Ghost Haunts Manchester for Ten Weeks Before West End???

Our gossipmongers previously tipped that the screen-to-stage adaptation would open out-of-town next year in Manchester and then find a home at the West End’s Piccadilly Theatre, with Olivier Award winner Laura Michelle Kelly is in the frame to play Molly, the role created on screen by Demi Moore. The Daily Mail’s Baz Bamigboye today backs up and expands on those rumours, anticipating that it will run for about ten weeks at the Manchester Opera House before hitting London, most probably the Piccadilly, next summer.

The 1990 film starred Patrick Swayze and Moore as Sam and Molly, a couple who are mugged walking home one night. Murdered in the attack, Sam is trapped as a ghost between this world and the next, and unwilling to leave Molly who remains in danger. With the help of a phoney psychic Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg on screen), Sam attempts to communicate with and save Molly.

Ghost is adapted by Bruce Joel Rubin, who penned the original screenplay, with music and lyrics by Dave Stewart and Grammy Award winner Glen Ballard. It’s directed by Matthew Warchus and designed by Rob Howell. Amongst the other names mentioned in connection with the stage version in recent months is Laura Michelle Kelly, who’s been tipped to play Molly. However, with conflicting rumours that Kelly may reprise her Olivier Award-winning title role in Mary Poppins on Broadway, that’s no dead cert.