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Performance times are: Mon-Sat 19:30. Thu,Sat Mats 14:30
Synopsis
The dazzling new musical Ghost ,based on the phenomenal Oscar winning Paramount Pictures film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg is a timeless fantasy about the power of love.
Ghost the musical is the story of Sam and Molly, who walking back to their apartment one night, are mugged, leaving Sam murdered on a dark street. Sam is trapped as a ghost between this world and the next and unable to leave Molly who he learns is in grave danger. With the help of a phony storefront psychic, Oda Mae Brown, Sam tries to communicate with Molly in the hope of saving and protecting her.
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film of 1990, Ghost won numerous awards worldwide and is one of the biggest grossing films in the UK.
The Ghost show features stunning new music and lyrics by Grammy Award-winning legends Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) and Glen Ballard (writer of Michael Jackson's Man In The Mirror), and also includes the unforgettable Unchained Melody.
Screen-to-stage musical Ghost the Musical opened at the West End's Piccadilly Theatre last night (19 July, previews from 24 June 2011) starring Caissie Levy and Richard Fleeshman and Sharon D Clark as Sam, Molly and Oda Mae, the parts played in the classic 1990 Oscar-winning film by Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze and Whoopi Goldberg respectively.
Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin adapts his original screenplay for the book, while music and lyrics are by the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart and Grammy Award winner Glen Ballard.
After Sam is murdered in a mugging, he becomes trapped as a ghost between this world and the next, unwilling to leave Molly who remains in danger. With the help of a phoney psychic Oda Mae Brown, Sam attempts to communicate with and save Molly.
In mixed reviews, Matthew Warchus’s production is lavished with praise for its spectacular use of video projection and special effects - video designed by Jon Discoll and illusions devised by Paul Kieve.
Amongst the cast, the critics are united in praising Sharon D Clark, who appears to have dismissed any fears she could be over-shaddowed by Whoopi Goldberg's Oscar-winning performance in the original motion picture.
"There are moments in the 1990 film of Ghost when music is undoubtedly called for ... I’m not sure Ghost the Musical supplies what’s missing to a sufficient degree ... But... we do at least have an utterly faithful rendition of the film’s narrative and a couple of strongly built, though not exactly soul-stirring, power ballads for Caissie Levy ... Most impressively, Matthew Warchus’s slick and efficient production, even though it loses dramatic momentum in the first half, finally pulls the elements of love story, thriller and supernatural transfiguration into one ship-shape organic whole ... The notion that we have a parallel existence beyond mortality is stunningly expressed in a show of video projections (designed by Jon Driscoll) ... These sequences are what make the musical crackle into life where there previously was none ... Sharon D Clarke’s mountainous, hot-gospelling psychic Oda Mae Brown, sensibly avoiding any wise-cracking, wacky resemblance to Whoopi Goldberg in the movie. Warchus and designer Rob Howell create a teeming contemporary canvas in Wall Street and Brooklyn ... Sam and Molly are an anodyne couple, while Andrew Langtree has more to work with as their treacherous friend, Carl ... In all, it’s a fairly fine new musical, and not just for those who love the movie."
"Much of Ghost is not so much musical theatre as blaring pop concert ... Sitting in the middle of the stalls, I felt as though I had just spent two and a half hours at the noisy end of an airport runway ... I did not enjoy the first half much and returned after the interval, fortified by a schooner of the producers’ white wine, with trepidation. Yet by the curtain call I was, if not moved, far more enthusiastic ... There are repeated 'you guys' and 'you know whats?'. Terrible dialogue. Obvious melodies, too. It is unfair to judge Levy’s acting, so wooden are her lines, but she has a STRONG voice ... The show’s tentative exploration of an afterlife did grab me... red flashes and images of a cackling devil. Heaven is also discovered towards the end of the show ... Sharon D Clarke brings the production to life ... Blinding lights and some clever tricks. Well done, illusionist Paul Kieve ... If, by the end, you have not contracted tinnitis from the over-amplification, you might even hear a few sniffles of emotion as they sing the final song."
