HIT stage show Ghost the Musical is heading to the North East with a pre-Christmas run at the region’s biggest theatre.
The first national tour of the musical, which has been seen by 500,000 people in just two years, includes a fortnight at the Sunderland Empire.
Ghost the Musical is based on the Oscar-winning 1990 film starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore as New York City lovers who are separated only by death.
The Swayze character, Sam Wheat, is murdered but hangs around in limbo to keep a protective eye on girlfriend Molly (played in the original film by Moore), a talented potter.
The most famous scene in both film and musical features Molly and her ethereal lover at a potter’s wheel, accompanied by a soundtrack of the Righteous Brothers’ song Unchained Melody.
Ghost the Musical had its world premiere in Manchester two years ago and then transferred to the West End where it was nominated for five Olivier and three Tony awards.
The stage show is described by the Ambassador Theatre Group, which runs the Sunderland Empire, as a timeless fantasy about the power of love and a rollercoaster ride of romance and comedy with dazzling state-of-the-art staging.
The national tour will begin in April at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff and take up residence in Sunderland from November 26 to December 7 as the festive season gets under way.
Young musical theatre stars Stewart Clarke and Rebecca Trehearne are cast as Sam and Molly while medium Oda Mae Brown – Whoopi Goldberg in the film – is to be played by her namesake, Wendy Mae Brown. The Sunderland run will mean a belated homecoming of sorts for Sunderland-born pop star Dave Stewart who, along with Glen Ballard, is credited with the show’s music and lyrics.
Stewart, who rose to fame with the Eurythmics, pulled out of a UK tour which would have brought him back to Sunderland last year, because of filming commitments.
Ghost the Musical is directed by Matthew Warchus, whose work for the Royal Shakespeare Company has been seen in the North East, and the script is by Bruce Joel Rubin who adapted his own screenplay.
Tickets for Ghost the Musical go on sale to ATG Theatre card holders today and to the general public on Monday at 10am.
