EXCLUSIVE: A spirited chat with Caissie Levy from ‘Ghost The Musical’

NEW YORK — Caissie Levy, the accomplished theater actress whose credits include Hair and Hairspray, is currently starring at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in Ghost The Musical, a show that originated in London and has now crossed the pond to pull on the tear ducts of New York audiences. Levy plays Molly Jensen, the iconic role first made famous by Demi Moore in the Oscar-winning movie from 1990.

Singing a various mixture of rock ballads and edgy show tunes written by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, the actress has a weighty responsibility each time the lights dim for another performance at the Lunt-Fontanne. Molly is a character that experiences many emotions within the short timespan of two-and-a-half hours. After losing her fiancé (Sam Wheat, played by Richard Fleeshman) in a violent altercation on the streets of New York City, she learns in a roundabout way that there’s life after death. Sam may be dead, but that doesn’t mean he’s out of the picture.

Recently, Hollywood Soapbox talked with Levy about her character and the development process with director Matthew Warchus, Ballard and Stewart (from the Eurythmics). Questions and answers have been slightly edited.

What were your initial thoughts when you heard Ghost was going to be adapted into a musical?

I definitely had my doubts. But once I heard what people were involved and what talent was involved on the creative side, I was really intrigued more than anything. Obviously, Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard are rock legends, so to know that they had written the score, these two incredibly accomplished musicians, that was really intriguing. And, of course, Matthew Warchus is a director that I was dying to work with, so the fact that he wanted to see me was exciting. And I knew that Bruce Joel Rubin, who won the Oscar for the screenplay, was adapting it for the stage. So I knew the story would be in good hands.

I heard two of the songs from the show when they sent me the material, and one of those songs was “With You” … and it’s just one of those songs that as soon as I heard it, I thought this is something special. It’s a really well-written pop musical theater song, and I haven’t heard a musical theater ballad like that in a few years. And it got me very excited for what the rest of the score might hold.

But, yeah, I was quite nervous, because you never know how things will translate from film to stage. There’s so many movies turned into musicals, and some are very successful and some aren’t. So it’s always a gamble you take, but early on in the process I realized they were not trying to replicate the film on stage. They were very much making this its own entity as a musical.

I compared it a lot to Hairspray, which is another show I worked on for years. What was so smart about Hairspray was that the film was so genius, and they took what was genius about the film and they created something brand new on stage with the musical, and I think that’s what Ghost does as well.

How is it working with Richard Fleeshman?

Right away in rehearsals in London we hit it off. We actually read together at our final audition, and I think the world of him. He’s a great guy. He’s a great actor, and we forged a really, really close friendship. We’re pretty much best friends now, and that comes with almost two years of working so closely together and building these characters together.

What’s so wonderful about originating a role, and it’s the first time for both of us truly originating, is that so much of what you do and your strengths go into the story and into what’s cemented as Ghost The Musical and as Molly in Ghost The Musical or Sam in Ghost The Musical. It’s so cool the way we sing and the riffs we did when we were playing around in rehearsals are in the score. And the staging is very much dictated by where our instincts led us. So to build that together … I couldn’t imagine doing it with anyone else.

Has the show changed a lot from London to New York?

It has changed a lot. A lot of the scenes are tightened up, and there’s been songs that have been replaced. A couple of characters were sort of flipped on their head and sort of reinvented in a way. All of the choreography is basically new. And the subway scene, some of the illusions have been tightened up and changed. We really feel that this is the strongest version of the show yet. We’ve taken all the strengths of the London production and improved upon them.

Could you speak about Molly. How do you see her as a character?

I think she’s very strong. I think she’s the kind of girl that we see early on in the show, who would say to her boyfriend, ‘Hey, let’s get married.’ She’s very feisty, very self-assured, very independent. I think the connection with her and Sam is an interesting one. She’s sort of this Bohemian artist, and I think very fiery, and he’s the all-American guy, investment banker, good head on his shoulders, kind of a jock. So I don’t think you necessarily pair them up together, but they have this incredible connection and then of course when he gets killed, all of her inner strengths are tested.

