Caissie Levy and Richard Fleeshman will be  leaving Ghost the Musical in London’s West End on 12th January 2012 in order to help transfer the show to Broadway in the USA. The lead roles in Ghost, London will then be taken by Siobhan Dillon and Mark Evans, as from  the 13th January 2012.

Ghost London Full Cast List

The full new cast list for Ghost in London from 13th January 2012 is as follows:

• Siobhan Dillon as Molly Jensen
• Mark Evans as Sam Wheat
• Sharon D Clarke as Oda Mae Brown
• Andrew Langtree as Carl Bruner
• Ivan de Freitas as Willie Lopez
• Adebayo Bolaji as the Subway Ghost
• Mark White as the Hospital Ghost
• Lisa Davina Phillip as Clara
• Jenny Fitzpatrick as Louise

The rest of the cast are  Jaygann Ayeh, Paul Ayres, Darren Carnall, Samuel Edwards, Rebecca Giacopazzi, Emily Hawgood, Louise Lawson, Rochelle Neil, Michael Peters, Laura Selwood, Yemie Sonuga, Spencer Stafford, Philippa Stefani, Jez Unwin, Sally Whitehead and Mark Willshire.

Ghost Theatre Breaks

Ghost theatre breaks are a perfect choice either for couples or for a great girly weekend break. The story is so romantic and there is something for everyone. As well as lots of great music and humour the production has some fantastic special effects. I think it would be  a good choice for hen nights too, with that mix of romance, humour and sadness. Of course the very gorgeous Richard Fleeshman is an added incentive

The show is a good length at 2 hours 30 minutes. The evening show starts at 7:30 but obviously you will need to be there about 7:15 or even a little earlier. This means that evening performances are over just after 10pm. That leaves plenty of time to grab something to eat and still sample the delights of London’s many clubs and bars. Better yet, the show has matinees on Tuesdays and Saturdays. With the matinees starting at 2:30 they are over just after 5pm, giving you lots of time for an evening meal before a big night on the town.

The Piccadilly theatre is a lovely old Art Deco building dating from the late 1920s. The theatre is on Denman Street, just behind Piccadilly Circus.Unlike some London theatres it is right in the middle of the city, making it very handy for just about everything. This is great because it means you have a huge choice of hotels for your Ghost theatre breaks. You can either choose one that is very central or go a bit further out and get in by tube, or even coach, if you go for one of the “all inclusive” Ghost Theatre Breaks packages.

Of course you’ll probably want a pre-theatre meal and the Piccadilly Theatre is perfectly placed to give you the widest possible choice. You are really hand for Soho and London’s China Town. That is where I would head. Chinese food sort of goes with the New York vibe of the show!  I am not going to recommend one particular restaurant there, it all depends on your budget and what you fancy. You will certainly be pleasantly surprised by the prices which are nowhere near as high as you might assume. I have found them more or less comparable with similar restaurants in Leeds or Manchester. (If you would like more guidance on choosing a London pre-theatre meal have a look at this post West End Guide to Eating Out)

To give you even more of an idea what a Ghost theatre break might be like I’ve chosen a couple of videos you might enjoy:

First Sharon D Clarke giving a show stopping performance at West End Live:

And now this lovely version of Unchained Melody and All My Love

Spoiler Alert – don’t play this if you don’t know the story!

Now do you agree? Ghost theatre breaks are a perfect choice either for romantic couples or for a great girly outing.

Peter Andre in Ghost?

There is a rumour going round that Peter Andre is taking over the role of Sam in Ghost the Musical in London’s West End. It is NOT confirmed but it is all over the internet. Can it be true? And if so is it a good thing?

I must admit I am hoping it is not true. I think the show is settling down nicely with the current cast. I know that shows like Chicago have done very well out of bring in celebrity guest stars but that’s in much lesser roles than Sam.

My guess, that the smaller rumour is likely to be true. It has been suggested that Peter Andre will play Sam for ONE night only and the show will be recorded for Children in Need. Now that might be fun!

Update – now confirmed Peter will be playing Sam at Piccadilly Theatre on 14th September. The performance will be filmed as a special for this year’s Children In Need in November.

