Ghost Quartet (Hayes) ★★★½

Music, lyrics and text by Dave Malloy. Hayes Theatre. 8 Jan – 1 Feb, 2025.

Dave Malloy’s bold concept piece Ghost Quartet is more of an experimental song cycle than a “musical,” but there is something intoxicating in this blend of spectral narratives, whiskey, photography, and imprecise familial relationships. It may not make a lick of sense, but it overflows with atmosphere.

We start on side one, track one (like a vinyl double album), as Rose enters a shop to get her broken camera fixed, only to be served a glass of whiskey and invited to tell her story. Over the next 90 minutes, the cast of four perform their songs, which slowly—if partially—piece together into a fractured narrative involving a photographer, a train driver, a murderous sister, an astronomer, a bear, Thelonious Monk, and a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. I already mentioned that this doesn’t make sense, right?

But that’s fine, because Ghost Quartet sits in that boozy, liminal space between dreams and reality, drunkenness and sobriety, life and death.

“I don’t know if this is me at all, or just some ghost of me that I dreamed up just to sing myself to sleep.”

If you’ve seen Malloy’s previous musical Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, you’ll be familiar with his rich, complex songwriting. Ghost Quartet is that, unbound by linear storytelling.

This particular production has been floating around Melbourne for a few years now and has become a well-oiled machine. As you enter the theatre, you quickly realise this isn’t just a show—it’s more of a hangout session. Staged in traverse (more shows at the Hayes should be presented this way), the audience is very much part of the scenery.

The cast of four (Cameron Bajraktarevic-Hayward, David Butler, Hany Lee, and Willow Sizer) each have distinctive voices that blend beautifully. The quartet plays a variety of instruments as they go, and while the banter feels a bit too rehearsed at times, the quality of the performance and their own charisma draw you in.

Jodi Hope’s set design is littered with paraphernalia related to the songs, set upon a bed of rugs, creating a gothic atmosphere. Sidney Younger’s lighting design is crucial, not only to the mood but also to the storytelling. An extended portion of the show is performed in total darkness, forcing you to focus solely on the music—it’s an excellent touch.

This is the second production of Ghost Quartet I’ve seen, and while I’m no closer to understanding it, the hypnotic effect it has on me has been repeated. Do not come to Ghost Quartet expecting a conventional piece of musical theatre. Instead, let this living-room-gig-cum-séance wash over you and just go for the ride. It’s worth it.