Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Broadway’s Beetlejuice is back, and the ghost with the most has found a new home at the Marriott Marquis theater. Let’s venture to the Netherworld for a look at its origins, resurrection, and the impossible odds it surpassed in its return.
Strange and Unusual Origins:
Tim Burton’s cult classic 80’s film Beetlejuice serves as the source material for the Broadway musical. The movie, with its star studded cast of Micheal Keaton (Beetlejuice), Winona Ryder (Lydia), Alec Baldwin (Adam), Geena Davis (Barbara), and Catherine O’Hara (Delia), cemented itself as a classic film in movie history. The movie follows the Maitlands, a recently deceased couple who, with the help of Beetlejuice, try to scare away the new residents of their house.
The musical is an adaptation of the original storyline. The musical brings Lydia from a supporting character to a main character, and expands the story arc and depth of her character. After the passing of her mother, Lydia’s world drains of color, while her father insists on moving forward, making her feel invisible. The Maitlands, after meeting with a swift death amidst the plans of starting a family, desperately try to free their house from the living people who have moved in. Beetlejuice weaves himself through both of these storylines wreaking havoc, with an underlying desire to be loved that makes him oddly human. These changes culminate in a beautiful story about loss, love, grief, and of course, the whole being dead thing.
The musical first previewed in Washington D.C. from October 14th to November 18th, 2018. The music and lyrics are written by Eddie Perfect and the production is directed by Alex Timbers. The original main cast consisted of Alex Brightman as Beetlejuice, Sophia Anne Caruso as Lydia, Kerry Butler as Barbara, Rob McClure as Adam Maitland, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer as Delia Deetz/Miss Argentina, Adam Dannheisser as Charles Deetz, Dana Steingold as the Girl Scout, Kelvin Moon Loh as Otho, Danny Rutigliano as Maxie Dean, and Jill Abramovitz as Maxine Dean/Juno. After its D.C. run, the show transitioned to Broadway and opened at the Winter Garden Theater on April 25th, 2019.
Beetlejuice was by no means an instant success. It wasn’t until the production’s ensemble member and understudy for Lydia, Presely Ryan, began promoting the show on the popular social media app, Tik Tok, that it truly caught the public eye. What started out as behind-the-scenes videos for Ryan’s own amusement soon became a fast spreading wildfire of popularity. Through her videos, Ryan captivated the minds of the youth, a demographic that Broadway has long been struggling to reach and entertain. As songs from the production began to trend, Beetlejuice’s fanbase seemed to grow overnight. Soon, Beetlejuice joined the ranks of shows like Six, Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton, and Mean Girls who cater to younger audiences. Tik Tok breathed new life into the production, and it soon formulated the vast and ever expanding fanbase, who call themselves the Netherlings.
Curtains Closed:
Beetlejuice was set to close on June 6th, 2020 after the Shubert Organization evoked the stop clause on the production. The stop clause is an agreement between producers and theater landlords to evict a show if it falls below a certain mark in ticket sales for two weeks. As Beetlejuice’s rise to fame was a gradual one, the show was told to vacate the Winter Garden theater, its original home, after falling below that mark towards the beginning of their run. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic cut this limited time even shorter, and Beetlejuice played its last show on March 11th, 2020.
Things seemed bleak for Beetlejuice. Fans did not know whether the show would ever be able to return to Broadway. A show of such epic proportions requires a set to match its magnitude. This sparked many debates over the course of the lockdown about whether or not Beetlejuice would be able to secure the theater it needed once Broadway returned. However, while Broadway went dark, the fans never did. Throughout the entirety of the COVID lockdown, fans never gave up on Beetlejuice: they made videos, created fan art, streamed the cast album, and above all pushed for the production’s return. Fans everywhere found ways to show their love and support for the production, hoping that the day would come when with a return to the world outside, Beetlejuice would return too.
Everyone Loves a Good Comeback Story:
Over two years later, the day finally came. On September 13th, 2021, Beetlejuice’s Instagram handle announced that they were officially coming back to life. Fans everywhere rejoiced and celebrated, for the beloved show would make its way back to Broadway.
Beetlejuice celebrated its reopening night on April 8th, 2022. The main cast returning from the pre-lockdown run are Alex Brightman as the titular bio-exorcist Beetlejuice, Kerry Butler as Barbara Maitland, David Josefsburg as Adam Maitland, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer as Delia Deetz, Adam Dannheisser as Charles Deetz, Dana Steingold as the Girl Scout, Kelvin Moon Loh as Otho and Danny Rutigliano as Maxie Dean. Joining the main cast is Elizabeth Teeter as the beloved Lydia Deetz, Michelle Aravena as Miss Argentina, Zonya Love as Maxine Dean/Juno, alongside new faces in the ensemble as well.
After welcoming the new cast, Brightman turned to address the fans on opening night. “Wow. You showed up, but not just tonight. You’ve been showing up since our first preview exactly 1,107 days ago tonight…Thank you for always showing up, and starting tonight, we hope to continue to show up for you,” Brightman expressed in a heartfelt speech that followed the curtain call. With a sold out opening night, the immense power of the fans was clearer and bolder than ever.
Daylight Comes and They’re Finally Home:
After an arduous journey to success, Beetlejuice is haunting the Marriott Marquis theater, taking audiences on a trip to the Netherworld and back “like 8 times a week”. From the show’s heart, comedy, and complexity, to the show stopping effects, it is not something you want to miss. Catch Beetlejuice on Broadway till January 8th to experience the whole being dead thing!