Beetlejuice: The Musical

Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!

    Let's pounce right in! I saw Beetlejuice in January. Unfortunately, this stellar show is now closed indefinitely, but I was fur-tunate enough to witness the incredible talents of Sophia Anne Caruso and Alex Brightman before the unhappy closure of Broadway. This show was filled with a star-studded cast, incredible set design, spectacular musical numbers, and so much more. I was looking for something strange and unusual, and Beetlejuice certainly fit the bill.

Murphy, Matthew

Murphy, Matthew

History

    Beetlejuice: The Musical is based off of the 1988 film Beetlejuice, however, it does not follow the plot in the same exact format. The musical version focused heavily on Lydia, and how she is dealing with the passing of her mother. The set crew still wanted to bring the eerie and ghostly world of Tim Burton to the stage, so many icons from the original movie can be found in the theater, including the iconic black and white striped design and prominent theme of death. Beetlejuice: The Musical made its first appearance at the National Theatre in Washington D.C. on October 14, 2018, where it played 27 performances. After previews, and a lot of adjustments, Beetlejuice made its Broadway debut at the Winter Garden Theatre, officially opening on April 25, 2019 (Wikipedia). The show ran until the Broadway shutdown due to COVID-19 on March 12, 2020. Beetlejuice was originially scheduled to cease performances on June 6, 2020, to make room for a reboot of The Music Man. However, the show was forced to close early, and played it's final performance on March 10, 2020. 

Who's in the Cast?

    Alex Brightman starred as the ghost with the most, Beetlejuice himself. Sophia Anne Caruso originated the role of Lydia Deetz, a role for which she won a Theatre World Award. Other big name stars included Rob McClure as Adam Maitland, Kerry Butler as his wife, Barbara Maitland, and Leslie Kritzer as Delia Deetz and Miss Argentina. Also featured was Dana Steingold playing Sky the Girl Scout and Kelvin Moon Loh as Otho.

Overview

    Beetlejuice: The Musical provided a refreshing, modern twist on a classic movie. With a heart-wrenching prologue (Invisible) leading to an exciting opening number (The Whole "Being Dead" Thing), Act I has you starting the show on the edge of your seat. This is followed by a homey song about the future sung by the Maitlands (Ready Set Not Yet), until they fall to their deaths, prompting a reprise of The Whole "Being Dead" Thing by Beetlejuice, who serves as a "guide" for the recently deceased Maitlands. The Deetz family then moves into the Maitland's own home, where Lydia laments missing her mother, her strained relationship with her father, Charles, and the blissful ignorance of Delia Deetz (Dead Mom). Meanwhile, Beetlejuice is trying to convince the Maitlands to help scare the new residents and trick them into saying his name 3 times, in order to make him visible to the human eye able to use his powers (Fright of Their Lives). However, even though the Maitlands seem optimistic about their ability to scare the new residents, Beetlejuice recognizes that they are far too vanilla to do anything remotely scary, and leaves them in anger. The Maitlands, undeterred, believe if they help him, the residents will move out and they will regain control of their house again (Ready Set (Reprise)). 

    At the same time, Lydia is struggling to find a common ground of beliefs between herself and Delia, whose blissful ignorance of the life and the world differs greatly from Lydia's bleak outlook and obsession with death (No Reason). 

    Feeling alone, and with desperation to be noticed by her father, Lydia escapes to the roof with a plan to jump off. Beetlejuice, lamenting his loneliness, is already there when she arrives (Invisible (Reprise)/On the Roof). Soon enough, Beetlejuice discovers that Lydia is able to see him, despite him being a ghost, and begs her to say his name 3 times. Lydia refuses and sides with the Maitlands instead, with her sole mission to be reunited with her mother again in the Netherworld, the mystical world for the recently deceased (Say My Name). Lydia decides to have the Maitlands sabotage her father's dinner party that night, hoping to scare away potential investors and convince her father to bring them back to their old home, believing her mom would still be there, in ghost form. However, the investors love the idea of a haunted house, and Lydia is resigned to say Beetlejuice's name 3 times, resulting in him using magic to truly scare everyone from the house (Day-O (The Banana Boat Song). 

