Took my daughter and her boyfriend to see Ghost the Musical this past Saturday night at The CAP Center (http://www.culturalartsplayhouse.com) in Syosset. This was the first production I'd seen in their Syosset facility. I've been to shows in their old Plainview playhouse, and before that in their Bethpage theater. The Syosset playhouse has a stage that looks roughly the same size as the one they had in Plainview, but the seating area is much larger and nicer.
I was looking forward to the play, as it's not a show that's been done very often around these parts. Wouldn't be surprised if this was its first Long Island production, but I can't verify that. In any event, the show didn't disappoint.
Ghost the Musical isn't a perfect vehicle. It's based on the 1990 supernatural romance film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. The story is about a young couple in love who live together, Sam and Molly. Sam is killed during a robbery attempt, and for the rest of the film, Sam as a ghost tries his best to solve his own murder and to communicate with the grieving Molly through a psychic con woman named Oda Mae, who is more shocked than anyone to discover that she really can communicate with the dead. The musical opened in London and ran for 500 performances. It opened on Broadway in April of 2012, but only ran for 136 performances. Reviews were mediocre, and for good reason -- while it has its moments, it's a flawed show -- the music is so-so, and it drags in parts.
However, with a good cast and decent staging, it can make for a fun night of entertainment. Happily, that's the case at The CAP Center. All four of the leading actors did a very good job -- Danny Amy as Sam and Alyson Rogers were both extremely likable as Sam and Molly, and both showed excellent voices. Taneisha Corbin, was very quite as Oda Mae, and demonstrated an impressive pair of pipes as well. And Corey Martin as Sam's best friend and co-worker Carl, who might be trying to move in on Molly after Sam's demise, was also sterling. As for the rest of the cast, they did a fine job in various roles, and also in moving the necessary scenery onto and off of the tiny stage. My experience with CAP is that they tend to do a lot with a little, and that was the case here as well.
The show runs for one more weekend, this Friday and Saturday, March 31 and April 1 at 8PM, and Sunday afternoon, April 2 at 3PM. You can get tickets at their website, listed above, or at their box office at 516-694-3330. You ought to give it a shot. You'll be haunted if you don't. (OK, that even hurt me to write that.) Their next production, Sister Act, runs from April 7 through April 30.
Meanwhile, I've been picking up some albums by local artists that I somehow missed last year, including Tom Hood's It's My Black & White World and The Bossa Nova Beatniks' For the Fun. Also picked up a Sonny Meadows album I somehow missed before, as well as Tom Hood's previous album (by Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons), Too Much Sun! God bless CDBaby.com for letting me catch up on local music. I'll let you know a little more about these CDs when I get a chance to digest them (although it's going to take a little while, as new 2017 music is now my top priority).
