Theater Review: Beetlejuice

Everyone’s favorite dead demon is back. Beetlejuice is on Broadway! Tim Burton’s cult-favorite movie, Beetlejuice, is now a zany, over-the-top, and downright fun musical.

As soon as Beetlejuice opens, Lydia (Sophia Anne Caruso) mourns her recently deceased mother at her graveside. As soon as Beetlejuice (Alex Brightman) pops up out of a coffin, though, breaking the fourth wall by saying, “Such a bold departure from the original source material!” audiences know they’re in for a fun ride.

Like the movie, Lydia and her father Charles (Adam Dannheisser) move into the home of a recently deceased couple, Adam (Rob McClure) and Barbara (Kerry Butler). Adam and Barbara just want their home back and enlist the help of Beetlejuice. He wants to come back to life so he won’t be invisible anymore. As they try to haunt the house (they fail; nice people have trouble being scary!), they discover that Lydia can see them; they become friends.

Unlike the movie, the musical adds in some new storylines (and attempts more emotional depth). So, somewhat unsurprisingly, Lydia feel invisible now that her mom has died. Her dad is moving on mighty quickly with an amateur life coach named Delia (Leslie Kritzer), and all Lydia wants is to speak to her mom again and to move back home. When Adam and Barbara are hesitant to help her bring her mom back from the Netherworld, Lydia turns to Beetlejuice for help.

Photo Credit: Alex Brightman and Sophia Anne Caruso; Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy

From there many hijinks ensue, including the infamous “Day-o” scene during a dinner party. And movie fans are further thrilled to see other favorite characters come to life on stage: Miss Argentina (again, Leslie Kritzer) in the Netherworld, Juno (Jill Abramovitz) the chain smoking gatekeeper of the Netherworld, the shrunken head hunter, seance-loving Otho (Kelvin Moon Loh), and, of course, the dangerous sand worm (awesome puppet designs by Michael Curry).

Beetlejuice delights all the way through thanks in part to the fabulous creative team under the direction of Alex Timbers. Witty lyrics by Eddie Perfect abound and there are of-the-moment jokes aplenty. Vibrant costumes come from the wonderful William Ivey Long. Special effects and magic and illusion moments of performers floating in the air are the work of Jeremy Chernick and Michael Weber, respectively. And, of the set. It is absolutely amazing. The details of David Korins’ set design (combined with lighting from Kenneth Posner) are wonderful and it captures the quirk and fun that is the story of Beetlejuice.

And really brining it all together and to (hilarious) life is the cast. Led by Alex Brightman, the energy never falters. His Beetlejuice is a maniac, but he’s fun. Even in his most demonic moments, he doesn’t feel dangerous…but that’s not a bad thing. He is a joy to watch on stage. Sophia Anne Caruso’s singing voice is, overall, fantastic (minus the moments when she’s trying a bit too hard to sound like a pop star). Rob McClure and Kerry Butler are, as always, solid and winning performers. The scene stealer, though, is Leslie Kritzer. As both Delia and Miss Argentina, her sense of comedic timing is just impeccable. Their performances highlight the themes of feeling seen and living your life to the fullest which add a bit of heart to this musical. All of that means: Beetlejuice is a rollicking good time.

Beetlejuice The Musical is running at the Winter Garden.
For more information and to buy tickets, click here. 

Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy