Last night I got invited to Ghost the musical with an open-bar party beforehand where I met one of the producers and had the opportunity to get a backstage tour before the show with a few friends. Overall I must say the set, transitions, and special effects were beyond brilliant. Seeing first-hand, that stage is TINY, but you would never be able to tell after seeing what they're capable of achieving with it.

That said, the musical numbers were, for the most part, extraneous, and some of the songs KILLED the heavy emotion that was being built. We all know the story (and if you don't, you should) and the actors have tremendous voices (Da-Vine, my heart goes out to you and your larynx. I hope you get it back soon). Unfortunately, the lyrics sound like a drama major scribbled them in her notebook before class. One of the songs, Suspend My Disbelief (I think it's called) actually evoked an audible, visceral, guttural sound of disgust and disapproval (that really only those on the business end of gay tourettes would find familiar) from the audience. This was not because the actress sucked... she was great! But more the unbearable words she got paid to sing.

Despite ALL of this, the use of "magic" for the ghost effects is one of the most solid reasons to see it. The first time Sam passed through a set piece I forgot I was watching a live show.... in a good way. When someone dies, like in the movie, the audience sees both a body double and the ghost. Since this was done so seamlessly it created such a powerful image every time. Overall, I give it three thumbs up for tech, and three thumbs down for having a shitty book... negating my overall rating... So it's like I didn't really even see it to begin with... I am glad I saw it, and thankfully it was free... so now we can all go on living as if it never happened. I'll just say I blacked out for a couple hours and I didn't write this update. The end.