"Musicals based on movies are a dime a dozen, but Ghost is the first I've seen that feels like a film ... The real stars of Matthew Warchus' production are Rob Howell's sets and Jon Driscoll's video designs ... Caissie Levy's Molly, although well sung, seems somewhat grumpy and Richard Fleeshman's colourless Sam apologetically sings, in proof of his unarticulated affection, 'I make you scrambled eggs.' The passion is upstaged by the projections. The romantic songs, by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, are strangely forgettable. Where the show sparks into life is with the emergence of Oda Mae Brown, the fake medium who acts as Sam's intermediary with Molly. This is partly because Sharon D Clarke has an overwhelming personality and a richly expressive voice ... It is Clarke who provides the show with what it mostly lacks: heart and soul. For the rest, one is left to gawp at the ingenuity of Paul Kieve's illusions ... Warchus masterminds the whole operation with skill. But unlike Matilda, which features members of the same production team, I felt the people were largely secondary to the optical pyrotechnics."
"Like the film on which it is based, Ghost the Musical proves the guiltiest of pleasures. Indeed, in many ways, Matthew Warchus’ production strikes me as superior to the 1990 movie ... In the movies, you can make anything happen. In the theatre, it takes real ingenuity to summon up ghosts and physical disturbances from beyond the grave. Warchus succeeds spectacularly, here with the help of the illusionist Paul Kieve ... The use of state-of-the-art video and projections... has great panache, too ... Though the story is a touch corny, and often gloopily sentimental, there is something genuinely distinctive about Ghost ... Sharon D Clarke is a comic joy in the role, making the part entirely her own despite following in the Oscar-winning footsteps of Whoopi Goldberg ... Clarke almost blows the roof off the theatre with her raucous rendition of the show’s best original number, 'I’m Out of Here' ... Richard Fleeshman and Caissie Levy need to ignite a touch more stage chemistry ... But Andrew Langtree and Ivan de Freitas prove genuinely sinister ... The show’s ending... proves unexpectedly touching and is magically staged. This may not be a great musical, but it is a highly entertaining one that looks set to keep audiences laughing, gasping and sniffing back tears for a long time to come."
"There is heaven and then there is hell. And somewhere between the two is the living death that is Ghost ... This musical version isn’t so much a joyous celebration of love lasting beyond the grave as dead on arrival ... The script is wetter than a November weekend in Skegness ... The music, by Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, is the kind of bland pap he churned out in the 80s ... Even the choreography was last seen in a trashy Eurythmics video ... Sharon D Clarke gives a bit of zest to proceedings ... Fleeshman has a fine voice and spectacular moving video screens and special effects help distract from proceedings. But not for long. This Ghost seems destined not to haunt the West End for very long."
"With superb special effects and engaging performances, Matthew Warchus' production certainly has plenty of dazzle ... Bruce Joel Rubin has dutifully adapted his own Oscar-winning screenplay: there's the famous scene with the potter's wheel, the hungry yearning of the Righteous Brothers' 'Unchained Melody', and the soulful chutzpah of Oda Mae Brown ... Here we have the ingredients of a haunting musical. But we end up with something unsubtle and often strident ... The show suffers from following the film too closely ... Richard Fleeshman is powerful and sensitive. Caissie Levy shows a seemingly effortless vocal potency as his devoted partner Molly. Yet we never get a strong sense of their passion ... There's an assured performance from Andrew Langtree as Carl... and Sharon D Clarke brings some welcome notes of throaty gospel to her role as the charlatan Oda Mae. The chief success is the production's aesthetic. Rob Howell's impressive set deftly integrates magician Paul Kieve's effects and clever projections by Jon Driscoll, and there are moments of gasp-inducing ingenuity. This technical wizardry, allied to the appeal of the leads, may just be enough to make Ghost the Musical an unearthly hit."
