Review: GHOST THE MUSICAL at Zorlu PSM

Oh, my love, my darling, I've hungered for your touch... Indeed, I have. The theatre season has finally started here in Istanbul and it's always a good idea to start off with a musical. For those who believe so: Zorlu Performing Arts Center hosts Ghost the Musical until 28th of October.

The musical adaptation of the 1990 Jerry Zucker movie, Ghost the Musical, tells the story of New Yorker couple Sam and Molly. They seem to be living the dream until the tragedy strikes that is Sam's murder. Molly is left all alone, mourning for her love whilst Sam is trapped between worlds, not able to leave for the other side or communicate with Molly. The one person that can help him is the psychic Oda Mae and with her help Sam tries to save his girlfriend from a great danger.

The musical premiered back in 2011 in Manchester Opera House and transferred to Broadway in 2012. The show was mainly praised for its visual effects. In 2016 the musical was re-imagined in a new production. This re-imagined new production has sailed from UK for its international tour, and is now visiting our city.

The original production was both praised and criticized for its visual effects. The reason why it was criticized was that the majority of the critics believed that the passion was upstaged by them. The re-imagined production has less illusions, less visiual effects but the production still lacks the passion and soul. The set design is good, the illusions are impressive, effects are not excessive, and everything is very Broadway for a Turk but the core of the musical is problematic: the characters lack the depth and they are too stereotypical. It's 2018 and I'm simply bored of watching another perfect but one dimensional white American couple. I want to see layers and I couldn't find that in this particular musical. The only interesting character here is Oda Mae (played beautifully by Jacqui Dubois) who has certain similarities to Madame Arcate in Blithe Spirit. She was a delight to watch and she evidently had the hearts of the audience at the end of the performance.

A day at the theatre is always a good idea but the ones I recommend this particular musical are the Broadway fans (because we don't get many musicals here) and the movie's fans. However, if you want to see something with blood (that was ironic), something that centers around a different story, you should try something else.