A "Ghost"-ly evening at the Piccadilly Theatre
Ghost - Piccadilly Theatre, London, 28th November, 2011
I saw the 90’s movie Ghost as a teenager and know it too well. It is one most romantic, touching and utterly enjoyable cinematic experience with a most charismatic stunning Patrick Swayze and most adorable Demi Moore who both could say more with one look than most with hundreds of words. Bruce Joel Rubin, who wrote the film script, also wrote the book for the musical with the music being written by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard.
I am pretty sure nearly everyone is familiar with the storyline telling of the sickeningly in love couple Molly and Sam, an artist and a banker, who have just bought their first apartment and moved in. Sam though is tragically killed not long after, and Molly is left with only the comfort of Sam’s best friend Carl but there is more to his death than she knows. Sam’s spirit is left to put things right with only the help of quirky and fraudulent psychic Oda Mae Brown.
The professional reviews of this show were rather mixed when it opened in summer with the reviews from the "ordinary" theatre goer are largely positive and exciting so I was not sure what to expect. Well I really wanted to enjoy it but I actually was left totally untouched and underwhelmed by this musical. The only time I actually got emotional was when I remembered during one number that the last time I had been to this theatre was when I saw Patrick Swayze in Guys & Dolls - how much I had adored him and how much I had adored that show but this one... Oh dear.
Yes, it does look good, but as the English say "they tried too hard". I am sure they blew the budget on this seeing all this fancy stuff onstage but for me it needs a lot more - or maybe actually a lot less. It looks slick, is efficient, it moves quickly though some of the scene changes are a bit jerky sometimes even if most of the songs are not really bringing the story forward but I am just lost with this.
Richard Fleeshman, certainly looking good with his pumped arm muscles and a hot six-pack, totally lacks charisma for me and while he has an okay-good voice, there are definitely better singers than him, I hate his shouty way of singing and speaking. Yes, his character is shocked when he has to face he is a ghost but I expected emotions, I expected despair and anger then and not just shouts. I did not expect a Patrick Swayze copy, but I expected more edge and character and not someone as bland as this muscles baby faced Richard. I read that he was apparently chosen just not to copy the movie but why for god’s sake they have to turn the role into this I do not know. Additionally it does not match his career of a banker. Show me someone who is being/looking that young, acting so unsure and being already that far up on the career ladder and actually being a boss.
And the chemistry with Caissie Levy as Molly as e.g. in the opening scene when they are as lovers making love was so little I seriously wondered whether they have actually really felt so much love and passion for real as they just could not sell it to me – I just could never get a strong sense of it. It also did not help that it seems when the two sang together as in the first number “"Here Right Now" I got the impression the two had some kind of competition who could belt louder. Sorry, you both lost as you forgot to SING. That song is about them looking forward to spending their future together in their new home and I want to feel that and not feel shiver because the belting hurts in my ears.
Caissie, while certainly having a stunning voice and being a secure and confident performer, just does not do it for me either.
Having actually been through what her character has been, I find her so cold and harsh, that while she sings a song about loss and mourning and how empty life as during “With you” this is not transported for me through her voice and he acting. She just focuses too much on her singing for me and it all sounds too clear and too frigid. Adding a random sobbing or gasping just does not save it for me.
The one scene with her I really cannot stand is the pottery scene. Actually in this show, unlike in the movie, it is one after Sam is already dead with her trying to go back to do some work (?) but not really managing to focus and when “Unchained “Melody” comes on the radio she breaks up – well she is to but Caissie plays it far too contrived and affected with her crocodile tears. I want vulnerability, tenderness and anger with this world but I do not get anything. I know others who reviewed this show have seen all this. I just didn’t and I am usually a most emotional while not really romantic person who is easily touched and prone to tears.
Unfortunately Sharon D. Clarke was out after breaking her leg, but her understudy was actually the most enjoyable performance in this show. She looked very young, not the used Oda Mae Brown you expect or what Sharon looks like on the pictures but her performance was such a blast, very entertaining and not without warmth. She definitely matches quite well Whoopi Goldberg’s comic turn whilst putting her own touches to the character. Her moments in the show are definitely the ones when this piece comes to life even if just a show filler as her big number "I'm Outta Here" in the second act when she has just received the cheque.
