Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!- A Review of Beetlejuice the Musical
On October 10, 2019, I saw the new Broadway hit, Beetlejuice (written by Scott Brown and Anthony King) at the Winter Garden Theatre, and it was nothing short of fantastic. In this newly adapted version of the movie, director Alex Timbers and his staff used many different tools and techniques to create a vibrant and larger than life take on the 1980s classic. Ghost Beetlejuice is introduced right away, and needs a mortal's help to be seen so he can scare people. Astoundingly, Lydia, who just recently lost her mother, is the only mortal who can see and communicate with Beetlejuice, and the other two ghosts of the house, Adam and Barbara Maitland. Throughout the first act, Beetlejuice tries to convince Lydia to say his name three times so the rest of the world can see him, while Lydia is more focused on the fact that her father is re-marrying to a woman Lydia is not very fond of. To mess with the function of the evening, Lydia eventually says Beetlejuice's name three times, and just like that, everyone can see Beetlejuice, as he pulls out all the stops to make make the house guests, Lydia's father and his fiancé scamper out of the house in horror. Act II focuses more on Lydia and her continued struggle with the death of her mother. She makes it into the Netherworld, which is staged as a never ending spiral of nothing, in search of her mom. Her father follows her in, and eventually they both breakdown to each other about everything that has been going on. The emotional song 'Home' describes how lost and confused Lydia has been, but how she is hopeful about this fresh start she has with her dad.
The producers really highlighted color schemes and over the top special affects and props. The set itself of the Maitland's home was very big and detailed. It was able to move upstage and downstage, which created an allusion to the audience that we were being sucked in or out as a scene was beginning/ending. The producers really played into the black, white, green and purple colors that Beetlejuice had in his costume when he would do something crazy, scary, or chaotic. His colors were highlighted when he was at the center of attention in the chaos that he created. This gave the audience a slight feeling of terror, and a clear distinction of how when Beetlejuice does something, he does it big and larger than life using his cryptic powers. Because of the very poignant colors used in his makeup/hair/costume, Beetlejuice is seen as an important character because he looks drastically different than say regular citizens Barbara and Adam. There is no one else in the show that comes close to looking as deranged as Beetlejuice, making him a stand out character. Discussing costuming, Lydia also stood out. She dresses in all black, due to her constant thinking about death and her mom. This strictly black look, adds to the character that Lydia is. Lydia had a good amount of lines where she described how she doesn't care about anything or anyone anymore, or "why does it matter" kind of things. It made her appear even more emotionless to the audience than she already was due to her mom's death. Barbara and Adam were seen as very similar characters due to the fact that they dressed and acted very similar to each other. Even though they were all ghosts, Beetlejuice and the Maitland's were portrayed as very different from each other from the start since Beetlejuice is the "mean" ghost and the Maitland's are the "nice" ghosts. The contrast in each of their costumes highlighted their differences. With all of these things in mind, it would appear that the director really wanted to highlight Beetlejuice and the abstract character that he is. By using both, lighting, costuming, makeup, and staging, the director was affectively able to portray Beetlejuice as an important character to this story.
Aside from all the chaos, the most memorable moment for me was when Lydia was in the Netherworld singing her song "Home". The staging for this song was so simple and basic with a spotlight on Lydia alone onstage singing, and the black and white spiral of nothingness in the Netherworld behind her. The basic staging of this scene really forced the audience to focus on not only what Lydia was singing, but also the emotion behind every singly lyric that she sang. There had been so much chaos before this moment, and just to stop and not have anything in the background to distract our attention proved to be a very affective choice that created a lot of emotion. It was like I was feeling Lydia's emotions with her, and it made me emotional. For me, that song was the most emotional few minutes of the show, and it really resonated with me.
Beetlejuice was definitely my favorite character. Although nothing about this story was very realistic, Alex Brightman did a fantastic job of sucking the entire audience into his story. Brightman really got into the over-the-top character that Beetlejuice is, and excelled at portraying his character. Through big stage movements, to the way he made his voice sound eery, cruel and evil, Brightman made Beetlejuice the star of the show for me. Not to mention the way he delivered his one-liner jokes was absolutely hilarious, making his evil character somewhat loveable, relatable, and comedic. As mentioned before, his costume added a lot to the character of Beetlejuice. Because he looked so silly, weird and different, his jokes, gestures, the way he walked, and everything else about him became comical. For example, in the dinner scene where Beetlejuice tries to shoo away Lydia's dad, fiancé, and their guests, Beetlejuice kind of scurries around on stage, with rapid little footsteps which looked funny (especially in that costume), yet so chaotic at the same time. Also, in the beginning, when we first see Beetlejuice and his outrageous costume, he threatens to kill anyone if he hears a cell phone ring. This was super funny and comical because he looks so ridiculous but then threatens to kill if he hears a cell phone. Right from the start, Brightman made Beetlejuice super funny and sarcastic, which was carried out throughout the entire show.
