Matthew Murphy
By this point in time everyone is or should be familiar with the classic 1988 Tim Burton comedy Beetlejuice. And if you have even a passing interest in the world of Broadway, you know that a musical version of the movie made its debut on the Great White Way on April 25, 2019 following its world premiere in Washington Dc at the National Theatre from October 14 to November 18, 2018. The show was a hit but due to some shenanigans at the Winter Garden Theatre, the show was forced to close just days before the entirety of Broadway, and most of the country, shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic at 366 performances. But the show had a devoted fan base that helped get the show back on the boards, reopening April 8, 2022 at the Marquis Theatre, and playing 679 performances before closing again on January 8, 2023. But you can’t keep a good ghost down, and the show was revived in a national tour that launched on December 1, 2022. And now Beetlejuice is back where it all started at the National Theatre.
If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll be familiar with parts of the musical’s story, but the stage version adds another, more emotional layer to that story. Despite what Beetlejuice tells us in the show’s opening number that this is a show about death … it’s really a show about being alive. Young couple Adam and Barbara Maitland have just bought an old farmhouse and have been busy making it their own, finding ways to fill up their lives as they try to prepare themselves mentally to start a family. Faulty wiring puts those dreams to a swift end, and before they know it — because time moves much differently in the afterlife — there’s a new family, the Deetzes, moving into their house. The two spirits want these livings out of their home but are powerless to do anything because the living can’t/don’t/won’t see the dead. Except young daughter Lydia does see them, and she is willing to do anything she can to help the Maitlands scare her father and her ‘life coach’ Delia out of the house. But the Maitlands only manage to amuse Charles Deetz and the investor in his new gated community, of which the Maitland house will be the focal point, so Lydia and the ghosts feel they’re at a loss. But Lydia also see another ghost on the roof from where she is planning to jump because she feels invisible, and she is not dealing with the emotional toll the death of her mother has taken on her, made all the more painful because her father won’t talk about it (covering up his own grief to the point of making it seem like he’s just forgotten about his wife). The other ghost is Beetlejuice, and he promises Lydia that if she says his name three times, her father — and everyone else — will be able to see him, and he’ll help run them all out of the house. It seems too good to be true and Lydia would prefer to work with the less sinister Maitlands, but finding a copy of ‘The Handbook for the Recently Deceased’ — which Beetlejuice hid from the Maitlands so he could keep them around as ‘friends’, or maybe more when it comes to Adam — Lydia agrees to work with Beetlejuice so he’ll help bring her mother back. Unfortunately Lydia realizes she’s basically made a deal with the devil, so to speak, as Beetlejuice keeps altering the terms of their deal. Can the Maitlands, Lydia, Charles and Delia come together and stop Beetlejuice before he kills them all?
I was fortunate enough to see the pre-Broadway run at the National, so I was curious to see if the show changed once it got to Broadway and then hit the road. I remember it had an amazing set — the main house, the attic, the rooftop — but five years is a long time to I’m not quite sure if this is basically the same set or not. The house seems the same but I remember the interior decor changing more than the three times it does now (I could be wrong) but it’s still a pretty cool set. I do remember Beetlejuice springing up out of the stage in the original version during the opening number, which doesn’t happen now but that’s a small thing. There are some other things that seem different, like a lot of business in front of the curtains, but I can’t be sure … which is good, I suppose, in that it doesn’t detract from my original memory of the production like the recent scaled-down production of Aladdin did (Note: a quick look at the original cast trailer does show a much more elaborate set but this one still works). In either case, David Korins’ production design still has a wow factor, as do Kenneth Posner’s lighting design, Peter Hylenski’s sound design, William Ivey Long’s costumes, Charles G. Lapointe’s hair and wigs, Joe Dulude’s make-up, the puppetry design of Michael Curry (I do think the sandworm is now much more grand), and the special effects, illusions and projections of Jeremy Chernick, Michael Weber and Peter Nigrini, respectively. Alex Timbers’ direction is solid, juggling a lot of moving pieces with deft skill, Connor Gallagher’s choreography is stellar, the book by Scott Brown and Anthony King retains the key plot points of the film, but adds that layer of emotion for Lydia focusing on her grief, her alienation, her desire to have her mother back, and Eddie Perfect’s songs serve to advance the story.