It’s a tough role to play. For me, it’s a dark place to live in for two hours every night. Because I do spend most of the show grieving. And it’s been a challenge as well to give that grieving some texture and layers, so it’s not one-note the whole time. And I think Molly is very strong even when she’s been completely wrecked by this loss, and we see her go through this process of the numbness, the anger, the denial of losing him, and the true, true sadness and despair of wanting to not go on anymore. … It’s a lot to handle.

Is it a difficult show to sing every night?

I sing like nine huge songs. It’s tiring for sure. It’s very much in my body now. I’ve been doing it so long. It’s the kind of score I feel so lucky to be singing because I get to use all different sides of my voice. … And you combine that with the crying and the screaming, and you want to be quiet after the show.

How have the audiences responded?

They have been amazing. We have been so lucky. It’s one of those shows because of the subject matter everyone can relate to it. A lot of people, even a lot of people in the business, a lot of our friends, come in with a certain idea of what they think it will be. And they’ve been so moved at the end. And they’ve been laughing and crying, and they love the music and they’re blown away by the effects. It really is an audience show. It relies heavily on that word of mouth. We have a ton of return business, because people are coming back and back and bringing groups of friends and family. It’s one of those shows that’s very special that way, and I think will have a long life. I hope it does.

Were the illusions throughout the show an interesting aspect of the creative process?

It was so interesting because the tech process was unlike any other tech process that I’ve been part of. This is the interesting thing about Ghost and what was unfortunate about the critical response: You can’t do this story without some level of magic and that involves technology and that involves actual tricks. It’s an integral part to the story because you’re a ghost and you’re walking through walls. And he rides the subway train with a ghost who pushes him out of the subway train.

Paul Kieve, who did all the illusions for the Harry Potter films, among many other things, has designed some deceptively simple magic and illusions and they really, really work very well. It took us a long time in the tech process to perfect them and make sure we were standing just so on the mark because of the lighting and the way it all works.

What’s the future hold for you?

It’s been all about Ghost for the last year of my life. Especially in London, it was the only thing I was working on. And now that I’m back in New York, and I’m home again, it’s a wonderful feeling to look ahead to the next project. But at this time, especially pre-Tony’s and this crazy season, it’s all about the show. I’m with the show until March of next year, and beyond that I don’t have any plans set. I probably will do a concert at some point in the fall or winter and get back to that rock-pop stuff I normally do on the side. But I’m always auditioning and looking ahead. I love this show and I really believe it, and we’re having such a great time here. The audiences have been so good to us, so that’s the main focus right now.

What’s your favorite moment in the show?

I love singing ‘Nothing Stops Another Day,’ which is my second act ballad about moving on from the grief and hitting the other side. It’s just one of those songs, it’s so beautiful. I think it’s one of the more underrated songs in the show, probably because it’s sort of chopped up and there are scenes that happen in between each verse. It’s sort of used as a transition in a way.

It’s such a beautiful, beautiful song, and I have a fond memory of it being sort of tweaked in rehearsals with Dave and Glen. A bridge hadn’t yet been written and Dave Stewart picked up a guitar and starting strumming. And I started humming and then Glen said, ‘Hang on a minute. Hang on a minute.’ And he wrote down the lyrics to the bridge on a piece of paper and fine tuned the melody that I was humming with Dave, and all of a sudden the bridge was there. And it was such a cool process that it has a real special place in my heart, and I really love singing it.

Did you have to pinch yourself to be involved in that creative process?

It’s been amazing. I know a lot of people say this in interviews because they feel they need to: Dave and Glen are two of the most generous artists I’ve ever been in the presence of. They are so kind and they are so creative and secure in what they do that they make everybody else feel really, really important and really special and that their opinions matter. Being in that kind of creative environment allows everybody to do their best work.

This is the kind of stuff where you pinch yourself for sure. You say, ‘Wow, my life, I’m so blessed to be where I am and to be able to work with the people I work with.’

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Click here for more information on Ghost The Musical.