for us,” explained Pasquale. “We just love hanging out together and I think Pippa’s a world-class actor and comedian, which people don’t really appreciate about her yet. It’s really fun to be in a comedy with her.”
Previously, they have starred together in a several workshops and television shows, in addition to a 2022 production of Guys and Dolls at the Kennedy Center.
“Steve is the best of the best and he’s been in this town for a very long time. I think that it’s it’s fun to get to understand and know your partner, who you you know very well… but in a whole different way,” add Soo. “I get to be surprised every day by all of his talents. I get to enjoy Steve Pasquale just like everybody else.”
“I think it’s fun to to think… ‘I wonder if there’s anything you can’t play?'” added Pasquale. “And I have yet to see that in Pippa. She can play anything. It’s crazy.”
The cast of High Spirits also features Saturday Night Live alum Rachel Dratch as Edith, alongside film and television star Campbell Scott as Dr. Bradman and Jennifer Sánchez as Mrs. Bradman, Katrina Lenk as Elvira and Andrea Martin as Madame Arcati.
As with all Encores! shows, the cast knows that the rehearsal time is short. “I know a lot of people in this room and we’re all in this together,” said Soo. “There’s a camaraderie. Sometimes we have to pause and look at each other and be like, this is crazy! Let’s take some breaths. But ultimately, it’s a very fun time.”
“I mean you’re talking about gathering some of New York’s best people and in 11 days trying to throw together what feels like a real evening of theater and that is just requires a rigor that you only find in New York City,” added Pasqaule. “It is not possible anywhere else. It’s one of things we just love about this town.”
High Spirits runs through February 15, 2026 at New York City Center.
