“Ghost” at the Blue Moon Theater….a Production With a Lot of “Spirit”
- Kristine Bonaventura
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
by Stephen T. Kreal
On Friday October 3rd, I attended the opening night performance of Ghost: The Musical with a very enthusiastic audience at The Blue Moon Theatre in Woodstown NJ. Originally produced in 2011 in England and on Broadway in April 2012, Ghost: The Musical is an adaptation of the iconic 1990 film starring Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, and the late Patrick Swayze. The film's Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Bruce Joel Rubin, adapted the story for the stage being credited with both book and song lyrics. Music score was composed by Dave Stewart (of Eurythmics fame) and Glenn Ballard (Back to the Future & Jagged Little Pill). Since I believe most people know the basic story, I will be loose with spoilers.
The story is about a young couple Sam Wheat (Nicholas Renna) and Molly Jensen (Aimee Renna), young lovers who get an apartment in a trendy neighborhood. The two leads, a real-life married couple, are (obviously) very natural in their stage interactions. There are several moments of intimacy (including the iconic clay spinning-wheel scene) which are very authentic and genuine. I wish more directors were comfortable casting real-life couples as stage couples. This expertise is in thanks to Director Greg Hammell and Assistant Director Mike Russell. N. Renna and A. Renna have excellent stage chemistry and their exchanges were natural and well-rehearsed. Each have a beautiful, highly trained singing voice. I have seen both in numerous productions and they produce excellent, passionate performances with very beautiful vocalization every time. I would like to single out N. Renna’s reaction as Sam in Oda Mae’s psychic storefront when he realizes that she can hear him. This was particularly well-acted.
Ghost is not like many musicals; there is far more dialogue than in most. It could be said that it is a play with songs. The stage actors need to not only sing well, but be competent at non-musical stage acting. Blue Moon’s production had both. It was wonderfully acted and has absolutely gorgeous vocal performances. Choreography by Aimee Renna was tasteful and simple (the stage at Blue Moon is on the smaller size, so there was nothing grandiose). A. Renna is also credited with Music Director which is a lot of “hats” to wear and all were worn with skill and poise! This production had impressive visual effects. Fight choreography (uncredited in the program) was done by director Greg Hammell, who, I found out, has training in this area. These scenes were impressive in their power and intensity.
This production had a powerful cast. Sam’s nemesis, Carl, is played by Perry Award-winning actor/singer Tyler Kulik. A nod to Costume Designer Cheryl Stark for costuming this character in pleated pants, for some 1990’s authenticity. Kulik’s acting and singing were quite impressive. He had just the right balance of phony friendship/concern for Molly, mixed with the manic paranoia of a man who is in big trouble with a criminal syndicate. Bravo, Mr. Kulik! Marjorie McCardell plays Mrs. Santiago, “subway ghost”, and ensemble. McCardell’s performance showed an impressive range, playing the intensity and anger of subway ghost, contrasted with the rather comedic portrayal of the Widow Santiago. Taye Hopkins played in the ensemble and had several walk-on parts, including hospital ghost…who was patiently waiting for his wife to pass in the hospital and subway rider. His rich baritone voice and charming stage presence added a warmth and authenticity to the performance.
Ben Couey plays Lionel Jones and ensemble. Couey appears in several scenes, but I particularly liked him as an MTA transit worker with a couple of funny, well-timed lines. Luis Cruz plays Willie Lopez (and ensemble), the muscle goon hired to rob Sam to obtain his wallet, so as to get computer codes that will free up the money that Carl is trying to launder for organized crime bosses. Cruz did a great job as he portrayed just the right amount of “menace”, was not “over the top”, providing a gritty realism to the pivotal character of Lopez. His death scene was artistically and technically impressive.
Shabria Moore is cast as Oda Mae Brown, the storefront charlatan psychic who is “hijacked” by Sam when he realizes that Oda Mae can hear him. The scenes with Oda Mae and Sam are theatrical gold. Their interplay was spirited and natural. Moore does a fantastic job with the sarcastic, street-wise comments and N. Renna plays off of it perfectly. Moore was an excellent cast for this role and was thoroughly entertaining. I also particularly enjoyed the “hype-women”, Oda Mae’s assistants, who urged her on during a comedic séance scene. Ali DeLeo plays Ortisha Jones, Clara, and ensemble. DeLeo shines as one of Oda Mae’s “hype-women”, and in the ensemble, bringing energy to the production with some wonderful facial expressions. Samantha Crittenden plays Louise (another one of Oda Mae’s “hype women”) and appears in the ensemble. Like DeLeo, Crittenden brings wonderful energy to the psychic parlor scenes. I liked the costuming choices for this character.
A major pet peeve of mine (and many other theatre patrons) are slow scene changes, so I would like to commend not only how quick the scene changes were, but how well “choreographed” they were. Early in Act 1, I was a bit off-put that the scene changes actually started DURING the action of the play, but I eventually realized that because there were quite a few transitions, they needed to be done quickly and efficiently, otherwise, the performance would have been far too long. I would also like to point out the “all-hands” approach. I could see the silhouettes of virtually every cast member along with the Stage Manager (Michaela Miranda) and Assistant Stage Manager (Brejai Grant). Congratulations to all for the teamwork and efficiency!
Scenic/Set Designer Greg Hammell created the effective set of Sam and Molly’s apartment, with impressive set changes to Sam/Carl’s office, the NYC subway, and Oda Mae Brown’s psychic parlor. This was accomplished with the help of Set Construction by Joe Stark (along with Hammell) and Set Painting by Louis Pesci and Cheryl Stark along with Properties Designer Heather Anne Runyon. Costume Design by Cheryl Stark (was very skillful and effective. I especially liked the costume choices for Oda Mae and her assistants and I noticed the ghost characters were costumed in drab colors, as opposed to the living characters who were clad in more colorful attire which was a nice touch.
Ghost, the Musical at the Blue Moon Theater is an entertaining, technically sound production. The theatrical effects were very well-done: dynamic lighting designed by Greg Hammell and Mike Russell and Lighting Operator Stacy Bachman and Sound Designer Mike Russell. The singing and dance scenes were performed flawlessly. My ongoing issue with musicals is tracks. As before, I encourage all theaters to consider live accompaniment. Perhaps something as simple as a solo pianist as we have to recognize the Blue Moon space is quite small. Regardless, this is a production well worth seeing and enjoying. Congratulations to the cast, crew, Director Greg Hammell and Assistant Director Mike Russell. Ghost the Musical runs through October 12th You can purchase tickets here:
