Ghost, the Musical

Oldham Coliseum, to Saturday

ANYONE who saw the premiere of this musical in Manchester in 2011 will remember that above all it was a triumph of the set designer’s art.

Well over a million pounds went into a “loft” set made up of several pivoting sections and multiple video walls, used to create everything from falling rain, loft windows and an extraordinary mix of special effects that took us into a ghost-riddled subway. There were good magic effects too.

So how does the show get on when the big budget is removed? In fact pretty well, as Ashton Operatic Society takes it on the chin with the first regional amateur production.

The high-tech pro set’s loss is replaced by a lot of filtered and coloured light, a warmly attractive leading couple, a lot of high-energy choreography and a terrific band (though when I saw the show the balance wrongly favoured musicians over singers).

Romantic

What remains, of course, is the romantic heart of the story: Sam (Samuel Maurice) dies in front of his girlfriend Molly (Hannah Davenport) in a mugging and winds up as a ghost.

He must hang around in the afterlife to help the sad girl, who doesn’t realise the killing was deliberate, and she’s next.

His ally in this protective gesture is Oda Mae Brown (Nicky Mead), a fraudulent medium who discovers she actually can communicate with the spirit world and provides the show’s light relief and a couple of high-energy numbers.

Filling in the gap is frenemy Carl (Gary Jones-McCaw), the couple’s best friend with an evil heart.

Though the story is a bit melodramatic and angsty, the action here, directed by Lee Brennan with music from Paul Firth and choreography by Jean Johnson, moves well and the dance ensemble displays some good moves.

Samuel Maurice is a sexy lead (shirt on or off) with a strong voice for Dave Stewart’s sometimes tortuous pop songs, and while Hannah struggles occasionally with difficult melody lines, she offers a touching dramatic performance to compensate.

Mead and McCaw, particularly the former, offer strong support and the whole thing is good enough to suggest that if you don’t book soon, there’s more than a ghost of a chance the weekend performances will be full.