Ghost: The Musical

Three stars

A GHOST, his girlfriend, a potter’s wheel, and “Unchained Melody”.

Few scenes in cinema have risen to notoriety like this key moment in the 1990 fantasy drama film that mixes love and the afterlife.

Ghost: The Musical plays on this moment numerous times during the story, using the legendary Righteous Brothers song throughout the production to sculpt an homage any lover of the original film would enjoy.

Ghost tells the story of a young couple broken up by murder, with Sam, a banker, leaving Molly, an artist, alone and longing for what once was after being fatally shot in a dark New York alleyway.

After coming to terms with his death, Sam, now a ghost, badgers a phony psychic who reluctantly accepts her real powers as a medium into solving his murder.

It is a production that pulls on musical theatre tropes as often as it pulls on heartstrings.

The music is, for the most part, made up of lovelorn ballads, with the odd spike of wailing electric guitar adding early Nineties colour.

With the lyrics and script, written mainly by original screenplay writer Bruce Joel Rubin, often feeling quite generic, there were few musical moments that shone out amongst the others.

“With You”, a technically complex ballad, was the one song that not only hit the right emotional notes but also showcased the best of Rebekah Lowings’ crystal clear voice.

Niall Sheehy remains unerringly buoyant throughout, despite just being murdered, but makes for a sweet and likeable Sam, not to mention one with a powerfully versatile voice.

However, injecting the most energy and colour into the production was Jacqui Dubois’ Oda Mae, who enjoys nearly all of the comedic moments of the piece with refreshing flair.

After the slightly rushed beginning that raced through the scenes leading up to Sam’s death, the endless repetition of Sam’s messages to the grieving Molly slowed proceedings down and eventually became tiring.

But, even without the original screenplay dictating the stage adaptation, there seems to be few other ways to achieve communication between the two central characters.

Tension did build nicely in the second act as fate loomed for the deceitful Carl, Sam’s cold and calculating friend, and Sam’s final departure to the other side made for a fittingly dazzling end to a musical playing with the supernatural.

In the creative team, Richard Pinner has the enviably mystical job title of “illusionist” and his thoroughly enjoyable stage-trickery solves some of the problems posed by the animation in the original film. Ghosts rise seamlessly from their bodies on the floor, guns float, and the departed slip into thin air as they pass to into heaven and hell.

All throughout, the glittering sights of New York watch over as the drama unfolds.

Perhaps one of the only musicals to boast a budget for fresh clay, Ghost: The Musical will be a hit with the fans of the original film, but falls a little short when considered as a stand-alone piece of musical theatre.

The production achieves its aim of bringing out the laughs and, as evidenced by the sound of numerous sniffles at the show’s close, the tears.

An easy recommend for fans of the classic film.

Lois Zoppi