Ghost – The Musical

G-​ot
H-​ung up
O-​n
S-​pecial
T-​ech Effects
What was truly murdered on stage was the touching love story of Molly and Sam. Once alive with that electric connection that makes an audience care about the characters, and thus the story, Ghost the Musical is an unbalanced shadow of that great original movie.
Most of the first act was just plain amateurish from the over-​acting, boring songs, strained singing, unnecessary dancing and trite dialog. The poorly choreographed and costumed dance troop broke up any flow the play might have obtained while robbing the book of valuable time that could have been better used on character development so the audience might actually care about Sam’s and Molly’s tragic plight.
While Steven Grant Douglas did a decent job with the more physical demands of the role, he shouts so much of his dialog in an over-​the-​top performance, I was reminded of Gene Kelly poking fun of the silent movies in Singing In the Rain. Katie Postotnik as Molly Jenson, was as boring as dry toast. Even the one love scene felt forced and trite. I don’t hold her at fault for that given the lackluster book and clear need for a better director. What I CAN and DO blame her for is an irritating singing voice that made me wonder why she was even hired, or at the very least, given so many solos! I suppose it was to keep her character relevant in the mostly Sam and Oda Mae Brown driven story. If it was to make us care about her deep sorrow, they failed miserably. There were many comments amongst the audience during intermission about the poor singing and inaudible audio throughout, while the special effects were very loud. Oh, I almost forgot about Robby Haltiwanger as Carl Bruner and Fernando Contreras as Willie Lopez… and that’s the problem.
What saves this musical from a one star review is the fun performance of Carla R. Stewart as Oda Mae Brown and her two psychic helpers. Of course, her part is the most fun even in the movie, but she was the only player who owned her role and made me forget the movie for a few precious moments. Luckily, thanks largely to her humorous, exuberant performance, actual LIFE was breathed into the much better second half.
Now for those much touted special effects. Like too much salt in the stew, the often incredible illusions created were heavily overused, perhaps in an attempt to make up for the show’s glaring weaknesses. They too were often unbalanced in their effect. During one of Oda Mae’s numbers, silly shaped images, ala a rock concert, flashed onto the screen behind her that had nothing to do with the scene. In contrast, the subway scenes were fab as was when Sam dies or murderer Willie Lopez goes to hell. The eerie red lights and images perfectly complimented the scene as Willie is pulled up and away into the netherworld.
They then take the easy way out with BFF gone bad, Carl Bruner. Instead of his gruesome, well-​deserved end as in the movie, the audience is cheated when he is shot while struggling with Oda Mae for the gun he was wielding. His own trip to hell was rather anticlimactic after seeing Willie die. ‘Ditto’ for the strange lack of effects when Sam momentarily enters Oda Mae for one last dance with Molly. The lighting on Sam and Molly should have been better and more otherworldly as he finally crosses over with a rather flippant last line of, «See ya!» Was that even in the movie? If it was, it must have been delivered with much more love and angst. Instead, it was like Sam was merely telling a coworker goodbye after a long day at the bank, or perhaps after a long, disappointing theatrical run.