    Act II opens with an innocent girl scout selling cookies to Lydia, only to be scared by Beetlejuice (Girl Scout). She is the first of a number of people whom Lydia and Beetlejuice enjoy scaring away from the house (That Beautiful Sound). Meanwhile, Adam and Barbara are growing sick of their vanilla "life"style, and want to change to the people they secretly wanted to be while they were alive (Barbara 2.0). 

    Charles and Delia enlist the help of Delia's guru, Otho, to help trap Beetlejuice in a "soul box," hoping to regain control of the house and Lydia. Lydia, however, is intent on seeing her mother again, and asks Beetlejuice how she can get to the Netherworld. Beetlejuice, hurt that she wants to leave him behind, tricks her into performing an exorcism on Barbara. Beetlejuice reveals that if Lydia were to marry him, he could truly come to life and be free to leave the house. He promises to save Barbara and send both her and Adam to the Netherwold if Lydia complies. Lydia agrees, on the condition that she say goodbye to the Maitlands first. Instead, she travels through the door to the Netherworld, with Charles running after her. 

Arriving in the Netherworld, they are met by a receptionist, Miss Argentina, who urges them to return to their world, lamenting her own death and wishing she had more time while alive (What I Know Now). Lydia is still determined to see her mother, but after endless searching, gives up in agony. Charles arrives to comfort her, and they finally discuss the tension between them, with Charles promising to talk about Lydia's mom with her whenever she wants, and Lydia agreeing to give Delia a chance (Home). 

Returning home, they find Beetlejuice in a rage, threatening to kill Otho, who has revealed he is a fake guru. Lydia returns to Beetlejuice, all smiles, and agrees to marry him right there (Creepy Old Guy). Once married, Beetlejuice is brought to life, and experiences a barrage of emotions, ranging from happy, to sad, to angry, and resorts to murder. Thinking quickly, Lydia stabs Beetlejuice, killing him. Now recently deceased, Lydia plans to send Beetlejuice to the Netherworld. However, when they open the door, Beetlejuice's mother, Juno, comes out of the door, angry at Lydia and Charles for escaping the Netherworld. She attempts to kill them, but Beetlejuice intervenes, thankful for his (brief) time spent alive, thanks to Lydia. Taking care of Juno, Beetlejuice makes a grand and dramatic exit to the Netherworld himself. Charles recalls how strange of a day it had been, and agrees to share the home with the Maitlands. Lydia accepts that her world has changed and that she has found her home (Jump in the Line). 

Thoughts

    Alex Brightman is able to manipulate his voice into a grainy, intense sound for the entirety of the show. It reminds me of scratching on my favorite post. It's very impressive how he maintains a healthy voice, considering they perform 8 times a week. His portrayal of Beetlejuice was energetic, funny, and unique. He certainly had cat-titude! Sophia Anna Caruso brought so much angst and expression to Lydia. The show wouldn't be complete without the paw-some set design however. In fact, the set was nominated for a Tony award at the 2019 Tony Awards. 

    I definitely had a paw-sitive experience, and, had the show been able to resume after the Broadway shutdown, I would certainly recommend this show to anybody who is in the mood for incredible music, fantastic acting, or intrigued by the idea of a non-conventional show. 

My favorite line is delivered by Delia Deetz. As a life coach, she knows tons of positive, reaffirming statements, including "every success starts with sucks, and ends with yes! Sucks-yes!" Paw-sitively hilarious. 

    My one complaint is the lack of cats. There weren't any in the whole show! Where are the cats? The Netherworld? Lydia should've had a cat. Maybe things would be different. Cats are great.

Ratings

Find the rating scale here.

Soundtrack          ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Acting                  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Lighting               ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Set                        ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall                 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Cat rating             ⭐

Best song: Dead Mom

Best actor: Alex Brightman

Best set: The house

Fun Facts!

• Presley Ryan, the understudy for Lydia, helped skyrocket Beetlejuice: The Musical to fame thanks to her backstage TikTok videos.
• Alex Brightman starred as Dewey Finn in the musical School of Rock in 2015. School of Rock performed its debut in the Winter Garden Theatre as well, meaning Brightman has starred as the lead of a brand new musical twice in the same theatre. 
• Various actors have stated in interviews that the cast favorite set piece is the Beetlejuice couch, because it's both a trampoline and a couch. 

Works Cited

"Beetlejuice (Musical)." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Aug. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetlejuice_(musical).