Review: Ghost the Musical at New Theatre, Cardiff

 

Today on the blog I’m excited to share my review of Ghost the Musical at New Theatre, Cardiff. I headed out last night with Kate from KateLiliBlog to see how the classic movie could be transferred to stage…

Review: Ghost the Musical at New Theatre, Cardiff

 

I absolutely love the movie Ghost, it’s just one of those absolute classics that you never forget. I remember watching it for the first time and truly believing the love between Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze, whilst also cracking up at the comedy elements from legend Whoopi Goldberg!

If you don’t already know the story shame on you  then I’ll tell you…

The story follows Sam and Molly, two young people who are madly in love. one night they are walking home when they are held at gunpoint. With a bit of a tussle and gunfire, Sam is shot and dies there and then. The light beckons him, but he refuses to lave Molly. He spends some time watching her life unfold in the wake of his death, soon discovering there’s more to his murder than he first thought. When he discovers his co-worker and best pal Carl is involved, he enlists the help of newly found psychic Oda Mae to help protect his true love and find justice for his murder.

 

 

Ghost the Musical: Stage and Set

I was extremely impressed with the stage and set arrangement. Throughout the entire performance there were many elements of the stage and set that wowed me, from the death and ‘dragging’ scenes with the ‘bad guys’ to the use of lighting and music to convey the emotion of that particular scene. The set had so many layers to it that scenes were erected with several changes, and even though I spotted one error during the show, it didn’t detract from the overall experience of the very elaborate and well thought out scene design.

 

Ghost the Musical: Music

The first act left me feeling confused about whether the music actually worked within the story or not. The only musical scene that stood out to me from the first act was Oda Mae and her sister’s Are You a Believer, which delivered in terms of lyrics, music and outstanding vocals. All four women on the stage gave unbelievable vocal performances and they all blew me away. This was probably my favourite scene from the entire performance!

The orchestra played with such power, and there were moments of music that made me feel overcome with emotion, but these moments didn’t pan out into musical numbers unfortunately.

During the second act I felt a little more connected to the music, thanks to the opening performance of Rain/Hold on from Molly, Sam and company. The second act as a whole felt more complete, as though the cast had found their feet and really warmed up after the first half. Or perhaps I needed to find my way through this new version of the classic movie?

Either way, in my honest opinions, staying with this performance until the end is a key part of enjoying the whole show.

 

Ghost the Musical: Performers

The cast is very minimal for this performance, and I think it works well. Molly is performed by Rebekah Lowings (Narrator: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat UK Tour), Sam is performed by Niall Sheehy (Titanic UK tour), Jacqi Dubois is the fabulously funny Oda Mae and Sergio Pasquariello is the villainous Carl. Further performers include Jules Brown as Willie, James Earl Adair as the Hospital Ghost, Lovonne Richards as the Subway Ghost and Jochebel Ohene MacCarthy and Sadie-Jean Shirley as Oda Mae’s sisters, Louise and Carla.

How these guys get up there everyday and bare their souls to the general public, I’ll never know. As Kate so sweetly pointed out, ‘it feels like they give us a little piece of their souls when they perform’. How right she is!

Each performer gave gutsy, powerful and passionate performances form start to finish. I can’t say I was completely in love with all of the vocals, but towards the end I kinda fell in love with Rebekah Lowings as Molly. Her emotion and her vocals went up a notch and caught me off guard during some of the sadder moments.

 

 

Ghost the Movie vs Ghost the Musical

I couldn’t imagine how this movie could transfer to stage, both in terms of adding the music and lyrics but also achieving the ghostly side of the story without special effects. The film is quite dark, humorous and also atmospheric, much like many of it’s 1980’s/1990’s counterparts, whereas the musical fills the quieter and more sentimental moments with music.

The ghostly scenes were also handled with simple yet very clever effects. Using body doubles, clever lighting, music and sound effects really paid off big time in transferring the more difficult moments from the screen to the stage. The subway scenes were particularly powerful, with very clever stage and set props and special stage effects and sliding doors.

Overall, this was a fun, sometimes emotional, powerful trip down memory lane for any Ghost fans out there. I loved the 80’s vibes and the respect shown for the movie through this stage-translated version. If you’re a Ghost fan, then you need to head on over to New Theatre and book tickets now!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my Review of Ghost the Musical at New Theatre, Cardiff. Please let me know what you thought in the comments below…

 

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