Richard Fleeshman to take Swayze role in Ghost musical
- Published
Fleeshman will follow in the footsteps of the late Patrick Swayze, who died in September 2009
Ex-Coronation Street actor Richard Fleeshman will appear in the stage musical of 1990 film Ghost, which starred the late Patrick Swayze.
He will play Swayze's character, Sam, opposite Broadway actress Caissie Levy.
The show, which features music by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard as well as the song Unchained Melody, will premiere at Manchester's Opera House on 28 March.
After a seven-week run in Manchester, it will begin its West End stint at the Piccadilly Theatre on 22 June.
Fleeshman, 21, will play a ghost trapped between this world and the next who tries to communicate with his girlfriend, Molly, through a phoney psychic.
The film has been adapted for the stage by Bruce Joel Rubin, who won an Oscar for his original screenplay.
Fleeshman, who appeared in Legally Blonde with Sheridan Smith, will be joined in the ensemble by Sharon D Clarke.
The actress, recently seen in the West End in Hairspray, will play clairvoyant Oda Mae Brown - the role Whoopi Goldberg won an Oscar playing in 1991.
Former Emmerdale actor Andrew Langtree - Justin Gallagher in the ITV1 soap - will also appear.
Previews begin in London on 15 July ahead of the opening night four days later.