Words by Melissa Blease
Theatre Royal Bath until 23 November
Young American couple Sam and Molly are living the romcom-perfect life: she’s a ceramicist with her first gallery exhibition, he’s a Wall Street banker, and they’ve just moved into a beautiful apartment in Brooklyn with spectacular views across New York City. What could possibly go wrong? An apparently random mugging that turns out to be a murder, that’s what – and that’s when Sam and Molly’s story really begins…
Shortly after its release in 1990, Director Jerry Zucker’s romantic fantasy/thriller Ghost became the second highest-grossing film of all time, only just surpassed by Home Alone. It starred a deliciously brooding Patrick Swayze as Sam, a wholly endearing Demi Moore as Molly and Whoopi Goldberg as crackpot clairvoyant Oda Mae Brown, put the Righteous Brothers epic, almost ethereally beautiful 1965 hit Unchained Melody back at the top of both the UK and US charts, earned a clutch of Academy Awards… and turned the phrase “Molly! You in danger, girl!” into one of the earliest versions of a meme. But does Zucker’s supernatural supernova work as a musical?
With a script written by Bruce Joel Rubin (specialist themes: life and death, with metaphysical/science fiction elements), music and lyrics by Dave (Eurythmics) Stewart and Glen Ballard and a multi-award winning West End director with a 40+ years of experience on his impressive portfolio (that’ll be Bob Tomson, then), a global audience of fans attest to the fact that, since the musical premiered in 2011, the spirit of Ghost literally lives on.
As ill-fated couple Sam and Molly, Josh St. Clair and Rebekah Lowings have an authentic chemistry that wins our hearts and minds from the get-go and the kind of powerful, emotive vocal abilities that allow a gorgeous collection of songs (accompanied by a full-on, fabulous live mini-orchestra, hard at work in the pit) to seamlessly slide into the narrative rather than disrupt the storyline. James Mateo-Salt segues from trustworthy, supportive ally to odious, duplicitous, double-crossing villain Carl on the unbuttoning of Brooks’ Brothers shirt and Jacqui Dubois is outstanding as reluctant psychic Oda Mae Brown, all perfectly-timed, live-wire comic charisma and exhilarating energy. A couple of cameos from veteran British TV presenter, comedian and actor Les Dennis (Hospital Ghost/bank manager Lionel Ferguson) delight rather than clumsily intrude, and Garry Lee is impressively disturbing as the tortured Subway Ghost: morbid menace and gothic ghoulishness a go-go.
Throughout it all, Nick Richings’ evocative lighting brings further perspective, ambience and patina to the drama, while a handful of slick illusions thrown in at key moments amp up the ‘wow!’ factor.
Okay, I know you’re waiting for me to mention the most memorable, much-parodied iconic scene from the movie, where Sam and Molly briefly reunite across the boundaries between life and death at Molly’s potter’s wheel – and how could I not go there? Ghost The Musical did indeed go there; in this immaculately-styled, perceptive production, a moment that could have easily made its own history for being The Great Pottery Throw-up is, at it was in the film, a highlight laden with bittersweet emotion, ‘that’ song adding to the passionate intensity.
By the time Sam leaves Molly for the second, final time, Ghost The Musical has haunted your imagination: a glorious mixture of romance and thriller, poignant, enthralling and unapologetically sentimental. As Sam himself says at the denouement (at which point even the hardest hearted amongst us may find that they, erm, have something in their eye): “it’s amazing, Molly – the love inside, you take it with you.” Ditto.