Beetlejuice (theatre)

Beetlejuice is a 2018 musical. It is based on the movie of the same name. Alex Brightman plays the title character, and Sophia Anne Caruso played the original Lydia Deetz.

Emily Deetz has died; her husband Charles and daughter Lydia mourn her, with Lydia worrying that her dad is moving on with life and forgetting about her mother. They move into a house with Lydia's life coach Delia, not knowing that it's haunted by the previous owners, Adam and Barbara Maitland. Not helping is Delia's perky attitude refusing to acknowledge the elephant in the room, and she's having an affair with Charles.

Beetlejuice then interrupts these proceedings and awkwardness to remind the audience this is a play about death, and it's a comedy! He schemes to manipulate Barbara and Adam to help him become human again. When they fail to impress him with haunting ideas, Lydia becomes his plan B.

When Beetlejuice premiered on Broadway in 2019, it received a muted response despite rave critical reviews and a multiple Tony nominations (not to mention wins from the Drama Desk, Drama League and Theatre World) and the pandemic forced the show to shut down. When it reopened on April 8, 2022, however, the audience was much more receptive. Brightman couldn't even say his first line on reopening night before applause drowned him out.

The show is set to close in January 2023 for financial reasons.

"Holy crap! A ballad already! And such a bold departure from the original source material!"
 * Armor-Piercing Question: Beetlejuice tries to convince Lydia to summon him by possessing Adam and Barbara to say nice things about him. Because he cannot lie, however, he says that any ghost can do possession. She asks, understandably, "Then what do I need you for?" He scrambles to pull up an answer, and she shuts him up by pushing him off the roof.
 * Becoming the Mask: Beetlejuice plans to use Lydia to become alive again, and only sees her as his ticket from being undead, while establishing that he doesn't want to have a romantic relationship with her because that would be super creepy even for a Villain Protagonist. Act Two opens up with him genuinely enjoying her company as they scare people at the front door For the Evulz and showing Green-Eyed Monster when she wants his help to find her mother in the Netherworld. Indeed,.
 * Beware the Honest Ones: Owing to his nature, Beetlejuice cannot lie. He can, however, manipulate the living and the dead to do his bidding. That makes him dangerous, and "unstable" as Adam notes.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: Beetlejuice does this throughout the show.
 * Chekhov's Gun: The "Giant snake " in the opening..
 * Dope Slap: Lydia smacks Beetlejuice in the chest during "Say My Name" while saying she's not dumb enough to summon a demon based on his word alone.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Beetlejuice plots to marry Lydia, but he reassures his doubles and the audience that it would be super creepy if he actually wanted her; marrying Lydia will bring him back to life, so it's a "citizenship marriage". The musical's climax has.
 * Everyone Has Standards:
 * Lydia is mad at her father for seemingly moving on from her mother and not caring how she feels. When Beetlejuice suggests killing him however, she gives a Big No.
 * Despite figuring out rather quickly that Beetlejuice is bad news, Adam and Barbara are aghast when Lydia casually pushes him off the roof. She has to point out "He's already dead" for them to get over it.
 * Hidden Depths: Charles admits that, contrary to his outward exterior,.
 * Mama Bear: Despite the fact that Delia is The Ditz and too perky to realize she's in a dangerous situation, she shows she will protect Lydia with her life, and joins the adults when.
 * Morality Chain: Lydia becomes this for Adam and Barbara, as well as her father, Delia and . What makes the ghosts and the living adults call truce in the second act? When Beetlejuice coerces Lydia to marry him so he'll be human, even though he's way older than her and openly says it's because he wants to be alive again.
 * Papa Wolf: Adam doesn't want Beetlejuice anywhere near Lydia. When seeing Beetlejuice talking to her on the roof, Adam screams at Beetlejuice, "You get away from her! This is a dangerously unstable individual."
 * Pragmatic Villainy: Unlike in the movie where Beetlejuice encouraged Lydia to never give into her suicidal thoughts, he stops her from jumping on seeing that she can benefit his plans to become human. He just made a mistake; Lydia can see that he's Obviously Evil and has ulterior motives.
 * Screen-to-Stage Adaptation: Lampshaded with Beetlejuice's very first lines:


 * His opening number "The Whole Being Dead Thing" includes multiple references to the fact that the audience is watching a play, including a threat to kill the owner of a ringing cellphone and how many times a week he performs in the show, written right into the lyrics of the song.


 * Troll: Lydia winds up Beetlejuice several times after he does charades so she can figure out his name. She seems like she's going to summon him, but chooses another word for the third time she's supposed to say "Beetlejuice".
 * Who Would Be Stupid Enough...?: Lydia asks Beetlejuice this in "Say My Name"; why would she summon him after figuring out his name, when just meeting him? He showed up and casually suggested offing her father. That does not indicate he is trustworthy. "I may suicidal, but Beetlejuice, I haven't lost my mind!"
 * You Are Worth Hell: Parental example; Charles proves that he does care about Lydia by.