Beetlejuice the Musical: A Review
The first thing I saw from Tim Burton was “Vincent” as part of an animation shorts festival. It was my favorite of all the things I saw. It was brilliant and twisted but had a lot of heart.
The first full-length film was “Beetlejuice” that I thoroughly enjoyed and became, for many people, the film to which all other Tim Burton films are compared. Michael Keaton, who started out on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, was a rising star but this launched him into the stratosphere.
The Beetlejuice animated series was very different from the film in which Lidia and Beetlejuice went around as besties having wonderful adventures. It was a really neat little series.
Which brings us to the newest form of Beetlejuice, the Broadway musical, which is different from both the film and the animated series. The first Act reminds me of the film and the second Act reminds me of the animated series but it is its own animal as well.
We start with a funeral and a song about what the play is about, death, and it goes from there.
It is as loony as the film with lots of laugh out loud moments and a couple of gasps and a number of puppets very well used.
It has the elements of the film that we all know so well. Day-O is almost a throw away at the end of Act 2.
Alex Brightman takes up the mantle of Beetlejuice and does an excellent job of rounding out the character a bit. I worry about his vocal cords with the talking grown he does to sound like Keaton but it works. He has a fine singing voice and physicality to perform the role.
Sophia Anne Caruso is Lydia who introduces herself with the line “I myself am strange and unusual”. As a Goth angst teenager who sings to her dead mom, she does very well.
The stand out for me was Leslie Kritzer who played Delia/Miss Argentina. It was not an easy role by any means but she rocked it.
The sets are amazing. This new digital tech that allows designers more flexibility was used very well in this case and showed me the possibilities down the road.
The costumes are fun and I expect to see versions of them at conventions over the years.
The puppetry was simple but effective and not over used. There were a couple of magic tricks along the way, including floating people that were very effective. The tricks used may have been old ones with new twists but they worked.
I enjoyed it a lot.
Be forewarned that there is use of strobe lights and blinking lights that can be disorienting to say the least. Not as much fog as I thought there would be.
It is worth seeing especially if you loved the movie or the animated series. Not perfect but a fine evening’s entertainment and you will never look at death quite the same.
I am grateful I got to see this before tickets were hard to get.
The first full-length film was “Beetlejuice” that I thoroughly enjoyed and became, for many people, the film to which all other Tim Burton films are compared. Michael Keaton, who started out on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, was a rising star but this launched him into the stratosphere.
The Beetlejuice animated series was very different from the film in which Lidia and Beetlejuice went around as besties having wonderful adventures. It was a really neat little series.
Which brings us to the newest form of Beetlejuice, the Broadway musical, which is different from both the film and the animated series. The first Act reminds me of the film and the second Act reminds me of the animated series but it is its own animal as well.
We start with a funeral and a song about what the play is about, death, and it goes from there.
It is as loony as the film with lots of laugh out loud moments and a couple of gasps and a number of puppets very well used.
It has the elements of the film that we all know so well. Day-O is almost a throw away at the end of Act 2.
Alex Brightman takes up the mantle of Beetlejuice and does an excellent job of rounding out the character a bit. I worry about his vocal cords with the talking grown he does to sound like Keaton but it works. He has a fine singing voice and physicality to perform the role.
Sophia Anne Caruso is Lydia who introduces herself with the line “I myself am strange and unusual”. As a Goth angst teenager who sings to her dead mom, she does very well.
The stand out for me was Leslie Kritzer who played Delia/Miss Argentina. It was not an easy role by any means but she rocked it.
The sets are amazing. This new digital tech that allows designers more flexibility was used very well in this case and showed me the possibilities down the road.
The costumes are fun and I expect to see versions of them at conventions over the years.
The puppetry was simple but effective and not over used. There were a couple of magic tricks along the way, including floating people that were very effective. The tricks used may have been old ones with new twists but they worked.
I enjoyed it a lot.
Be forewarned that there is use of strobe lights and blinking lights that can be disorienting to say the least. Not as much fog as I thought there would be.
It is worth seeing especially if you loved the movie or the animated series. Not perfect but a fine evening’s entertainment and you will never look at death quite the same.
I am grateful I got to see this before tickets were hard to get.