The 2025 UK tour of Ghost the Musical (nominated for five Olivier Awards in 2012) is a good production of an ambitious, but ultimately faltering, adaptation of the classic 1990 film. With original screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin, along with music and lyrics by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, this should be a first-rate writing team. But while the writers make a commendable attempt to blend romance and the supernatural, the musical always struggles to capture the emotional depth and tension that makes the original film so compelling. And more to the point, the show fails to justify its own existence — something all musical adaptations must surely do. For a film that is so remembered for its music (Maurice Jarre’s Oscar-nominated score, and the iconic Righteous Brothers’ recording of “Unchained Melody”), the stage musical is bereft of form or style. Try as it might, Ghost the Musical never settles musically, which leaves the show floundering, and the audience cold.

Rebekah Lowings (Molly) and Josh St. Clair (Sam) offer sincere performances, and clearly work hard. But their chemistry often feels forced; a fault of the director (Bob Tomson), and the paint-by-numbers feel to the staging. Make no mistake though, Lowings is a star. Her voice is immaculate, and where she overdoes the acting at times, you still appreciate an actor at work — giving energy, and finding meaning in every moment.

The staging (designed by Mark Bailey) and effects (illusions by Richard Pinner) are somewhat creative, but inconsistent in execution. While some visual transitions between the living and the dead are cleverly done, others are overly reliant on gimmicks. What we long for is to feel for the characters, rather than to marvel at a prop moving on its own… something we are directed to do several times. The real illusion needs to be in the belief that what is happening to Molly and Sam is devastating, and miraculous, at the same time — a tragic imperfection in the events of their lives. The show should make us feel sorry for them, and make us envy the uniqueness of it — and, of course, make us feel their love… it should not be about a lamp being moved by a ghost.

The original 1990 film will always endure, because the story taps into a truism for all: through life, we are destined to lose people; and, one day, we are destined to be the person others lose. Such a devastating fact could do, in this instance, with more nuance. Sometimes the most epic of ideas are best served with a teaspoon.

Playing at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking 15 – 19 April, 2025. Currently on tour across the UK.