Beetlejuice: The Musical! The Musical! The Musical! Review.

Overall (no spoilers)

I might have mentioned this on the blog before, I can’t remember if I did a post talking about gifts from the Holidays. If not, I will do one because I want to do a roundup, anyway. My Christmas gift from my sister so the family was tickets to Beetlejuice: The Musical! The Musical! The Musical!  The show will close on June 6^th, 2020, at the Winter Garden Theatre. If you can see the show before it closes, I would definitely recommend the musical, even if you’re not a big theatre person. Read on to see my thoughts on the production.

Iconic moments (spoilers ahead!) Doing a list because it’s an easier way

Adam and Barbara doing the conga line down the stairs during Day-O.

“Dear Mr. Striped Ghost Man give me back my daughter. “-Charles.  

Adam and Barbara’s movement on Kombucha in Barbara 2.0.

“Mr. Juice, welcome to the family.”-Charles.

“You all don’t seem like the orgy kind of people. Except for her, she’s done some stuff.” - Beetlejuice.

Delia and Lydia being my iconic queens and stealing the show, in addition, Barbra being relatable for me.  

“As my guru Otho always says, depression is like kale salad, nobody likes it, so throw it away,” - Delia. 

Plot - 5 stars (spoilers ahead!)

I want to preface this by saying that Act 1 is funnier than Act 2, but you need the emotional story arc of Act 2 to wrap up the plot. If you’re familiar with the movie of the same name, the musical hits most of the plot points, but just in a different order, and I think they made the plots of the movie better, with their changes and additions.

The story opens with a funeral, and this sets the tone for Lydia’s goal of keeping her mother Emily alive. As the first act progresses, we meet Barbra, and if you’re familiar with the movie, the couple falls through the floor of their house, which is how they become Ghosts in this story. In my opinion, this was better than the movie, it made more sense and made a more compelling story for the characters. Act 1 moves along, and we see the interactions with the characters we know and love, made better on stage because I found the stage dialogue funnier than the movie, and it was just what a show with dark tones needed to lighten the mood.  If the musical had more serious tones as seen in the movie, the story would have lost something because everyone would have been sad. Every piece of media needs light, or comedic moments, just to balance out the more sad and emotional moments, and Beetlejuice had that balance perfectly.

As we move onto Act 2, we see Lydia still wanting her father to hear her and talk about her mother. Barbra and Adam see that Lydia needs someone who will be there for her, even if she isn’t this happy-go-lucky teenager Charles wanted her to be. The story becomes dramatic and emotional, including a tender moment between Lydia and her father Charles in the Netherworld. The story has a happy ending with Lydia back with Charles and Delia, and Barbra and Adam being able to remain in their house.

Characters (no spoilers!)

I’m drawn to characters in whatever media, in particular in musicals, I love finding the ones that are most like me, or finding an aspect of them that reminds me of myself. In Beetlejuice, my favorite characters are Lydia, Delia, and Barbra. Lydia, I enjoy it because as Beetlejuice is a demon; she serves as a dark character, someone who he can relate to and is his friend. Delia is the exact opposite of Lydia and Beetlejuice, brought on by Charles to be her Life Coach, she becomes so much more for the Deetz family. Her positivity and overall Zen personality brings a light energy and comedy, to a show that would be very dark without her making her one of the funniest characters in the musical. Barbara is the middle of being positive she will get her house back, and the Deetz will leave, and as the story progresses, becoming more and more fearful they will never and her house will never be the same. All three characters have I share with them.

Music and Lyrics (mild spoilers!)

I could go on forever about how the music and lyrics work so well to tell the story, with a more rock-based tone the best choice for the show because it would not have worked with a more Musical Theatre score. My favorite songs in the musical are "Dead Mom", "No Reason", and "Barbra 2.0", not surprisingly, they all feature my favorite characters. “Dead Mom” is Lydia’s first solo, which sets the tone not only for her character, but also for the plot of the show with the dark tones, and yearning to have her mother back. The audience finds out more about Delia in her song “No Reason,” and we find out why she is such a positive and Zen. We also see how she is the opposite of Lydia, and how she could help Lydia be a happier person. Barbra 2.0 is a song that Barbra and Adam sing in the attic as they’re trying to get rid of items from their former life. This is the first time we see Barbra thinking the Deetz family will not leave her house, also, we see how much she cares about Lydia.

Set and special effects (no spoilers!)

I want to keep this section short and spoiler free. The set and special effects for the show are fantastic and work well with the story being told. They’re really something you need to see live to fully appreciate.

Music I listened to while writing this post- Hamilton