"Ghost: The Musical," at Toby’s through Nov. 6, puts a comedic spin on the 1990 film.

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Following in the footsteps of Whoopie Goldberg, Ashley Johnson stars as “spirit talker” Oda Mae Brown in Ghost: The Musical, playing at Toby’s Dinner Theatre in Columbia through Nov. 6. Patricia “Pep” Targete and Crystal Freeman sing backup as her sisters, and MaryKate Brouillet plays the widow Molly. Photo by Jeri Tidwell Photography

The current production of Ghost: The Musical at Toby’s Dinner Theatre will bring back fond memories of the 1990 movie starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg.

For some of us, it might even recall the classic ghostly adventures of Topper and Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, earlier productions that mixed mad-cap adventures, romance and the supernatural.

For those new to the story, Ghost involves a young, happy-go-lucky protagonist named Sam Wheat (Patrick Gover is both ebullient and earnest in the role), who is killed in a robbery on the streets of New York.

Sam finds himself very much present and conscious in the afterlife, driven to protect his girlfriend, Molly Jensen (played as naïve and loving by MaryKate Brouillet), from being harmed by his murderer.

Sam is unable to warn Molly until he meets a questionable spirit medium named Oda Mae Brown, portrayed incandescently by Ashley Johnson. Will skeptical Molly believe Oda Mae’s claims of being able to communicate with the deceased Sam?

Adapted as a musical for the British stage in 2011, the story segues nicely between suspense, comedy and musical numbers. However, Toby’s production focuses a little more on comedy than audiences may remember from the Hollywood motion picture.

This comedic spirit is especially fresh in the performance of DeCarlo Raspberry, a stalwart performer in Toby’s coterie. Here he plays a hospital ghost trying to lighten things up for the recently deceased Sam (and for the audience) in a lively number called “You Gotta Let Go Now.”

Effective musical numbers

Ghost fluctuates musically between Broadway-style numbers and light rock with different vocal pairings, such as solos, duets and trios.

An especially effective trio between Sam, Molly and the ambiguous villain Carl (played for the evening’s performance by the talented understudy, Shane Lowry) is a song with more than a kernel of truth in it: “Life Turns on a Dime.”

Johnson, the psychic, also provides a tour-de-force performance with “Are You a Believer?,” seamlessly blending showtune and Gospel elements.

A strength of the Toby’s production is that certain scenes appeal to more than one emotion at the same time. For example, a scene with a white-clad hospital ghost and entourage is at once funny and eerie.

Stylized, slightly distorted windows which drop down from the ceiling at the beginning of the production give a spooky, Expressionist exuberance while preparing the audience to experience a familiar, beloved film.

Director Mark Minnick and set designer David Hopkins are able to convey such complexities as the hustle and bustle of a large city using a few talented actors and minimalist props in its “theater in the round.”

Gover played the lead in Toby’s recent success, Rocky: The Musical. As Sam, he channels another American icon as he sings the 1950s hit “Unchained Melody” Elvis Presley-style.

Incidentally, the lyrics of “Unchained Melody” are extremely prescient for Sam: “I’ve hungered for your touch/A long, lonely time/And time goes by so slowly.” These lyrics foreshadow how Sam will have a difficult time reaching out to Molly and the living. These words also represent the frustrating purgatory in which Sam finds himself.

There is a special element to this production: The musicians are visible on a platform above the audience. This placement added greatly to the live feel (not that we would speak ill of ghosts!), and indeed romance, of the production. The orchestra, conducted alternately by Ross Scott Rawlings and Nathan Scavilla, depending on the performance, deserves high praise.

Actors’ insights

We could not leave Toby’s without asking some of the actors about their views of the performance. Shane Lowry, who played Carl the night we saw the production, said that playing a criminal is “a delicious role. It’s always fun to play something you are not.”

Brouillet, who plays Molly, told the Beacon that the production is moving because “everyone has lost someone. The show is about loss, but also about love.”

She added, “We really came together as a cast!”

Ghost is fun, entertaining Halloween-time fare, although grandparents should be cautioned about violent subject matter, occasional crude humor and profanity.

Toby’s is located at 5900 Symphony Woods Road in Columbia, Maryland. Advance reservations are required. Tickets are $68-$72 for adults and $52.50 for children 12 and under, including the all-you-can eat buffet.

Patrons 65 and over can attend Tuesday and Wednesday performances for $57.80. There are matinees on Wednesdays and Sundays. Tickets may be purchased online at tobysdinnertheatre.com, or call the box office at (410) 730-8311.