Ghost The Musical

A flood of blue lights, lots of haze and startling white lit up letters spelling out GHOST met us as we entered the auditorium at Mossley. It was very effective . The set was very simple and minimalistic throughout the whole of the production, usually consisting of two or three pieces per scene, e.g. a sofa, a table, a truck with a working door, some chairs, a potters wheel, a coat rack brought on by both cast and crew – it did confuse me at times though  why there was an actual blackout and at least one of the unnecessary blackouts did seem to be over long, perhaps there was a problem with something else backstage?

 An impressive video wall went across the whole width of the back of the stage so the back view kept changing as the story unfolded, this is a great way to both add atmosphere and to show passage of time . Mossley AODS had gone to the trouble of filming their lead characters for the video wall. I loved the personal touch it brought, it allowed the audience to start to connect with the characters and invest in the story . The lighting by MSL and Emily Banks was very sympathetic to the scenes and to the video wall – you have to counterbalance the light shed and colour fall from the wall .

The sound was good with no gremlins for the most part. All sound cues came in on time, there was a nice steady balance between the orchestra and the characters both in vocals and in dialogue. Paul Firth as Musical Director kept good pace during the musical numbers, diction was clear in the vocals. I enjoyed the fast moving choreography by Molly-Mae France, it was slick and sharp particularly when the black sequin jackets made an appearance in “I`m Outta Here”. I found costuming distracting in “Rain”/”Hold On” because to me personally the ensemble looked like 6th formers instead of my stereotypical and perhaps outdated idea of office workers in striped shirts, heels, pencil skirts etc - perhaps this was a directorial decision to show uniformity but it didn`t sit right for me .

It was an experienced cast that put this production on and it showed that they were all comfortable on stage and with a large audience .  

Ty Mather as Subway Ghost had some great stage presence, the characterisation was strong and bold, it was a shame that their microphone stopped working during their biggest scene but they projected as best they could and carried on, they had made their part a very physical character so their body movements helped to convey their dialogue and vocals. Katherine Farrow as Molly brought a lovely gentleness with her characterisation, she perfectly portrayed the easiness and naivity of the friend trio and then when Sam (John Dean) dies the duo with Carl (Samuel Maurice). Katherine is no stranger to the stage and was very comfortable in her part, she projected and emoted well, used all her stage space naturally and made a good connection with the audience. Vocals throughout were good, nice and strong with lots of support, Molly`s big song “With You” had some of the audience visibly in tears. Ochi Odey as Oda Mae Brown was superb, from the moment she stepped on the stage she owned her part. I did have some difficulty hearing the words as she sang “I`m Outta Here” but I think it was down to a sound glitch rather than  diction/enunciation . Her dialogue projected well and she was just the right side of over the top. There was some nice chemistry on stage with Oda Mae, Clara Brown (Niamh Edge) and Louise Brown (Namumba Kawala) in the “ Are You A Believer?” Claire Egerton as Mrs Santiago led some great comedy moments in that song and she certainly left a lasting impression. Mat Hepplestone as Willie Lopez was another who left a lasting impression – it was a definite full embodiment of his character and he emoted well. David Noble played The Hospital Ghost, diction was good, he used his stage space well, vocals were good in “You Gotta Let Go Now” he had a lovely ease on stage especially when interacting with John Dean. (Sam) John had a strong energy on stage which connected well with the audience, vocals were strong, facial expressions were big and very readable. He used his stage space naturally and looked very comfortable. He had a good connection with Samuel Maurice (Carl) they both showed all the different facets to their characters . Sam had a very different energy on stage to John, his was definitely more erratic and hyped up, he moved about differently too, he was clever in his portrayal as we (the audience) wanted to dislike him yet he made us feel pity for him too.

The ensemble really worked hard around the Principal characters , there were a lot of high energy numbers which they really threw themselves into .

Thank you for inviting me. Both myself and my guest enjoyed your production of Ghost The Musical and I look forward to seeing you all again soon.  

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.