Musical review: Ghost

I went to see Ghost the musical at Picadilly Theatre in West End, London the 2nd of August, 2012.

The musical is based on Ghost the movie, written by Oscar-winning Bruce Joel Rubin.

Music & lyrics by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard

Directed by Matthew Warchus

Resumé

Ghost the musical is a story about everlasting love. The young couple, Molly (Rebecca Trehearn) and Sam (Mark Evans) just moved to their new house in New York, but then Sam gets killed. We follow Sam as a ghost struggling with not being able to contact his girlfriend, or anyone else who's alive, since they can't hear him, and he can't touch them. Through the show Sam meets the psychic Oda Mae (Jenny Fitzpatrick) who can talk to him and hear him. Sam makes her try to convince Molly that their common friend, Carl, killed him and will kill her too. The whole show is about love and about believing in the impossible. The story itself is an iconic love story we know from the world of the movies, and you can't help but falling in love with the sweet couple and their amazing story.

The music

I didn't really enjoy the music. It was all pop-songs with empty piano tones mixed with odd electronic sounds. Even though it was some amazing singers, and very emotional lyrics, the music annoyed me through the whole play, and I can't remember one single melody from the whole musical. When I go see a musical, I want the music to be a layer underneath the acting which makes everything even more emotional and radical, but in this musical, it just seemed out of proportion, and ruined a bit of the experience for me.

There were a few places I enjoyed the music though. When Sam were on the train the music matched the atmosphere perfectly, since it had to be fast and confusing, plus it was a fight scene, so all the electronic sounds were perfect.

The song "With you" was beautiful as well. That scene really touch me, and I started to feel like I was a part of Molly's mind, and I started missing my real boyfriend as she sang it.

At last, the song called "I'm Outta Here", sung by Oda Mae, was probably the best song in the whole musical. It was a typical musical Broadway show-off number, with dancing and lots of belting in the song etc. But even though the song were good, and the show was amazing, it seemed like it didn't really  fit into the general sound of the whole musical, which was more pop songs and emotional ballads.

Scenography

Ghost is a revolutionary musical, because they use so much technology and magic on stage. It's an amazing visual experience, and there's always something interesting in the scenography to watch, and many times through the show you wonder "How did they do that?!" The whole stage had screens on the walls, a big screen that could drop down in the middle of the stage, and in front of the stage. They used the screens very very often, and they made it very easy to suddenly be in the streets of New York, and then go into an office building, followed by a train station, with trains driving in the background.

Sometimes, they used the screens too much though. In some scenes where the ensemble was dancing, they were viewing a whole music video on the screen in the background with colors and dancers, which was very distracting. I would have loved to be able to focus on the actual ensemble instead of the movie running in the background. The screen dropping down in the front was also distracting since every time they had to roll it back up, a line slowly rised from the stage and all the way up till the screen was gone, which was distracting as well.

The lightening was very good. There were some amazing details, like always having a cold spot on the ghosts, and a warmer spot on the living people, so it really felt like they were in two different worlds.

Magic

As already said, they did some amazing magic tricks on stage which made you wonder how in the world they did it. Sam walked through a door, he moved his hand through a cup, people and stuff flew around in slow motion on the train, when someone died, you could see their soul walk sideways up to heaven etc. They made everything look so real, and I had to think everything through a couple of times before I realized how they actually did it. So as already said, it was an amazing visual experience.

The actors

The night I saw the show, both Molly and Oda Mae was played by understudies. But I really think they all did an amazing job. Rebecca's singing voice didn't suit the role of Molly that well, but she was a good singer, so it was alright. Especially Jenny Fitzpatrick did an incredible job as Oda Mae, and I can't imagine anyone else to play that role, since she was amazing!! Her attitude, her voice, her awkwardness and everything were just incredible. I'm very happy I got to see her play that role. Mark Evans is a very handsome man with an amazing voice, and he suited the role as Sam very well. I enjoyed his performance.

Dance

There weren't much dancing in the musical. When we followed Sam to the office, there were office-people dancing, and when we were in the streets of New York there were hip-hoppers dancing street dance. And of course the "I'm Outta Here" which was just a typical Broadway show.

As already stated, the screens distracted me so I didn't notice much of the choreographies. Besides the hip-hoppers outfits were looking very stupid with bright colors and way too exaggerated. No one would were these outfits in real life.

In the beginning of the show there were a ghost tapping at the hospital. It was very odd and out of context. It ruined the "Oh my god he just died"-moment, so I didn't get any chance to get all emotional about his death.

The goosebumps

Did I get the goosepumps? Oh yes I did. Some moments were dfinitely very engaging, and you felt like you were a part of their love story. Through the whole show I could hear girls crying all around me because they got so emotional about the tragic story. But as already said, many things distracted me through the whole show, so I didn't get the "whow"-feeling.

Final review

Amazing visual experience. Boring music. Good actors and singers. Amazing story and moral.

Go see ghost if you want to see magic happen on stage, and if you love cheesy lovestories. I wouldn't go see it again, since I didn't enjoy it that much, but it's worth seeing if you love the movie. I would recommend you to sit in the stalls, but not up in front, since there are too many things happening on the stage, and very sharp lightshow, so it's uncomfortable to sit in the front rows. On the other hand, if you sit upstairs, you can see the rolling tracks on the stage floor which makes the scenery move, but you do get a view on the whole stage, which makes the screens less confusing. I sat upstairs, and I enjoyed it, but I know from some friends that front row is uncomfortable.

Anne Louise Slott Thorborg