Interview: Rebekkah Lowings of GHOST THE MUSICAL at Zorlu Center

Jerry Zucker's 1990 film, Ghost (Ghost), tells the story of a young teenage couple from New York, Sam and Molly, who, after one night, were stabbed to death by Sam. Starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg, Ghost was the highest grossing film in the year when it was released.

In the 63rd Academy Awards, which has been nominated for 5 films, including Best Film, the film won Whoopi Goldberg's Best Supporting Actress award while Bruce Joel Robin won the Best Original Screenplay award. In 2011, Ghost the Musical, which premiered in Manchester Opera House, opened the curtains with director Tony Award-winning Matthew Warchus, starring Richard Fleeshman and Caissie Levy. Bruce Joel Robin (1990) is the scriptwriter of the film and the music and lyrics of Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard.

The productions, which managed to collect praise from critics with visual effects, were exhibited on Broadway in 2012. Unchained Melody, resurrected such unforgettable film music and produced new songs. In 2017, he re-opened the curtains under the production of Bill Kenwright, and after a large tour of the United Kingdom, he toured Istanbul with his international tour. The musical, which has been nominated for three Tony awards and won many awards, brings a new breath to the story with poetic acting and grand stage performance while preserving the romantic atmosphere of the unforgettable film.

/Welcome to Istanbul! What are your first impressions?

- It's only been 2 days and tonight is our first performance but I have been lucky enough to
go to the Grand Bazaar, which's obviously hectic and crazy and gorgeous. Every time I told a
family member I was going to Istanbul, they were like "I'm so jealous!". And I can see why,
it's such a beautiful city. And it's my first time here. I feel so lucky to be able to travel with
my work.

/I can imagine! And your previous stop was Dubai. How was that?

- Dubai was such a rush, because we'd only had two weeks of rehearsals beforehand. And then getting into Dubai, teching it for the first time. Dubai was the first time we were up and performing. And opening was just such a big relief of going "Oh, we did it!!". I did get to see a lot of Dubai. We went to the safari and that was really fun. But we were only there for a week and we're here for two so I'm really excited about that.

/Well I hope you have a great time here! And I heard almost the entire run is already sold out! And tonight sold out days ago!

- Is it? I did not know that! Tonight is a very exciting experience. Being on the stage for the first time always is. And yesterday we had our tech session. It's just a beautiful theatre to look at. So we're very fortunate.

/It's always an amazing experience to watch musicals here as well! My next question is, who was you biggest inspiration to start performing?

- Oh wow! My biggest inspiration... That's a tough question. I think my mum, as silly as it
sounds, she played a lot instruments and she played in a lot of musicals and she gave up her career to have kids. And I could always see that she had little glint in her eye, that she'd still wanted to do it. She kind of passed it down onto me. And I thank her every day every day to introducing me to this world, because I never looked back at all. So my mum is my biggest inspiration.

/You graduated from Guildford School of Acting, right?

- Yes! It was a hectic three years but now I do have a degree in musical theatre so, that's also fantastic. They definitely whipped me into shape.

/And you performed in the tours of Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat. And how would you describe your time from those productions and their significant differences with Ghost?

- With Joseph, it was my first job out of drama school, so it was a whirlwind. Joseph is an iconic musical, everyone knows Joseph. And it was just so much fun. And in Jesus Christ Superstar, I got to work with the legendary Glenn Carter from the film. And he taught me so much, everyday, about how to conduct yourself as a human being as well as on stage. He obviously has years and years of experience; it was absolutely incredible to work with someone like that. And it's similar on this show with Jackie, she's got so much experience. I'm still feeling like I'm making my footprints, slowly but surely. Having people to look up to and ask questions and perform with. It's just incredible.

/The role of Molly is obviously iconic. Demi Moore and Cassie Levy are iconic.

- Cassie Levy is incredible and her career is what I exactly want as a career. And if Cassie, if you ever read this; I love you.

/I'll make sure to send her the link. What kind of an impact their version of Molly had on
your version? And what are the differences?

- I think my Molly is very stripped back. She's very similar to the film. I really drew upon
Demi Moore on this. She's just effortlessly beautiful and I am not. I'm clumsy. And I'm trying so hard to be much more like Demi. Every time I walk on stage I'm like "What would Demi Moore do?". She would not fall into a set. But obviously, Cassie Levy is absolutely one of my idols. But really, I drew upon my past and my present. When it comes to this show, when it comes to emotions, I really feel like there's only a certain amount of what other people can bring in. it's actually yourself that you're exposing on stage. And Molly Is such an exposing part. You have to strip back all of these outer layers of walls and just let people in, which is a really hard thing to do.

/I can imagine. Especially singing With You, night after night. It must be emotionally draining.

- With You never gets easier. And the end seeing with Niall Sheehy (Sam) saying goodbye, never gets easier. With You is incredibly sad but it is a beautiful piece.

/Which part of the show is your favorite and why?

- My favorite part of the show is on stage, singing With You, mainly because with all the
hecticness that goes on the stage, I'm always being haunted by Sam. And it's the one true moment that I get, just me, on stage, with the audience and I don't have to think about anything else, or worry about "Oh I have this line coming up" or what set am I going to fall into. It's just me and the stage. I love that moment. It was similar in Jesus Christ Superstar with I Don't Know How To Love Him.

/That's a really beautiful song too. What can you give as an advice to aspiring musical
theatre performers?

- My advice is to never give up on what you believe you can do, because if you believe you can do it, you will. I've always said if I have kids one day, or my sisters or my little brother want to go into the industry, surround yourself with the best support network you can possibly do. People that also believe in you but people that also will bring you back down to earth, and stay humble. And when things that go wrong, which happens so much in this industry, with mental health, it's a huge spectrum of things that we need to talk about more. And this industry is high and really low. And everyone should know about mental health.

/Great advice. We know Molly and Sam on stage, but how is Rebekah and Niall back stage?

- Me and Niall back stage...We're like an old married couple. When we first started, we met each other at the photo shoot, and he's just a really easy person to get on with. We get on so, so well. He's great.

/And what are your ultimate dream roles?

- My dream roles...I always feel so eggy saying these because it's what every single person in this industry ever wants. But obviously, I'd love to be painted green. I'd love to be Elphaba! But also I'd love to be Glinda. So throw me one or the other it'd be great. One of my dream roles was Molly. And the thought of me getting to do this every single night still shocks me to the core. And I'm so grateful.

/And my last question is, what do you want to say to the audience that is going to watch you as Molly?

-Come and be happy. Come and be sad. But most importantly, come and enjoy. And bring
tissues.

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