Matthew Murphy
The cast is fantastic. Justin Collette and Isabella Esler had some big shoes to fill taking on the roles of Beetlejuice and Lydia. Until now, Alex Brightman (who is coincidentally just down the road in DC at the Kennedy Center in Spamalot) was the only actor to play Beetlejuice on stage and he attacked the role with some manic energy. Collette manages to remake the role into his own, hitting all the highs and lows of that manic energy, skillfully breaking the fourth wall to banter with some audience members, making Beetlejuice both sinister and ‘misunderstood’, whichever works best as a manipulation to get his way. No slight to Brightman, but I think I enjoyed Collette’s interpretation of the character a bit more. Sophia Anne Caruso was simply outstanding as Lydia in the original show — unjustly unrecognized by the Tony Awards — but in her professional debut, Esler manages to knock it out of the park with her performance and her powerful voice, really pouring her emotions into the second act song ‘Home’, which really hit home with me, eliciting a couple of tears. Two great performances all around.
Britney Coleman and Will Burton are the perfectly square Maitlands. I don’t remember in the pre-Broadway version if Beetlejuice had such an attraction to Adam, but Burton’s squeamish reactions to all of Collette’s words and actions — done so well that they often seem like ad-libs — are very funny, but never offensive. Jesse Sharp’s Charles Deetz is kind of a prick at first, which he’s supposed to be, but he does get to have a very touching moment in the second act with Lydia when he finally admits to her how much he’s hurting as well. Kate Marilley is a hoot as Delia, part Valerie Mahaffey, part Catherine O’Hara as Moira Rose (which is funny since O’Hara played Delia in the movie). She has some great comic timing and is a scream in the famous ‘Day-O’ scene. Marilley pretty much steals every scene she’s in. Abe Goldfarb gets laughs at Delia’s guru Otho, and Jackera Davis gets a special mention for opening the second act as a girl scout trying to sell cooking to Lydia but getting a lot more than she bargained for. Kris Roberts is also memorable as Maxine Dean and Juno, two very different characters. Everyone in the cast from the leads to the ensemble is just out there on that stage giving it their all.
Matthew Murphy
If you’re a fan of the movie, there are some famous characters from the afterlife who make appearances including the aforementioned Juno, along with Miss Argentina — who gets her own number — and the Shrunken Head Guy. I think as a fan you will find enough of the film’s story presented on stage in different, but satisfying ways. I usually don’t like when they really mess with a film story and make major changes for the stage, but Beetlejuice succeeds because it isn’t slavish to the movie. The bulk of the movie story actually happens in the first act, while Act II really shows us that this is a story of death and life, about how the loss of a loved one impacts the living and the need to release that grief. It’s also about loneliness — Beetlejuice is lonely being dead, Lydia is lonely being alive — and it’s about family, one that you’re born into, one that you choose, or both. Seeing the show now from my own different perspective than I had in 2018, the whole storyline is really built around Lydia’s mother, whose death set everything into motion. It was a bold choice to address that as it’s not really talked about in the film so it gives the show a bit more emotional heft so it’s not just a carbon copy of the movie. Putting that together with the songs, the production and the wonderful cast makes Beetlejuice familiar enough to the fans but also allows it to stand on its own. So say his name three time and get your tickets to Beetlejuice for a wildly enjoyable evening.
Beetlejuice runs about 2 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission, and contains strong language, mature references, and a lot of the crazy, inappropriate stuff you would expect from a deranged demon. Recommended for 13+. Parental discretion advised.
Beetlejuice runs through May 28 at Washington DC’s National Theatre. Other cities on the schedule include Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago, Norfolk, Cincinnati, Nashville, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Richmond, Baltimore and more. Visit the official Beetlejuice website for more information.
Beetlejuice – Original Broadway Cast trailer
Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures
Check our Ticketmaster link for ticket availability.
Share this post
