BWW Interviews: GHOST's Robby Haltiwanger Talks Upcoming DPAC Engagement

Get your tissues handy, Triangle - Ghost the Musical is coming to town next week. Based on the iconic 1990 film of the same name, Ghost tells the story of Sam, a murdered man whose ghost makes contact with an otherwise fraudulent medium in hopes of reconnecting with the love of his life, Molly. In anticipation of Ghost's arrival at the Durham Performing Arts Center, I chatted with Robby Haltiwanger, who plays Carl.

Fans of the film will, no doubt, be interested in the musical. I asked Haltiwanger how closely the musical adaptation follows the film, and it follows "very, very closely. They do things on stage that you will not see in any other show. Because Sam's a ghost basically the whole show, they do these crazy illusions where he walks through a door, there are a bunch of things that fly around, I get lifted up and choked by some invisible force, there are projections and moving video walls. The whole plot and basically everything about the show is really, really close to the movie, it really is, but at the same time it's like a new retelling of the classic love story that you know."

Discussing the illusions was a particularly fascinating part of my conversation with Haltiwanger. He mentioned that as the show progresses and his character arc evolves (no spoilers here - you'll have to come see the show to find out what I mean), he is involved in more illusions, which is at the same time fun and challenging. Haltiwanger elaborates, "my second-to-last scene of the show, I'm on stage by myself, and have to be getting beat up by some invisible force, and lifted up and choked, so that's one of the hardest bits of the show for me, because, I'm going to be honest with you, sometimes I feel like a fool doing that on stage when there's no one around me, hoping that it reads well. But it's also the most fun because I've never done anything like that on stage before, and I'm willing to bet I never will again."

When describing the quality of the illusions in the show, Haltiwanger said, "that's one of the coolest things about coming to see the show - it's about being amazed, and you will be amazed when you see this." I lightheartedly asked if there was a rider in the actors' contracts prohibiting them from divulging the secrets of all the illusions in the show. Even as someone who performs the illusions every night and is "in" on the secrets, Haltiwanger admitted, "I understand the theory behind some of the tricks I do, but I still don't understand why they work." If even the actors who do them every night don't know all the secrets of the illusions, good money says there's a little bit of fairy dust involved.

The music, by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, provides audiences with a pop-rock score to accompany Sam and Molly through their story. Haltiwanger asserts that the music adds something that everyone will connect with, saying, "I really think there's something for everyone in these songs. Because Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard have worked in the pop music world for so long, there's something for people who like musical theater and something for people who only listen to pop music and don't know anything about musical theater." Of course, in addition to the new score, the show does include "Unchained Melody." Haltiwanger correctly states that "Ghost wouldn't be Ghost without 'Unchained Melody'."

To close, I'll leave you with Robby Haltiwanger's reason that audiences should come see Ghost the Musical: "no matter who you are, no matter if you've seen the movie, if you haven't seen the movie, if you like musical theater, if you don't, you will enjoy this show because it's funny, it's beautiful, it's heartbreaking, it will make you believe in love, and the illusions and the music will just blow your mind."

Ghost the Musical runs from November 12 - 17 at the Durham Performing Arts Center. For tickets and more information, visit www.dpacnc.com.

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