This show was unlike any other production I've ever seen. I thoroughly enjoyed the show due to it's comedic relief in times of complete chaos and even sadness. Since there were so many ISTA students there, the audience had such great energy and seemed to enjoy themselves as well. Personally, I really enjoyed the big, detailed set, as well as the contrast between main characters Lydia and Beetlejuice. The lighting affects also added a lot to this show as well. From this experience, I learned a lot about how big gestures really draw the audience in and can build suspense during times of chaos. Contrary to this, I learned how simple set and staging can create a really emotional scene that audience members will remember. Although, this show is not your traditional Broadway show, it is proof that the unorthodox approach to creating theatre can be just as affective and powerful as the traditional ways.
The producers really highlighted color schemes and over the top special affects and props. The set itself of the Maitland's home was very big and detailed. It was able to move upstage and downstage, which created an allusion to the audience that we were being sucked in or out as a scene was beginning/ending. The producers really played into the black, white, green and purple colors that Beetlejuice had in his costume when he would do something crazy, scary, or chaotic. His colors were highlighted when he was at the center of attention in the chaos that he created. This gave the audience a slight feeling of terror, and a clear distinction of how when Beetlejuice does something, he does it big and larger than life using his cryptic powers. Because of the very poignant colors used in his makeup/hair/costume, Beetlejuice is seen as an important character because he looks drastically different than say regular citizens Barbara and Adam. There is no one else in the show that comes close to looking as deranged as Beetlejuice, making him a stand out character. Discussing costuming, Lydia also stood out. She dresses in all black, due to her constant thinking about death and her mom. This strictly black look, adds to the character that Lydia is. Lydia had a good amount of lines where she described how she doesn't care about anything or anyone anymore, or "why does it matter" kind of things. It made her appear even more emotionless to the audience than she already was due to her mom's death. Barbara and Adam were seen as very similar characters due to the fact that they dressed and acted very similar to each other. Even though they were all ghosts, Beetlejuice and the Maitland's were portrayed as very different from each other from the start since Beetlejuice is the "mean" ghost and the Maitland's are the "nice" ghosts. The contrast in each of their costumes highlighted their differences. With all of these things in mind, it would appear that the director really wanted to highlight Beetlejuice and the abstract character that he is. By using both, lighting, costuming, makeup, and staging, the director was affectively able to portray Beetlejuice as an important character to this story.
Aside from all the chaos, the most memorable moment for me was when Lydia was in the Netherworld singing her song "Home". The staging for this song was so simple and basic with a spotlight on Lydia alone onstage singing, and the black and white spiral of nothingness in the Netherworld behind her. The basic staging of this scene really forced the audience to focus on not only what Lydia was singing, but also the emotion behind every singly lyric that she sang. There had been so much chaos before this moment, and just to stop and not have anything in the background to distract our attention proved to be a very affective choice that created a lot of emotion. It was like I was feeling Lydia's emotions with her, and it made me emotional. For me, that song was the most emotional few minutes of the show, and it really resonated with me.
Beetlejuice was definitely my favorite character. Although nothing about this story was very realistic, Alex Brightman did a fantastic job of sucking the entire audience into his story. Brightman really got into the over-the-top character that Beetlejuice is, and excelled at portraying his character. Through big stage movements, to the way he made his voice sound eery, cruel and evil, Brightman made Beetlejuice the star of the show for me. Not to mention the way he delivered his one-liner jokes was absolutely hilarious, making his evil character somewhat loveable, relatable, and comedic. As mentioned before, his costume added a lot to the character of Beetlejuice. Because he looked so silly, weird and different, his jokes, gestures, the way he walked, and everything else about him became comical. For example, in the dinner scene where Beetlejuice tries to shoo away Lydia's dad, fiancé, and their guests, Beetlejuice kind of scurries around on stage, with rapid little footsteps which looked funny (especially in that costume), yet so chaotic at the same time. Also, in the beginning, when we first see Beetlejuice and his outrageous costume, he threatens to kill anyone if he hears a cell phone ring. This was super funny and comical because he looks so ridiculous but then threatens to kill if he hears a cell phone. Right from the start, Brightman made Beetlejuice super funny and sarcastic, which was carried out throughout the entire show.
This show was unlike any other production I've ever seen. I thoroughly enjoyed the show due to it's comedic relief in times of complete chaos and even sadness. Since there were so many ISTA students there, the audience had such great energy and seemed to enjoy themselves as well. Personally, I really enjoyed the big, detailed set, as well as the contrast between main characters Lydia and Beetlejuice. The lighting affects also added a lot to this show as well. From this experience, I learned a lot about how big gestures really draw the audience in and can build suspense during times of chaos. Contrary to this, I learned how simple set and staging can create a really emotional scene that audience members will remember. Although, this show is not your traditional Broadway show, it is proof that the unorthodox approach to creating theatre can be just as affective and powerful as the traditional ways.
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