Dominic Maxwell The Times ★★★★
"OK, Ghost the Musical, I give in, you win. Your songs are proficient rather than memorable. You cling too tightly to the shape of the 1990 film. You’re a spectacular that frequently flirts with overkill ... There’s still a potter’s wheel, that mockably phallic wet-clay session is gone. However, the Righteous Brothers’ 'Unchained Melody' remains the motif. Richard Fleeshman as the buff young banker Sam sings and strums it to Caissie Levy as his buff young artist girlfriend Molly ... There are power ballads as Molly pines for Sam; power-chordy production numbers that evoke big longings in the Big Apple; a gospel tune for Sharon D Clarke in the Whoopi Goldberg role ... Fleeshman, trapped between life and death, gives the big sell to Sam’s confusion and rage. Levy simply soars ... The first half has some wobbles. The second half builds and builds ... There are proper laughs, thanks to Clarke’s spirited turn as Oda Mae ... The best single argument for putting this film on the stage is Paul Kieve’s special effects ... Now, heaven help us if all shows laid it on this thick. Yet for all the steroidal qualities of Ghost the Musical, it also has wit and heart, and can really, properly dazzle."
There are moments in the 1990 film of Ghost when music is undoubtedly called for: crop-haired, gamine, sexy Demi Moore’s face filling with tears just doesn’t seem enough to express the pain of losing her lover. And Patrick Swayze’s “real life” death two years ago has only made things worse. He really is untouchable.
I’m not sure Ghost the Musical supplies what’s missing to a sufficient degree: the Righteous Brothers’ version of “Unchained Melody,” so cheesily overwhelming in the movie, is at first simply and unfussily delivered by Richard Fleeshman in the Swayze role of clean-cut banker Sam Wheat.
But with book and lyrics by Ghost screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin, and music and lyrics by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics and the record producer and arranger Glen Ballard, we do at least have an utterly faithful rendition of the film’s narrative and a couple of strongly built, though not exactly soul-stirring, power ballads for Caissie Levy’s bereaved Molly Jensen, who’s more of a Jennifer Aniston than a Demi Moore.
Most impressively, Matthew Warchus’ slick and efficient production, even though it loses dramatic momentum in the first half, finally pulls the elements of love story, thriller and supernatural transfiguration into one ship-shape organic whole. The film is about finishing the incomplete business of a relationship; the musical is all about belief, and not just the narcissistic kind of belief you get in most musicals.
Sam and Molly are mugged by their best friend’s hit man as part of a money-laundering scam. Sam is killed and immediately stands up alongside his own body. The notion that we have a parallel existence beyond mortality is stunningly expressed in a show of video projections (designed by Jon Driscoll) and a silhouette of an ensemble who stride through Wall Street like spooky automatons.
These sequences are what make the musical crackle into life where there previously was none. Contact with both Sam and the zombie half-way house fraternity is sealed with the intervention of Sharon D Clarke’s mountainous, hot-gospelling psychic Oda Mae Brown, sensibly avoiding any wise-cracking, wacky resemblance to Whoopi Goldberg in the movie.
Warchus and designer Rob Howell create a teeming contemporary canvas in Wall Street and Brooklyn, and the lighting of Hugh Vanstone and illusions of Paul Kieve conspire to make the membrane of materialism both transparent and susceptible: Sam walks through doors, the subway evaporates around a rushing train, the galaxy melts in a shower of shooting stars.
The orchestrations of Christopher Nightingale are as good as the music they serve, though there’s not much of a killer punch to any of it. Sam and Molly are an anodyne couple, while Andrew Langtree has more to work with as their treacherous friend, Carl, a smug turncoat who fiddles the books and adds insult to injury (and murder) by closing in on Molly.
All three are stranded, however, in a force field of energy emanating not just from Sharon D Clarke, but also the wonderful choreography of Ashley Wallen and Liam Steel, Mark White as the explanatory, soft shoe-shuffling hospital corpse, Ivan De Freitas as the street-fighting killer and Adebayo Bolaji as a fearsome subway ghost with dead-locked dreadlocks. In all, it’s a fairly fine new musical, and not just for those who love the movie.
