Ghost (Youth Production)

What an enjoyable evening we had at St John Rigby College’s production of “Ghost” (The Musical), which is based on the 1990 film of the same name and is one of cinema’s biggest successes, starring the late Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. The film won an Oscar for its screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin along with other awards, Rubin has now adapted his screenplay for this musical which features The Righteous brothers hit song “Unchained Melody” alongside other songs co-written by Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard.The show had its world premiere in Manchester in 2011 and the plot centres on lovers Sam who is a Banker and Molly an Artist, who when walking back to their apartment late one night are attacked by a mugger trying to steal Sam’s wallet. Unfortunately, Sam is shot and dies, but he becomes caught between this world and the next. At first it is thought the attack was random, but it soon becomes clear that it was planned by Carl, Sam’s best friend as he has been laundering money at the bank where they both work. Sam realises Molly is in grave danger which means he cannot leave her, but how is he going to warn her about Carl, so with the help of a phoney medium, Oda Mae Brown (who doesn’t know she has the gift), he tries to contact Molly to warn her.

The Production team expertly guide the very talented young cast which resulted in  an excellent enjoyable show, they included Director’s David Wall and Rebecca McDonald, Musical Director David Wall and Choreographers Rebecca McDonald, Sophie Phillips, and BTEC dance students.There was some great performances from the cast in this popular show, Matthew Alty was excellent as Sam Wheat  who was complemented very well by a lovely poignant performance from Amy Gaskell as Molly Jensen who sang beautifully.Callum Matthews as Sam’s deceiving best friend Carl Bruner was suitably underhand giving a very good characterisation and Sam Dyson was spot on and menacing as Carl’s accomplice and Sam’s murderer Willie Lopez.One of the highlights of the evening was a superb comedic performance from Godsfavour Inyang as Oda Mae Brown originally played in the film by Whoopi Goldberg and the actors in the supporting roles also produced some good characters, they included Lucy Bache as The Hospital Ghost, Connor Gibson as the Subway Ghost, Charlotte ‘Lottie’Dawson as Clara  and Leah Wallis as Louise. The principle cast were supported very well by the chorus and the dancers who performed the effective interesting choreography very well and sang enthusiastically. Diction projection and clarity of words was more than satisfactory which meant the audience could follow the story easily.

The orchestra of students and guest musicians lead by Musical Director David Wall supported the cast expertly, it was a pleasure to hear young people play so well.   

There was one very good multipurpose set and scenes were changed by the effective use of applicable props which enabled smooth transitions between scenes meaning the show ran at a good pace. There was also some impressive technical input which included not only sound and lighting but supernatural movement of objects especial on Carl’s desk and the costumes were spot on for the characters and the type and setting of the production, so well done to everyone who worked backstage supporting the cast and undertaking theses important jobs, as their value to the production cannot be overestimated.

This was an outstanding enjoyable show, so congratulations to everyone involved in bringing this show to the stage and thank you for making us so welcome.

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