Ghost (musical)

Act I Sam Wheat and his long-time girlfriend, Molly Jensen, move into a loft apartment in Brooklyn together ("Here Right Now"). Sam is a banker and Molly a sculptor. Their friend Carl Bruner, one of Sam's co-workers, comes to help them settle in. The three of them are a tight-knit group. Although Sam and Molly are very much in love, Sam shies away from the word "love", which makes Molly visibly uncomfortable. She starts to address it, but soon stops herself. Sam distracts her with a rendition of "Unchained Melody", leaving her insecurities temporarily forgotten. At work, Sam notices discrepancies with several accounts and is unwilling to let them go, even though he has a date with Molly that evening ("More"). He confides in Carl this discovery, who agrees to keep the findings a secret and also promises to investigate himself, so Sam can keep his date. Sam meets up with Molly, who confesses that she wants to marry him. Sam is taken aback and Molly asks why he never says that he loves her ("Three Little Words"); he assures Molly that while he may not say it in his words, he prefers to tell her in his actions. Molly tells him that she'd still like to hear it every now and again, but his reply reassures her nonetheless. After dinner, they're approached by an armed man that tries to steal Sam's wallet. Sam fights back instead of surrendering, and the two struggle for the gun. It goes off and Sam is fatally shot, leaving Molly to cry out for help. Sam dies. However, instead of following the light, Sam becomes a ghost and stays behind with Molly, invisible to her. He follows her to the hospital, and another ghost explains what he's become ("Ball of Wax"). A trapped Sam struggles to reach out to Molly ("I Can't Breathe"). Back at the apartment, Carl helps Molly clear out some of Sam's old things. She and Sam both struggle to let go of the lives they led. Later when Molly is alone upstairs, Sam's killer sneaks in and begins to rob her. Sam, worried that his killer will hurt her, manages to spook the man and he flees. Needing to know who this man is, Sam pushes himself through the front door with great effort, and follows the man all the way back to his apartment. He finds out that the man's name is Willie Lopez, and that he'll eventually return to Molly's apartment, as he couldn't find what he was looking for. Desperate, Sam then seeks out a psychic, Oda Mae Brown, who seems to be a total fraud ("Are You a Believer?"). By some miracle, she actually hears Sam. He convinces her to go talk to Molly on his behalf - by singing '10,000 Bottles of Beer on the Wall' obnoxiously. In the meantime, Molly is grieving ("With You"). She gets a visit from Oda Mae, but Molly is hesitant to believe her. Sam then had Oda Mae starts parroting things that only Sam would know. Molly comes around, and agrees to listen. Through Oda Mae, Sam tells Molly that he was set up and murdered, urging her that she needs to go to the police. Oda Mae bails as soon as she hears the stakes of the situation. Molly goes to Carl, who tells her that it's crazy, but promises to check it out. She goes to the police, while Carl goes straight to Willie's place. There, Sam discovers the truth: Carl has been embezzling money through the accounts Sam noticed the discrepancies in, and that Carl hired Willie to rob him, which led to his murder. As Molly swears to suspend all disbelief, a drunken Carl wanders the streets trying to convince himself Sam's murder was not his fault ("Suspend My Disbelief/I Had a Life"). Act II At the police station, Molly discovers Oda Mae has an extensive criminal record. Shaken and believing the psychic is a fraud, she loses hope and leaves, much to Sam's dismay ("Rain/Hold On"). At their apartment, Molly, in her anger, sits down to do some pottery and turns on the radio. Static is heard and Molly changes the station, but as she turns the dial, "Unchained Melody" suddenly plays. In shock, Molly quickly turns off the radio, but after a moment, she turns it back on and slowly returns to her pottery. Sam, watching, approaches her from behind singing along. As she continues her pottery, Molly begins to get frustrated and starts to lean back as if she can feel Sam. But they are interrupted by, a knock on the door. It's Carl. Molly tells Carl that he was right, that the whole thing was crazy, and that she was just grasping at straws in her grief. He assures her that it's only natural, but she has to move on. He makes a poorly received move on her ("Life Turns on a Dime"). Enraged by this betrayal, Sam manages to break something, and a flustered Molly asks Carl to leave. With the help of another ghost on the subway, Sam learns how to move objects ("Focus"). He then returns to Oda Mae's place to enlist her help once more ("Talkin' Bout a Miracle"). Instead of resorting to fraud, Oda Mae finds true psychic ability and calls on other spirits. However, while Sam is there, Willie finds her. Oda Mae escapes, running for her life. Sam uses his newfound abilities to spook Willie and chase him away. Willie runs into traffic, where he is hit by a car and dies. But, unlike Sam, he is not offered a white light: He's dragged somewhere completely different. Sam begs Oda Mae to help him protect Molly and to stop Carl from getting to the money Molly, trying to get her life together and move on, starts selling her pieces at her gallery ("Nothing Stops Another Day"). She apologizes to Carl for pushing him away. Carl, anxiously awaiting a call, waves her off under the guise of having a busy day. At the bank, Oda Mae poses as "Rita Miller," the fictional owner of the account that Carl was extorting. Sam feeds her the correct information and they close the account. Sam goes to find Carl in his office and starts moving objects around the room to scare him. Carl understands this is Sam's spirit and he knows what really happened. Scared, Carl threatens that he'll kill Molly if he doesn't leave him alone and give him the money. After being handed a check for the amount in the closed account, around four million dollars, Oda Mae tries to take the money and leave the situation for good ("I'm Outta Here"). Sam convinces her to donate the money. The two then go see Molly to warn her about Carl. Still disillusioned, Molly tries to send her away. Sam walks through the door and communicates through Oda Mae the significance of the earrings Molly is wearing. After reading a letter for Sam that Molly has inside the apartment, Molly is able to believe again. She lets the psychic in and Oda Mae explains everything, leaving Molly emotionally distraught. Oda Mae lets Sam use her body to hold Molly and comfort her ("Unchained Melody (Dance)") Carl arrives, armed, desperate, and frightened for life, as he owes dangerous drug dealers money. Though he doesn't want to resort to such measures, Carl grabs Molly and holds his gun to her. He tells Sam that if he doesn't tell him where the money is, he's going to kill her. There's a struggle, and Carl is killed. He's dragged away in the same way Willie was earlier. Now that Carl is gone and Molly is safe, the light returns for Sam. Molly is able to see and hear him. Knowing it's time for him to go, Sam says goodbye to Oda Mae, and regretfully turns to Molly. Sam finally tells Molly that he loves her in the way that she wants to hear and goes into the light ("Finale"). ==Productions==