“Oh, my love, my darling
I've hungered for your touch
A long, lonely time ... "
That's how the Righteous Brothers sang in 1965 when they recorded their version of Unchained Melody, a version that still makes millions of hearts in love dream. The great popularity of this song is partly due to the 1990 film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg: I'm talking, of course, about Ghost, a cult movie that earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, Best Editing and Best Score. A film we are all fond of, from those who lived it at the cinema to those who saw it only many years after its release; one of those untouchable, because it embodies a common romantic desire.
In 2011, the year of the premiere of Ghost - The Musical, we were all a bit skeptical: we romantic dreamers who still fantasize about impossible love stories dancing hugging an invisible partner, were terrified that someone could ruin the perfection of that image; the musical has in fact suffered from the comparison with the film, as indeed happens to almost all the works taken from previous editions of great success, and there was also no lack of negative criticism of the work itself.
Michael Billington wrote in The Guardian on July 19, 2011:
The passion is upstaged by the projections. The romantic songs, by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, are strangely forgettable. […] Where the show sparks into life is with the emergence of Oda Mae Brown, the fake medium who acts as Sam's intermediary with Molly. […] The big number she sings with her acolytes, 'Are You a Believer?', Makes everything else look tame. […] It is her who provides the show with what it mostly lacks: heart and soul.
“Passion is overshadowed by visual effects. The romantic songs, by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, are unexpectedly forgettable. […] The show comes to life with the entry of Oda Mae Brown, the false medium who acts as an intermediary between Sam and Molly. […] The big scene where he sings with his acolytes, 'Are You a Believer? '(his first solo song, ed), makes everything else flat. […] It is she who brings to the show what is missing the most: heart and soul. "
This description also fits well with what we saw on the evening of January 30 at the Roman premiere of Ghost - The Musical al Sistina Theater, Directed by Federico Bellone e Chiara Vecchi, which also took care of the choreography.
The passion and romanticism that characterized the film rarely appear, the feelings between the protagonists reach the audience through clichés and stereotypes; we can therefore say that regardless of errors, inaccuracies and difficulties in managing the stage space, it is evident a structural deficiency of the original text.
Unfortunately, the whole first part of the show was lacking from many points of view. Wanting to overlook the incorrect management of microphone volumes, as on the first song in which the speech of Sam (Mirko Ranù) and Carl (Thomas Santu) dominates Molly's cantato (Giulia Sol), there was an excessive slowness in the movement of the props: for example a box that should have disappeared quickly was clearly pulled away late from behind the scenes, thus giving the idea that there was already a ghost wandering around the stage ... too bad that poor Sam had at least another 15-20 minutes to "live" at that moment.
Speaking then of the moment of her death after a gunshot, when the ghost separates from the body, the female protagonist was clearly seen pulling Sam's mannequin to her, probably badly positioned and / or late and unfortunately forcing her. to a gesture that has definitely ruined the illusion.
The decision to entrust the ghost of the hospital to Ronnie Jones, who has an extremely warm and engaging voice; unfortunately his English cadence meant that a beautiful song, sung by a beautiful voice, was then totally incomprehensible.
The entrance to the subway car is very nice and the slow motion on the movements of all the actors is extremely appreciated when the ghost of the subway uses its powers on Sam (even if the effect was not always fluid and precise).
This negative chain of details caused the audience in the hall to get distracted, as everything was cold and not very engaging: a discreet chatter was often heard in the background. The entry of Oda Mae Brown on the scene was therefore very much appreciated (Gloria Enchill) who with his energy and charisma has infected the audience, bringing attention and concentration back to the show; consequently leaving the microphones turned on behind the scenes immediately afterwards during Molly's solo singing was an even more serious mistake: the noise annoyed the audience. Moreover, we have seen the comings and goings of the actors off stage at the bottom of the stage, perhaps due to part of the scenography remaining in the wrong position.
The second act was more polished and fluidHowever, there was no lack of errors, albeit in less quantity and frequency than in the first act. Unfortunately, the very famous lathe scene did not have the same impact that instead made it iconic in the film, only minimally due to actor responsibility and more attributable to a basic lack of the script not compensated by the director's choice.
A praise to the skill of Paolo Carta, in charge of special effects, an expert illusionist who managed to give color to some otherwise gray moments using technology but above all tricks of the old school of the masters of deception: the moment in which the ghost of Orlando takes possession of Oda Mae Brown, literally passing through her for twice with an illusion so successful as to make the audience breathless. Likewise, the moment of Carl's death was appreciated: the mannequin, which in Sam's case was positioned incorrectly and / or late, arrives here at the right moment and in the right position to allow an extremely credible body / ghost split. Gloria's swift costume changes in her second solo piece were also very successful.
The audience arrived at the finale dragged by a good energy and despite the flaws and problems Ghost - The Musical it turned out to be quite a pleasant sight; on a vocal and choreographic level there was an excellent technical preparation and the roles were well assigned, the lighting design is functional and the special effects interesting. In a show as complex and difficult to manage as this one, the well-studied and functional proposals of the direction of Bellone were appreciated; unfortunately, if in his Mary Poppins they made it possible to achieve the spectacular product we have seen (thanks also to the splendid setting that the Sistina Theater has allowed to create), in this case instead they have not always been supported by adequate coordination between the various set off.
The audience enters the hall with a very high expectation and, even if in other shows errors and defects such as those listed can be tolerated, in the case of a title so well known and loved the risk of disappointment is just around the corner; for this reason in the final judgment the regret prevails in seeing a first highly disappointing act and a second in which a great potential is not exploited in an adequate way.