Ghost The Musical Cast Recording on the Theatre Breaks Merchandise Store in conjunction with Amazon

Caissie, pronounced Casey, is originally Canadian. She originally intended to have a career in the straight theatre but luckily for musical theatre she auditioned for the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and was accepted.

a strong, slightly jazzy voice, with a smooth quality….

Caissie Levy "With You"

You can hear Cassie’s voice and support a great charity at the same time by treating yourself to the new charity single charity of “With You” in aid of Stand Up to Cancer. (Buy “With You” on Amazon for only 79p)

I saw Cassie on the West End stage last year when Hair came came to town. She was a shining star in the show with a great voice that rang out in some of the classic Hair numbers. Her performance of Good Morning Starshine is gorgeous and can be found on the Hair Cast CD. She showed her acting skills that night too and I found her performance as the idealistic Sheila very touching.

I’d love to have seen Caissie as Elphaba in Wicked, a role she played in LA and on Broadway. She has a strong, slightly jazzy voice, with a smooth quality. Lovely for a song like Defying Gravity. Elphaba is a role that takes huge stamina, a great voice and acting ability. I’m sure Caissie learned a lot from Wicked that will help her in her performance in Ghost.

Caissie will have plenty of opportunity to show us both her voice and her acting skills playing Molly and I really want to see her soon.

How about you?

I think the production team were very canny, introducing the musical with the great voice of Sharon D Clarke. Sharon asked us to “believe” and I don’t think there were many doubters in the audience by the time she’d finished with us!

It was a great performance from Sharon and the dancers and it went down really well with the crowd. She got a great atmosphere going as you can see from this video:

Ghost London

Ghost the Musical is nearly here. It opens on June 24th at the Piccadilly Theatre, London. The team are already busy getting set up for the London opening. The date has been delayed to the 24th from the 22nd to give more time for the technical set-up.

Ghost has some amazing illusions and technical wizardry that will take quite a bit of tweaking to set up in the new venue. It will be so worth it though.

Manchester audiences have taken Ghost to their hearts and the last 6 weeks have been a great introduction for the production. Now, however, the really hard work starts.  The London pre-views will be crucial in making Ghost into a money-spinning hit on the West End. If they can get this right Ghost has the potential to run for years. Fingers and toes crossed!

We’ll get a taste of what Ghost will be like at West End Live later in June but if you can’t wait here’s Cassie Levy singing With You

Manchester Opera House - Ghost the Musical

The general feeling seems to be that this is a 5* production and an excellent night out. The story comes across as fresh and interesting and everyone agrees that the special effects, performances & music are stunning.   I thought I’d pick out a couple of reviews to give you more of a flavour of what’s being said.

City Life

After months of intense advance publicity Ghost The Musical officially materialised last night and, amazingly, it lives up to the hype.

Starring local lad Richard Fleeshman in the Patrick Swayze role of a ghost trapped between this world and the next, the show is based on the 1990 film that became something of a worldwide classic.

It’s now a dramatic love story thriller musical with absolutely killer state-of-the-art staging that manages to recreate virtually all the scenes from the film to produce a show with a gripping, edge-of-the-seat, storyline – you really do want to know what happens next

It looks jaw-droppingly amazing.  The stage is surrounded by huge sliding video screens that can conjure up anything and everything.

…it’s the full five-star package and then some.(Alan Hulme)

This Is Lancashire:

It’ll make you laugh out loud and cry real tears — the Bruce Joel Rubin story truly is a timeless fantasy.

Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard’s original music and lyrics take the classic love story to new emotional heights.

Leads Richard Fleeshman (Sam) and Caissie Levy (Molly) are a natural and convincing couple and shine throughout with a strong score of solo and duet ballads. Fleeshman proves his Corrie days are well and truly behind him with a consistently brilliant performance, which no doubt prompted the emotional standing ovation of the night.

You can’t help but be blown away by its creativity; a dazzling set compete with video projection and a moving floor makes for an eye-catching backdrop, complemented by an energetic, allbeit slightly overused, chorus line. But what really gives this musical the wow factor are the magic tricks created by Harry Potter illusionist Paul Kieve. (Jemma Humphries)

Comments on both sites seem to confirm the verdict with very few critical remarks. Of course what the London critics will say about Ghost the Musical remains to be seen.

Photo Credit CC  zero the unsignified