Last night we went to see 'Ghost The Musical' with the lovely Caissie Levy in the role of Molly. Caissie played Sheila, Democracy's Daughter, in 'Hair' and has a lovely and very versatile voice. She also has a nice stage presence - you know she's there. And Caissie has the first words in the play and opens the first song (which is as it should be).'Ghost' is a new musical with a score by Dave Stewart (yes, The Eurythmics Dave Stewart). It's based on the film and is remarkably faithful to the film so you know what's coming next. That is the challenge of the show - how to keep you interested despite knowing the story. In a way, it's the special effects that keep us all guessing and they are quite special. We're all used to CGI in films but how do you transfer that to the stage where it's all live action right in front of you? The set is made up mainly of digital walls that can transform into almost anything and they're part of the trick, walls moving and transforming into different sets and an effective use of lighting and 'scrim' screens. And, of course, the actors and songs.
But before I go on I must mention the audience. Women. Lots of women, many 'of a certain age'. In 'girls night out' mode. A bit shrieky, a bit loud and, inevitably, in tears at the end. 'Ghost' knows its audience. Oh, and Dame Judi Dench was there and, I'm told, Biggins. And me, of course.
The four main characters are Caissie as Molly, Richard Fleeshman as Sam, Sharon D Clarke as Oda Mae and Andrew Langtree as the evil Carl (he got booed at the end). They all have their moments to shine and for me it was the two lead women who shone the brightest. Caissie has a few good songs that show off her vocal talents and Sharon had a great, flash, show-biz song after she gets the cheque and dreams of how she'll spend the money. The men were both ok but a bit, um, ho hum? Richard has a good voice but didn't blow me away - it was a bit samey without the versatility of someone like Caissie. His voice sounded good but there was no personalisation, no light and shade or texture, and it could've been anyone up there singing. The same for Andrew really (and he needs to work on his accent a bit more - I thought he sounded like Choo Choo out of 'Top Cat' - no disrespect to Choo Choo intended).All the songs were new (other than 'Unchained Melody' of course, one of my least favourites ever) so I can't really comment on the score without hearing it again, but there were some nice songs in there. A couple of times Dave let his inner Eurythmic out and I could imagine Annie Lennox singing a couple of the songs and there's nothing wrong with that. The cast recording is out in a week or so and I'll be buying it.
It's a well constructed play, with the highs in all the right places to keep it well paced and moving forward at a nice clip. The sets and lighting were spectacular, the big dance numbers were very well choreographed (I particularly liked the mass leaning to one side in a couple of the sequences) and the details were nice, such as the umbrellas all having lit shafts to add a bit or spectacle. A lot of money has obviously been spent on this and it's paying off. It has all the right bits from the film, like 'ditto' and the potters wheel sequence. It presses the right buttons, especially towards the end when the quiet sobs can be heard before the mass applause when Sam seems to vanish on his journey to heaven. Calculated sentimentality that works.
The ticket prices are a bit steep but if you want to see a full-on musical with all the trimmings I can recommend 'Ghost'. And here's the trailer...
No comments:
Post a Comment