It is hoped that Ghost - the highly anticipated new musical based on Bruce Joel Rubin's genre-busting film - will follow in the footsteps of West End hits Sister Act and Dirty Dancing and pack em' in. In many respects the show is far superior to other screen-to-stage adaptations because of Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard's original music and lyrics - not an oven-ready back catalogue tailor made for a pre-prepared narrative. All that's missing from many of these shows are the fries to go, but they often lack heart.
Having Rubin on board means that director Matthew Warchus is loyal to the original and, at times, slavishly so. But there are some nice touches that set it apart. "Unchained Melody" is used as Sam and Molly's song, far from an over-blown set piece, it is a homage and works wonderfully well. The plot also suits the musical genre and fits like a glove, exploring grief, deception, comedy and love conveyed as that one true thing you find with a soul mate.
Sam (played by the strong and stoic Richard Fleeshman) is murdered and whilst his girlfriend Molly (the ridiculously talented Caissie Levy) cries for her lost love, our hero seeks help from beyond the grave to find his killer. This may all sound very Murder She Wrote but with a trio of terrific performances from Fleeshman, Levy and Sharon D Clarke as fake Psychic Oda Mae Brown and a moving score, you buy into this high concept.
The show is not without it's faults which will hopefully be ironed out before the forthcoming London transfer. Some scenes seem perfunctory, the potter's wheel scene for example serves no purpose here, having driven the film narrative forwards.
Following Sam's death, the audience should be heartbroken as this couple are so likeable, but instead we are given a vaudeville-style number; "Ball Of Wax" sung by ghosts. This takes away any emotion and the song itself is as disposable as the characters singing it.
On the plus side Levy is in great voice and can be tender one minute and as angry as Alanis Morrisette the next, however many of her songs fade into one as they are incredibly samey. "Suspend My Disbelief" and "Here Right Now" stand out though in her very capable hands.
Likewise, the ensemble and swings are all excellent but there is no interaction between them, Sam and Molly. This could be remedied by group dance scenes, as Fleeshman and Levy have both proved via Legally Blonde and Hair that they can move.
In terms of characterisation Andrew Langtree's Carl is very panto villain and he sadly hasn't got the chops for lead vocals, although he works well with an underwritten role. In contrast Clarke is a real crowd pleaser, avoiding impersonating Whoopi Goldberg she makes the role her own and brings much needed comedy. She needs more songs, as she can belt out a tune, and proves it with the wonderful (if too little too late) "I'm Outta Here". Paul Kieve's effects are impressive, although from the stalls you can see how many of them are achieved which does take you out of the show momentarily.
What Ghost has in spades is heart and Levy, Fleeshman and Clarke breathe life into the material and make it appear fresh. A few cuts and playing to cast member's strengths should see the West End believing as much as Manchester, as this is a slick show which deserves to do well. The team behind it have created something which offers audiences far more than a lazy retread.
Absolutely awesome - couldn't see how it could match the film but it was outstanding and the special effects were incredible. The actors were flawless and stunning. Proved my mascara was waterproof! Would see this time and time again. - Tan
20 May 12
Excellent musical! Saw it on the 17th and loved every minute of it. Was a bit apprehensive at first but I was soon wowed by it all. The production value is incredible, easily one of the best out there! Highly recommended! - Conor
19 Feb 12
Absolutely awful. Appalling American accents; unmemorable songs; a sheer absence of real feeling; and pretty poor dancing from a far-too-large cast of extras. - Laura
05 Feb 12
Saw Richard Fleeshman and Cassie Levy's final West End performance today......... and came home and imediately booked a ticket to New York this summer to see them on the West End.........then proceeded to watch the movie which I have always loved. However, the movie didn't seem to do anything for me. Richard and Cassie were perfect as Sam and Molly and after speaking with them both backstage it only increased my love for them. Cannot wait to see it again on broadway this summer. Perfect casting, perfect performance, perfect night. If only they could remake the film, or at least release a DVD of the musical with the original cast - something to hopefully look forward to in the future :) - Sarah Palmer
13 Jan 12
Well, I saved this one for the weekend visit of a friend, as it’s based on one of her favourite films, hence the somewhat belated visit 5 months after opening. In fact, I might have been the only one in the audience who’s never seen the film – this is clearly chick-flick-on-stage a la Dirty Dancing. Fortunately it’s a whole lot better than Dirty Dancing in Matthew Warchus staging and Rob Howell’s design (with terrific projections from Jon Driscoll).
