Mercury’s ‘Ghost: The Musical’ lacks more than its mortal coil

Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics

It’s as if theater producers don’t attend theater.

If they did, then witnessing the likes of “Dirty Dancing,” “Flashdance” and the overabundance of other overproduced yet anemic screen-to-stage musicals would surely have sworn them off of ever creating “Ghost: The Musical.”

And still, it is with this show that the good folks at Mercury Theatre Company (formerly Mercury Summer Stock) have chosen to kick-start their season.

Mercury has earned the reputation of infusing its productions with unbridled imagination, unbound energy, and unparalleled talent in lieu of an unlimited budget.  The results have been mostly miraculous.  But it would take a true act of God to revive a dead-on-arrival musical like this one.