Andrew Langtree as Carl is also disappointing. Not sure whether this is done intentional but he is such a pantomime style villain, very much a caricature and not the nervous geek from the movie, and I cannot stand pantomimes. Vocally he is also not what I expect from West End standards sounding rather croaky and weak. Seeing Paul Ayres in the ensemble who is his understudy and knowing what a amazing singer and actor he is I really wished I could see him but unfortunately that was not to be.
The special effects certainly look good, as the video projections, the tricks, but from where I sat I could make out all tricks very easily and I did not look out for it particularly but when you see the double for when Sam dies in the shadow, you hear the actual door being moved for the projected door or see that the coke can stays a projected one when he kicks, no not the can but some paper bags, it totally ruined it for me especially as I had such an excellent seat (one of the premium seats bang in the middle of row H upgraded from normal top price of 65 GBP) – trying to imagine I really had splashed out 85/90 GBP or how much ever these seats really are and being able to see how all the tricks work (there were actually people on this pathetic German forum who got nasty when I mentioned that I could see how all this works as I was apparently looking out for it particularly – sorry, people I did not, if you did not see how it worked and sat closely you should go and get your eyes checked). The videos shown on three full walls of LED at the back and on the side e.g. when showing the banker scene actually look only good the first ten minutes and highly annoyed me after then as they are just nothing special.
Having seen Pippin just a few days before the effects there are a lot simpler but work a lot better. The only scene where the illusions worked properly for me was the run through the subway train but then that part when Sam meets the subway ghost played by the wonderful Adebayo Bolaji whose solo number “Focus” is one good one for me and later gets taught how to move stuff are some of the better scenes for me. I also did not get why e.g. the whole coin scene was changed to a letter that Sam reads out. It could have been easily done. Yes the whole how the letter closes might look better but changing it just for the sake of it... This is not creative, this is just cheap to see that just for the sake of not copying the movie 1:1 they made changes not just because to improve it.
The death of Carl was also rather unspectacular after the most scary death in the movie – it was one of these “and suddenly there is a shot and he is dead” moments. Fail.
The music is mostly forgettable. It partly reminds me of cheesy 90s Euro pop-trash, not just the faster numbers but the ballads too, plenty of chances to belt and hurting my ears. On the other hand as “I Can't Breathe “ it reminds me of some cheap 80s/90s rock music, even Bon Jovi could have written a better number. And do not get me started on what they have done to the iconic “Unchained Melody”. I seriously do not need this Elvis impersonator from Richard Fleeshman at the beginning of the show. Just give me the pure song. It is one of the most beautiful songs in the world and they totally ruined it for me. The one song actually largely criticised “The Ball Of Wax” sung by Mark White in the hospital and choreographed in a tap 40s style right after the death of Sam is actually another of the very few interesting number. It breaks up the show a bit, which is not a bad song and takes a look at the death from a rather positive side and it is performed very well. But then I suppose since there are plenty of fans of 90s pop music there are plenty who do like the music of this show. I just do not. It also did not help that the sound was sometimes very loud.
The choreography is often making me cringe. I understand that it is to let people be like robots/machines in this city, not being able to be enjoying their life being so absorbed by work, but the movements just look ridiculous. I often wonder why the ensemble is onstage at all anyway. This show could have been easily a piece with less than ten people but no the stage is filled up with another ten or so. I do not want to criticise the ensemble as I am sure they did the best out of that what they have, Paul Ayres, the only one I really paid close attention to at least did.
There is this one number when Molly shouts out this ballad walking around the city and the ensemble is around her and performing with this ridiculous robotic choreography when it could have just been all about her only.
This show has clearly its appeal to certain people, especially with Dirty Dancing now gone from the West End, this is already attracting hen parties (had a few in the night I went), and there is a die-hard fan base already reacting extremely harsh to people criticising the show but this show is not for me. I will stick to some of the old goodies or discover other new shows as the amazing Matilda. Believe? Not for me. Anyone else though who can see behind what I criticised will have, am sure, a good night out.
My favourite quote is actually from the normally rubbish Daily Mail:
"Much of Ghost is not so much musical theatre as blaring pop concert, with hi-tech graphics and some odd choreography. Several of the songs are screamed rather than sung. The dancing would not have been out of place in Top of the Pops." Quentin Letts
P.S. I really would have wanted to get a programme but with just this at 7 GBP overpriced/oversized brochure/programme available I decided not to get one. I can find the pictures online anyway. Actually the number of pictures in it is rather limited and not a decent brochure as the one at Legally Blonde.
