Ghost the Musical

[a-mad]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 2:13pm

I'm sitting here listening to the music prepping to see it's regional premiere in SLC... and I'm still stunned it didn't last longer on Broadway.

I have no idea if the staging left people cold, or if it was a combination of things that just didn't work in the end (were the tonal shifts between tragic/emotional and comic too much?)- but there are truly some great songs in this score (in my opinion...) With You, Suspend my Disbelief, Rain/Hold On and Nothing Stops Another Day to name a few. The contemporary score is very propulsive when it needs to be, and more subdued and introspective at other times. Some of the melodies are gorgeous..

It sounds like they had great leads in Levy and Fleishmann and an entertaining supporting performance by Randolph...

So what happened?

[JBroadway]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 2:21pm

I saw on the last day of its Broadway run, and I enjoyed it. I know it had a real cult following, which obviously wasn't enough to keep it open. It's hard to say exactly what killed it, but I don't think it was particularly marketable. Even the movie it's based on has kind of a weird script and plot. And while there are songs in the show that sound great and work well, there are also several numbers and scenes which don't (I'm looking at you, Rapping Subway Ghost)

[loliveve]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 2:25pm

GHOST the musical reviews (BWW Board)

[loliveve]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 2:25pm

"To all those who Bash Ghost..." (another BWW Board)

[loliveve]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 2:26pm

"Ghost Appreciation" thread

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 2:27pm

I loved Ghost when I saw it on tour. The cast recording is great.

[loliveve]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 2:28pm

Ugh, why can't there be more than one link per post??

Here is the last one I'm posting:
Another Ghost thread...

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 2:28pm

The Tony Awards made it look like a show about people march around screaming to music.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 2:39pm

I'm probably in one of those threads above. I think the at times charming (if power ballad heavy) score was smothered in the "state-of-the-art" production. I believe a semi-un-plugged production, more chamber-styled, could make a persuasive case. The story is a good one, the plot filled with emotional suspense. It was so overcooked (and over-amplified; ear-splitting in the Lunt-Fontanne, and I'm one older fart boomer who loves his shows loud.)

The top of the second act, in particular, has a successful series of connected numbers. The "Rain" sequence. One of the challenges in the material is keeping the heroine from drowning in her grief. It's only partially solved, as problems go, but that opening to act two is a good example of how it cooks when it works. When she takes off on a mission, activated, the composers give her some rock-infused drive. When she holes up and keens, well, we know the result. There's probably one tear-stained navel-gazer too many, but a lot of it works.

And it has that infectious opening number, "Here Right Now," almost done-in on Broadway by projections. They created an intimate opening number for three voices (go back and watch the workshop recording, to see how well it started) and then buried it, quite literally, in projections. Imagine introducing your main characters through a scrim and then keeping them there. I swear, it still stuns me how wrong-headed it was.

Updated On: 3/3/15 at 02:39 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 2:40pm

I'm sure I'm there too. It was one of the cheesiest things I'd ever seen. Hated it.

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 3:08pm

I saw the first Broadway preview and I know a few songs were deleted/added, so I didn't see the final production but I walked away enjoying it but I doubt it's something I would go out of my way to see again. The biggest issue was that the two leads had zero chemistry and were pretty terrible in the show (and I've a fan of Levy but her acting here was so bad). The projections also got incredibly annoying. The woman who played Oda Mae (Mya Day Rudolph? I can't remember her name, sorry lol) was excellent and had the audience in the palm of her hand. The score is mostly excellent, with a few clunkers.

I'd recommend it for the most part, definitely. I'm still kind of surprised it did as bad as it did. It's definitely a crowd pleaser.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 3:28pm

I admit that I was more surprised that it didn't last longer in London where, I think, it got better reviews and it seemed to fit better.

Auggie's post reflects pretty much exactly what I think of the score and (what I've seen,) of that ridiculously busy production. I agree that that original workshop video of some songs made a strong case for (*some of*) the score being pretty effective.

[a-mad]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 3:31pm

^ thanks for that link, Anthony... interesting to be sure.

Although I haven't seen it, I am definitely intrigued in stripping down the theatrics to get to the core of the story. I'd be interested to see which songs they eliminated in the reading.

Curious what Hale Center in SLC will do with it. I will be seeing it in a couple of weeks.

[dfrillsnedit]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 4:13pm

Ghost provided an abundance of awkward moments, but probably the most was when my two friends cried at the end, and I just sat there being like "....okay, I guess that was a show."

Clearly, this was not the show for me, and would never be.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 5:11pm

This was one of the first shows I ever saw on Broadway, and I walked out having loved every minute of it. Ever since then I've been baffled by the bad reviews.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 5:43pm

Saw it in London ( front row day ticket 10 pounds ) and hated everything about it, one of the worst musicals ever ( well Blood Brothers might just over take it ) . Nothing about this show worked.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 6:06pm

I can barely stomach the cast recording because of all the unnecessary dialogue on it.

[thinton]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 6:16pm

Here's my BWW review of the Hale Centre Theatre production:

https://www.broadwayworld.com/salt-lake-city/article/BWW-Reviews-GHOST-THE-MUSICAL-at-Hale-Centre-Theatre-West-Valley-is-Deeply-Moving-Despite-Production-Flaws-20150227

[a-mad]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 6:24pm

^ thanks for that link to your review, Tyler... appreciate your thoughts.

I am going to be seeing the M-W-F cast. Have you heard if the leads are stronger than the T-Th-S cast you saw (based on your review...)

Also - I'm interested in which songs they included/left out from the London Cast Recording - do you have a song listing?

Thanks!

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 6:36pm

I saw the show here in Manchester when it did its first ever public performance and i loved it, i thought it still had an emotional punch despite the technology used in the show. I loved the marrying of film style visuals with a love story. I disagree hugely that the leads were awful. I think they did a great job, Cassie was in fine voice and her acting was fine. It had a few problems but did not deserve to shut so quick on Broadway. Its having a pretty good regional life here in the UK with a recent tour and now amateur and community theatre doing it.

[darquegk]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 8:07pm

The American Tour version was a vast improvement in material while maintaining the epic size and scale. I wonder if they will license the large and intimate version together, or use the intimate as the only available version now?

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 9:33pm

I saw the national tour in Los Angeles and it was one of the worst musicals I've seen. The choreography was silly, there were too many projections (including two full-on video sequences), a cumbersome set, and bland performances (save for a great vocal performance from the woman playing Molly). The special effects were cool but that could not save it.

[Jane2]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 9:44pm

I loved the show. Maybe because I was in the fourth row, it was easy for me to be pulled into the story (which I loved i n the movie) but I was engrossed with what was going on on the stage. Loved Cassie Levy's voice. I remember that there was some pretty spectacular effects with lighting and video too.

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 9:56pm

I enjoyed the show very much when i saw it on Broadway. I thought that the three leads all gave wonderful performances, and i enjoyed the story and the effects. I did feel like the projections were overused and the choreography was not that great, and i agree that the subway ghost rap was horrible. But i enjoyed the rest of the production and even went back to see it again during its short stint. Having said that, I have not found the cast recording standing up to repeated listening - i enjoyed the songs more in the emotional context of the show than listening to them afterward (that's technically always true to an extent, but in this case i don't even listen to the CD even though i liked the show very much).

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 11:34pm

Are people in England big Patrick swayed fans? Also it seems to me that lead characters are only good when there are good people in them such as Richard and Cassie. Also what's richard doing nowadays? That guy was/is smoking hot! Also Alison Luff's "With You" is just heartbreakingly phenomenal!

Updated On: 3/3/15 at 11:34 PM