*Trigger Warning: This article discusses difficult topics, such as depression, suicide, and suicidal ideation*
The arts are famous for being a method of self-expression. Of course, the term “the arts” includes many different media, such as visual art, music, theatre, sculpture, and more. One of my personal forms of art, however, is musical theatre. From Grease, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King, to Hamilton, Hadestown, Six, and Come From Away, the musical theatre never fails to provide both a wonderfully enjoyable experience and a medium of expressing deep-seated emotional truths. Some of the more recently released musicals are also taking on the task of addressing the difficult and incredibly important issue of mental health. They take many different approaches to address this issue, but one of my favorites can be found in Beetlejuice.
This particular musical is based on a 1988 Time Burton movie by the same name. While the movie is certainly an experience, with excellent performances by Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin, and Geena Davis, the musical is the one that really addresses the issue of mental health. The movie shows one (somewhat problematic) scene in which Lydia (played by Winona Ryder) attempts to write a suicide note, so the topic is mentioned, but the scene appears to be more of a mockery of suicidal ideation than anything else. Lydia struggles to spell words in the note and is portrayed in an over-the-top dramatic fashion that adds to the stigma surrounding depression and suicidal ideation. I could write an entire book on problematic presentations of mental health in the media, but, for now, I’ll focus on the improvement in representation from the movie to the musical.
The musical begins with a teenage girl named Lydia (portrayed by Elizabeth Teeter in the original Broadway cast) mourning the passing of her mother, Emily (“a bold departure from the original source material”). Lydia’s father, Charles, refuses to show his grief, leading Lydia to feel that she is completely alone in her mourning and that he doesn’t care about the death of his own wife. As is completely understandable for a teenage girl losing her mother, Lydia’s grief develops into depression, which appears to have lasted for months after the funeral. When Charles decides that the two of them (along with Lydia’s “life coach” and Charles’ secret lover, Delia) move into a new house, despite Lydia’s protests, this further alienation from her father pushes her further into her depression. When Charles proposes to Delia only months after Emily’s death, Lydia sees no reason to keep living. Without her mother, she feels completely alone and invisible, as she explains in the first song of the musical, aptly titled “Invisible.”
Before Lydia, Charles, and Delia move into the new house, a young couple, named Adam and Barbara, die and meet the titular character, Beetlejuice, who, in case you have never seen either the movie or the musical, is a demon who self-identifies as a “bio-exorcist,” helping recently deceased folks, such as Adam and Barbara, to keep living people, like Lydia and company, out of their territory. His ulterior motive of getting the world to see him drives the plot of the musical, but that aspect of the show is beyond the scope of this article. For our purposes, both Beetlejuice and Lydia are tired of feeling/being invisible and are willing to go to great lengths to be seen and acknowledged.
One of the most well-known songs of the musical, “Say My Name,” occurs when Lydia and Beetlejuice first meet each other, which happens on the roof of the house as Lydia prepares to jump off, both because she sees no improvement coming in her life and because she desperately wants her father to see her and recognize the error of his ways. Throughout the course of the song, Beetlejuice convinces Lydia not to kill herself, suggesting that a better way to make her father suffer would be through the route that Beetlejuice could provide if Charles could see him. While his ulterior motive of getting the world to see him is very much at play here, the point comes across to the audience and to Lydia that suicide is not the answer to her pain. There are ways to make Charles see her (metaphorically) that do not involve killing herself.
The remainder of the show explores different ways that Lydia could make her father realize that she needs him. The attempted methods include possessing him and his business associates at an important dinner, allowing the world to see Beetlejuice and Beetlejuice to torment the world, and jumping into hell to try to bring her mother back; however, none of those methods are successful. What ultimately saves Lydia and gives her the will to keep living is seeing that her father loves her and communicating with him about their grief. When Lydia jumps into the Netherworld (their depiction of hell) in an attempt to find her mother and bring her back to life, Charles follows her, with no idea where they were going or if they could ever come back. Lydia’s surprise that he followed her illustrates the depth of her despair, and it shows her that, even though she has felt invisible to him, he still loves her very much.
Before they are able to talk about their grief, though, they are interrupted by a group of the deceased who are shocked to find that the two of them are in the Netherworld even though they are still alive. A very dramatic musical number follows, in which people, some of whom clearly died by committing suicide, wistfully explain to Lydia that if they had known then what they found out after their death, they would have held on to every moment of life, lived life to its fullest, and never have even considered suicide as an option.
Primed by their song, Lydia still attempts to find her mother but eventually realizes that she won’t be able to succeed. Once Charles catches up with her, she finally makes him see how badly they need to support each other in their grief. She expresses her frustration and her loneliness, leading Charles to explain that his avoidance of any conversation about his late wife has been a result of his own grief. Charles remembers Emily telling him shortly before she passed that they would be able to get through the tough times if they held on to each other, and he realizes that she meant that he and Lydia needed to support each other after she passed. They decide to be there for each other, and Lydia realizes that, although her life may be somewhat unorthodox, it is still worth living. She triumphantly returns home from the Netherworld with Charles and sends Beetlejuice back to the Netherworld where he belongs.
Although this show takes many twists and turns and rests in quite a bit of both dark and lewd humor, it is really the story of how a girl finds support in her family and is able to persevere through her struggles with that support. It draws attention to the best method of improving mental health (a strong support system) without being a heavy-handed lecture. The show keeps the audience laughing for much of it and doesn’t dwell on the difficulties, but it addresses the difficult questions and poses solutions to an audience that might not otherwise consider the value of a social support network. Musicals like Beetlejuice can play a strong role in reducing the stigma surrounding mental health and in helping audiences to search for support that will help them to realize the value of each and every life, despite any hardships that they might face.