Last night I had a girly night with my friends to the theatre. Our local is Milton Keynes, and on there was the musical "Ghost" based on the famous film staring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoppi Goldberg. Now going to watch a musical based on a well know film isn't new to the theatre world, but I love this film soooooooooo much! having watched it many times as a child and growing up, therefore I knew it had to be good to impress me, but also I was worried about how they were going to create the idea of Sam being a ghost on stage.... However it was AMAZING!! Wow, fantastic... Beautifully created that you couldn't keep your eyes off the stage. It played out so much of the film that I love and added a creative sound track, keeping in the main song we all know and love, "Unchained Melody" which is used throughout the the performance. Where do I start... The staging was out of this world... Something so unexpected, how they change set so quick and fluid, from Molly and Sam's apartment to the street outside in New York city to an office. How they created Oda May Brown's Psychic shop, with the opening of the set, to the train scene is something I've never seen before! So much happens, drawing you into the performance with the characters really showing off everything you remember from the film. The actors never missed a beat, from their dancing, use of the stage and props, to their singing talents too. It keeps a fast moving pace, with the songs adding so much to the story, why Molly wants so much for Sam to say "I love you" instead of "Ditto" to how funny the introduction to Oda May Brown is, this had me in stitches. It was so over the top and created great humour in such a sad story. You feel like you are involved in the story, feeling all the emotions Sam goes through, how stuck he feels not being able to communicate with Molly. Also the effects used in show created the scene perfectly. I'm stilling trying to work out how they created the train scene with the turning of the train, from a side view to a view inside down through the seats. The movement in this part by the actors, but also the props used had me glued to the stage, it was like magic! However they didn't forget to add how they showed a character who had died moving on from this world to the next. May it be heaven with white lights and stars lifting them into the light. Or that of hell, with a mist taking over the stage, red filling the lights and a power pulling them into the darkness where they belong.
I would watch this show again, again, and yes again if I could. You go from great highs to great lows, by the end I was crying at how sad it made me feel, but smiling at how much I had enjoyed the show. My friends were also in tears too, declaring how amazingly beautiful the performance was, that when they get home they wanted to watch the film again.
If you get a chance, go see this production. I'm thinking of finding tickets to a show soon, not quite sure when or where, but to take my parents to see it, as I know they will love it, but also if they hasn't shown me the film when I was younger, I might have never fallen in love with it.
Love Lolly
xoxo