It’s a lot more than a love story and I was pleasantly surprised by its depth. Much of it takes place in the lovers apartment, but when it moves to the streets the staging becomes spectacular. Paul Kieve’s special effects are excellent, crucial to the story and slickly executed. In fact, its impossible to fault the production – this is premiere league stagecraft. On first hearing, I found Dave Stewart’s music a bit bland and formulaic, but I didn’t dislike it and I suspect it would benefit from more listening.
Both leads – Richard Fleeshman and Caissie Levy – are excellent, though on Saturday they were well and truly upstaged by understudy Lisa Davina Phillip as Oda Mae who was in great voice, exceptionally funny and moving when she needed to be. Another understudy, Paul Ayers as Carl, acquitted himself extremely well too.
The slickness is, to some extent, at the price of heart, because it didn’t move this old softie as much as it probably should, but for spectacular staging it’s hard to beat. A very pleasant surprise indeed. - Gareth James
23 Nov 11
There is something clinical and mechanical about Ghost, as is all involved had analysed what makes a successful musical and then assembled all the component parts. There is much use of video projection, like Dirty Dancing, with choreography reminiscent of Enron. The score has the requisite power ballads, gospel, vaudeville tap routine and even rap with Unchained Melody recurring throughout. However one of those ballads is particularly good and the orchestrations are beautiful, especially the use of the cello. Ghost may be rather cynical and emotionally manipulative but the story draws you in and it's all presented with such confidence that it's impossible not to enjoy. Richard Fleeshman's voice does not blend very well with Caissie Levy's but he sings with real power and feeling even if he is far too young for the part. Sharon D. clarke brings welcome humour to a genuinely dark and unsettling story and Levy is brilliant as Molly, blessed with enviable range and depth of emotion. Paul Kieve's much-vaunted illusions are actually pretty straightforward until the genuinely awe-inspiring ending but the lighting is superb throughout. It has to be said though that by the end the emotion in the audience is palpable and is conveyed beautifully. Although this review sounds a bit carping Ghost does provide a rewarding and sometimes impressive evening but I do have doubts if it would justify a second visit. My wife would totally disagree - she hasn't wept this much in a theatre since Miss Saigon and immediately insisted that we book to see it again. - David Baxter
13 Nov 11
I saw one of the preview shows of Ghost and thought it was amazing. Go and see it! I cried like a baby several times during the show and the special effects were top class. Richard Fleeshman is the perfect Sam - great singer and actor, plus I'd happily pay £65 just to see Richard looking gorgeous in that little white vest (don't tell my husband). Cassie was great too, but was a little bit too 'shouty' for me in some of her songs. All in all a really good night out. - Susanne
16 Sep 11
It was stunning from start to finish! I four main characters were excellent and the staging was suberb - must see (In my case: Must see again) - Sam
19 Aug 11
Absolutely top drawer musical. Critics? Who cares. These performers performed to the highest level. Outstanding one & all. Makes you proud to be British! - Neil Holden
17 Aug 11
The critics don't like this show much so theres your clue. In the main the audience love it. My wife and I thought it was one of the best productions we have seen for a while and we have seen a fair few. Forget Betty Blue Eyes - this is a proper musical. I did a review on that pooper but it didnt get published. Maybe I'll have more luck this time. OK - the songs aren't great and you forget them as soon as you walk out the theatre but it doesn't matter - they fit the show. The staging is clever and the production slick. Ignore the critics and go see the show! - D W Pimbley
Opened 27 Apr 1928. Used as a cinema for a while, returned to theatre in 1929. 1232 seats. Member of the Society of London Theatre. New home of the Peter Hall Company from 1998. An [ATG] member.
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