Theatre News

Levy & Fleeshman Lead Ghost Cast to West End

| London's West End |

12 November 2010

Casting was this morning (12 November 2010) announced for screen-to-stage adaptation Ghost The Musical which will open at the Piccadilly theatre following a seven-week tryout run in Manchester, with Caissie Levy and Richard Fleeshman leading the cast as Molly and Sam.

As previously reported, Sharon D Clarke will play Oda Mae Brown, the role which won Whoopi Goldberg an Oscar in the 1990 film. They will also be joined in the cast by Andrew Langtree as Carl.

Ghost The Musical will open in the West End on 19 July 2011 (previews from 22 June) following the world-premiere run at Manchester Opera House from 28 March to 14 May 2011.

Levy was recently seen in the Broadway and West End productions of Hair, which played a five month run in London, finishing on 4 September 2010. She made her Broadway debut as Penny Pingleton in Hairspray, a role she also played on tour. Fleeshman was last seen in the West End alongside Sheridan Smith in Legally Blonde where he played Warner Huntington III. He is best known for his role in Coronation Street, where he played Craig Harris for four years.

Sharon D Clarke was last seen in the West End in Hairspray at the Shaftesbury Theatre. Her other recent stage credits include Mama Morton in Chicago and Rafiki in The Lion King. Andrew Langtree created the role of Sky in the original London cast of Mamma Mia!. He also appeared in The Rose Tattoo at National Theatre and in the West End production of Blood Brothers.

Ghost marks the musical writing debut for the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, who is penning music and lyrics with Grammy Award winner Glen Ballard (whose credits include Alanis Morrissette’s album Jagged Little Pill). Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin has adapted his original screenplay.

The premiere production is directed by Matthew Warchus and designed by his frequent collaborator Rob Howell (amongst many other projects, the pair’s last musical together was The Lord of the Rings). Choreography is by Ashley Wallen, musical supervision and arrangements by Christopher Nightingale, illusions by Paul Kieve, lighting by Hugh Vanstone and sound by Simon Baker.

The original film of Ghost, starred Patrick Swayze and Demi 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, Sam attempts to communicate with and save Molly.