 |
| Steven Grant Douglas and Katie Postotnik Ghost The Musical Tour. © Joan Marcus 2013. |
"Are you effin' kidding me?"
Seriously?
Ghost?
One of the most beloved and iconic films in history... a true classic... as a musical?
Seriously?
Okay you know me... I love musicals... but this? C'mon son!
So when I got the invitation to attend the media night performance, I couldn't resist... curiosity got the best of me.
(sigh)
Hmmm... what can I say...
(deeper sigh)
Well... it wasn't entirely horrible.
But it pains me to say (because I feel bad when I have to give an unfavorable review) it wasn't entirely good either.
But let me start with the positives...
They followed the story well and did a decent job of adapting it to the stage.
The things that had to be changed because it was on stage did not take away from the integrity of the original.
The special effects they used to make the "ghost" effects were pretty effin' awesome!
The way they showed Sam moving through a door for the first time... dope!
The best part was the subway scenes with the crazy man who teaches Sam how to move objects.
I can't even describe what they did but it involved special screens, special lighting, cool sound effects, and the cast doing some stop-motion movements that actually gave me the chills a lil bit.
The "good"ghosts descending to heaven... very nicely done.
They need to work on where the "bad" ghosts go, tho...
Note to Producers: Um... bad people don't go "up" when they go to hell!
(sigh)
And now... the negatives...
(sigh)
What makes a musical a musical?
The music, right?
The music was awful... well the songs were awful, that is.
Not one good or memorable take-away song in the whole production.
They seriously ran "Unchained Melody" into the ground! With crazy renditions of it, no less. If you loved that song before, this play might make you hate it.
Way too many Molly sobbing solos.
I could almost forgive the bad songs if they weren't sung by bad singers.
The cast was mediocre at best... and I'm being nice.
Note to Producers: Get a new Molly... STAT!
(sigh)
In my humble writer-movie lover-broadway snob opinion, it is much easier to make a musical into a film than it is to make a film into a musical.
So far, the only successful one I've seen is The Lion King... though I've heard The Color Purple was quite good.
And if you think about it... they both had a lot of music in them to begin with that someone creating a play could work from.
There in lies the key.
In my humble writer-movie lover-broadway snob opinion, some classics should never be remade in any way shape or form...
Ghost is on that list.
But don't take my word for it... If you are in the Atlanta area, see it for yourself.
Ghost The Musical is at The Fabulous Fox Theatre through November 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your Thoughts?