GHOST got its start as a 1990 film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg. The film was a box-office success, and was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Score, and Best Film Editing. It won the awards for Best Supporting Actress for Goldberg and Best Original Screenplay.

GHOST The Musical opened in London's West End at the Piccadilly Theatre last year, starring Broadway favorite Caissie Levy and UK star Richard Fleeshman. Now Fleeshman and Levy are starring in the show on Broadway, joined by Oda Mae Brown. Playing parts that are well known from the screen is a major challenge, but these performers are making GHOST their own--and leaving many in the audience in stunned tears at the end of the night. You won't forget the the iconic 1990 film, but you will see these indelible characters in a new Character Approved light--and you'll hear some great music as well.

[Image: Walter McBride, BroadwayWorld.com]

She's Character Approved this week for daring to give a gutsy, layered portrayal of the legendary star that's got the theatre world buzzing and going back for more.

End of the Rainbow takes place in December 1968 and Garland--who long struggled with substance abuse--is once again preparing for a comeback that doesn't go as planned. The play mixes scenes from Garland's hotel room with her new fiancé and her adoring accompanist along with live performances of some of her most famous songs, including "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "The Man That Got Away," "Come Rain or Shine," and "The Trolley Song."

Bennett has long been known to West End audiences, where she's appeared in a plethora of shows from La Cage aux Folles to Hairspray, Les Mis, She Loves Me, and Cash on Delivery. Her role as Garland in End of the Rainbow however, tops them all.

Simply put, you've got to see it to believe it.

[Image: Walter McBride / Broadway World]

Once, based on the film of the same name, led the nominations with 11, followed by 10 for Nice Work If You Can Get It and The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, nine for Peter and the Starcatcher, and eight for both Follies and Newsies.

Most pundits agree that the race for the big prize of Best Musical will likely be between Once and Newsies this season, and Other Desert Cities appears to be the favorite for Best Play, with Follies and Death of a Salesman likely for revival prizes.

The talk of the day was not just about who was nominated, but who was overlooked this year, including Spider-Man the Musical, which only received nods for Scenic and Costume Design. On my list of who should have been nominated and wasn't? The show's fantastic Green Goblin, Patrick Page.

And the nominees are...

Best Play
Clybourne Park, Author: Bruce Norris
Other Desert Cities, Author: Jon Robin Baitz
Peter and the Starcatcher, Author: Rick Elice
Venus in Fur, Author: David Ives

Best Musical
Leap of Faith
Newsies
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Once

Best Revival of a Play
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Gore Vidal's The Best Man
Master Class
Wit

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
James Corden, One Man, Two Guvnors
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
James Earl Jones, Gore Vidal's The Best Man
Frank Langella, Man and Boy
John Lithgow, The Columnist

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Nina Arianda, Venus in Fur
Tracie Bennett, End of the Rainbow
Stockard Channing, Other Desert Cities
Linda Lavin, The Lyons
Cynthia Nixon, Wit

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Follies
Jeremy Jordan, Newsies
Steve Kazee, Once
Norm Lewis, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
Ron Raines, Follies

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Jan Maxwell, Follies
Audra McDonald, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
Cristin Milioti, Once
Kelli O'Hara, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Laura Osnes, Bonnie & Clyde

Read the full list of Character Approved Tony nominees here. Congratulations, everyone!

[Image: J. Countess/WireImage.com]