Rating: ★★★★★
Venue: New Victoria Theatre, Woking
Cast: Rebekah Lowings, Josh St. Clair, Jacqui Dubois, James Mateo-Salt, Jules Brown, Garry Lee, Tim Maxwell-Clarke, Tanisha Butterfield, Keiahna Jackson-Jones, Molly Cleere, Gabrielle Cummins, Olivia-Rose Deer, Wade Lewin, Jamie Pritchard, Joe Readman and Lewis Asquith
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. But with the help of a phony storefront psychic, Sam, trapped between this world and the next, tries to communicate with Molly in the hope of saving her from grave danger…
This Oscar winning love story is on its UK tour, currently playing at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking. The movie Ghost is one of cinema’s biggest all-time hits and Bruce Joel Rubin has adapted his screenplay for the musical. I’m always excited to see how a film translates into a stage musical and this one was done extremely well.
The plot is simply this; a tragic encounter sees Sam murdered and his beloved girlfriend Molly alone, in despair and utterly lost. But with the help of a phony storefront psychic, Sam, trapped between this world and the next, tries to communicate with Molly in the hope of saving her from grave danger…
I found myself enchanted by pretty much every song; especially when Rebekah Lowings (Molly Jenson) sang “With You”. You can feel and hear the heartbreak through her vocals, and it's a haunting moment in the show that brought me to tears; her vulnerability shone through in this particular number.
Rebekah Lowing's performance as Molly Jenson was nothing short of perfection and I could listen to her sing all day. Paired alongside Josh St. Clair (Sam Wheat) who was vocally stunning and embodied the character of Sam.
One scene I really loved (which may be a spoiler if you're one of the few who hasn't seen the film!) is where Jacqui Dubois (Oda Mae Brown) allows Sam to take over “her body". This was very cleverly done. Another particular standout moment was Lowings and St. Clair singing the iconic "Unchained Melody". Their connection felt so genuine and the moment so intimate that it was easy to forget that the pair are actors on a stage; their performance moved me to tears.
Jacqui Dubois was brilliantly funny and made the character her own, while also paying homage to Whoopi Goldberg and delivering her classic lines from the movie. I did really enjoy the magic of the show, particularly during the train scene when Sam meets Subway Ghost (played by Garry Lee) for the first time.
The staging led to some clever onstage magic and I enjoyed the way lighting was used throughout to separate the present with the afterlife. I felt this really made an impact to the audience and made it easier to distinguish when he was a ghost. I thought the way that characters moved from the present to the afterlife was incredible and the ensemble members moved in perfect synchronisation to take character's transitions as seamless as possible.
One minor issue on the night would be that the sound effects would occur slightly after they were supposed to. While it didn't affect the show's enjoyability, there were a few sound issues like this, as well as some interference with the microphones. However, this is just a small glitch that can easily be rectified.
This is one of those musicals that will stay with me, haunting me in the very best way.
You can book tickets to the UK tour of GHOST the Musical, here.
Review by Sarah
No comments