Stopping off at Malvern Theatres this week, Ghost The Musical is a timeless fantasy love story -  just like the greatly adored film upon which it is based. The highest-grossing movie of 1990, starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg, Ghost won two Oscars; one for best supporting actress (Goldberg) and the other for best screenplay, as written by Bruce Joel Rubin. Rubin went on to adapt the screenplay for the stage-musical version, which premiered in 2011 and is now once again touring the UK.

This hauntingly beautiful tale is set in New York and focuses on Sam (here played by Josh St Clair) and Molly (Rebekah Lowings), a young and madly-in-love couple who are living an almost impossibly perfect life together. St Clair and Lowings enjoy a fantastic stage chemistry, which is further enhanced by fabulous individual vocals and harmonies to die for.

The couple’s mutual friend, Carl (James Mateo-Salt), initially presents as a likeable chap with a cheeky charm. But appearances can be deceptive, and his impact - and menacing malevolence - reverberates throughout the entire show...

Walking home one night, Sam and Molly are mugged, leaving Sam dead and Molly utterly heartbroken. Trapped as a ghost between this world and the next, Sam realises that the mugging was no random act and that Molly remains in danger. He becomes desperate to communicate, from beyond the grave, with the love of his life, in the hope of saving her from a similarly untimely death.

Sam discovers Oda Mae Brown (Jacqui Dubois), a phoney psychic who, up until the moment she meets him in spirit form, ruthlessly extorts money from vulnerable, bereaved people. Making a dynamic appearance and generating some much-needed humour by virtue of her larger-than-life personality, Oda Mae reluctantly agrees to help Sam connect with Molly...

Accompanied by a live seven-piece band, the production features many terrific songs written by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame and Glen Ballard. And, of course, the signature track by The Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody - makes its way into the show on more than one occasion. Dubois exhibits her vocal prowess whilst singing one of the production’s musical highlights: I’m Outta Here. Other song stand-outs include the heart-wrenching and emotive With You, sung by Lowings.

Whilst it is always wonderful for shows to have live rather than recorded music, there were occasions last night when the singing voices of cast members seemed to be competing with the sound of the band, making it difficult to discern the words being sung.

The show has plenty to recommend it. The entire cast give memorable performances, but there’s a particularly noteworthy turn from Garry Lee, playing an angry and hostile ghost which Sam in spirit form encounters on the subway... Clever lighting and body doubles are brilliantly deployed when characters die and transition to being ghosts... And although the choreography could be slicker, overall it achieves what it is meant to do and adds substance to numerous scenes, particularly when depicting the hustle and bustle of life in the Big Apple.

Watch out for appearances by TV legend Les Dennis too, who memorably plays the hospital ghost and bank manager Lionel Ferguson.

There are some minor reworks to modernise the show - for example, the use of mobile phones. And of course, there’s a wonderful moment at the potters wheel... in evidence somewhat earlier in the stage show’s storyline than the film’s.

The core message of Ghost is that you should tell people you love them while you have the opportunity to do so, because you never know when fate may intervene. This musical version of the hit film conveys that sentiment beautifully, and many members of last night’s audience were clearly wiping away a tear or two at the end as they gave a standing ovation.

Four stars

Ghost The Musical was reviewed by Sue Hull on Tuesday 26 November at Malvern Theatres, where it runs until this Saturday (30 November). The show returns to the Midlands next year, playing Birmingham theatre The Alexandra from Tuesday 1 to Saturday 5 April