Ghost – The Musical
Theatre Royal Brighton
Walking back to their apartment late one night a tragic encounter sees Sam murdered and his beloved girlfriend Molly alone, in despair and utterly lost. Then with the help of a phoney storefront psychic, Sam, trapped between this world and the next, tries to communicate with Molly in the hope of saving her from grave danger…
The movie Ghost has proven to be one of cinema’s biggest all-time hits. It was the highest grossing film of 1990 and won an Oscar for screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin who has adapted his screenplay for this musical with some superb songs co-written by Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart alongside the famous song from the film – The Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody.
The theatre was packed last night and audibly excited and as the curtain went up; as soon as the set and case started moving this production hit the gas pedal and roared through the night. Director Bob Tomson has brought a polished cast of diverse talent and melded them into an engaging musical ensemble, each one shining bright & adding their talent to the whole, some lovely stand out moments of excellent flair giving a polished foundation for the principal singers to really put some heft behind their passion.
Ghost is an odd thing, a murder mystery, comedic thriller, classic supernatural love story, and that’s just the plot but – as the film showed- it can work. The ensemble choreography from Alistair David both underpins the setting of the play in a busy ambition & money driven New York and allows some sly & clever updating of the piece with mobile phones, suave moves and retro metro costuming.
Niall Sheehy and Bekki Lowings as Sam and Molly have a believable relationship both alive and dead, and their singing wraps itself into subtle, sweet and –when called for – full octane harmonic bliss. They are great to watch together and the tender unfolding of narrative of love ripped apart by tragedy was done with sweet warm sophisticated tenderness. Jacqui Dubois as the psychic Oda May brings astonishing panache to the role, with a touch perfect comedy routine tightly wound up with that stunning voice of hers, a terrific combination of laughter and audacious vocal conviction which wowed the Theatre Royal audience last night. Her number ‘I’m Outta Here’ is the show stopper and she brings great warmth & humour to the journey of Oda May from reluctant fraud to decent person.
This is a great show, a feel good love story of tragedy and the ultimate redemption of loss, a rather hefty narrative done with such a light touch and segue of emotive realism that the audience were both laughing and crying. The band’s sound was a little loud last night which sometimes obscured some of the soloists lyrics but that didn’t detract from a lovely night out, in the final words from Sam as he walks into the light:
‘The love inside, you take it with you.’
Ditto to that, catch it if you can.
Plays until Saturday, February 24
For more info or to book tickets see the Theatre Royal website here:
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