Ghost The Musical

The preliminary study is the trailer for the Ghost The Musical which has been adapted from the 1990 film Ghost. The main outline of the story is that Sam is a New Yorker banker and is in a relationship with Molly (who professes in pottery). Sam suspects foul play in his bank and eventually finds out that it is his best friend, Carl. Carl then kills Sam and Sam turns into a ghost. Of course, Molly and everybody else can't see him. Sam then goes to see a psychic to tell Molly that he is a ghost. Once Sam is dead, Carl tries to steal Molly. I have not watched either the musical or the film so I do not know how the story ends.

However I know from the storyline and the trailer, betrayal plays a big part. Betrayal is addressed through Carl betraying Sam and even killing him for his own comfort. This film is based on friendship betrayal and I think everybody can relate to this such as be-friend somebody who is secretly "hiding" something. Furthermore, once Sam is dead, Carl tries to steal Molly so I think Carl is trying to steal Sam lives.

I think the main target audience for the musical is for fans of the 1990's film who are mainly adults in present day. Also, I think the target audience is for musical and West End fans. The genre of the musical is romantic supernatural drama, so I think some of the audience are there because they are into romantic "soppy" musicals and fans.

Personally, I am not into the storyline because I do not like romantic films and musicals but I do like traditional musicals such as The Sound Of Music and Mary Poppins, mainly because of the songs and the characters. However, I do think the production of Ghost is very impressive. I really like the projections such as the train scene I saw in the trailer. The train adds set and makes the audience feel like they are "in" the production; it also makes more emotion in the audience. I like the multi-media which is used in the production such as the lighting and costume. The lighting is very good because when Sam is a ghost, the lighting is pale shaded blue which symbols he is a ghost. Molly wears pale pastel colours, so this symbols she is alive.

The style of the work is a modern musical adapted from a film. It is modern because of the big use of projections, lighting and dancing/singing. The dancing and singing are modern to me, mainly because I am used to old fashioned musicals. But I do think I would like to experience the production of Ghost because it much different to the usual West End production. The projections are really good use because it has a dramatic effect and also because the story involves a supernatural theme, it adds a "spooky" effect to the productions. The lighting is very good as well because every character is lit up, Sam and Molly's lightning is well done because even when they are extremely close, Sam is a shaded indigo colour and

Molly is a pale white. This is very impressive technology wise and adds a lot more effect.

The dancing and singing which are shown in the trailer are mainly songs between Sam and Molly but also there is a section showing a typical New York “Aretha Franklin” song by the psychic and a jazz-hand song by Carl. I think the songs are quite good because there are chosen for the characters and helps the audience understand the characters more. Going back to the psychic’s song, from a minute of watching her musical piece, the audience can gather what her personality is. Such as, she is quite outgoing (from the fast song but also her costume which is very colourful and bright). The costume in the production seems very good such as Carl is always wearing expensive looking suits and smart styled hair. I think this shows that he is quite smug and does anything for his comfort (which is true because he even killed Sam for his comfort).

One main method used is that I can see from the trailer is that there is only one stage. I think this is a good method because if there are numerous stages, it can confuse the audience. Another way of communicating the songs and the lyrics are what the characters are feeling. I think that is a very important method because it shows the audience what exactly the characters are thinking. There is dancing as well which shows what the audience what they are thinking through the movement of the body.