Beetlejuice (theatre)

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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 multiple Tony nominations (not to mention wins from the Drama Desk, Drama League and Theatre World); then the COVID-19 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.

Tropes used in Beetlejuice (theatre) include:

Actually Pretty Funny: Much as in the film, this is why the Banana Boat dinner backfires. After the guests and house residents get over the initial shock, they find the haunting pretty amusing. It might have been the conga line that overdid it, as the investors start enjoying themselves while dancing and order Charles to not apologize. Adam and Barbara sincerely apologize to Lydia on realizing they did the scare too well.
Adaptational Heroism:
- Charles is stern and less of a Bumbling Dad, but in the movie, he was immediately thinking how to turn Adam and Barbara into his next money-making attraction after the Banana Boat-hijacked dinner. The musical reveals that he moved himself and Lydia to a new house for a fresh start, to cope with Emily's death, and pays Delia as a life coach to help Lydia with her grief. He maintains a stoic demeanor because he truly believed staying strong was the best way to help his daughter, and apologizes to Lydia when rescuing her in the Netherworld when realizing that she thought he had moved on from Emily too quickly. Unlike in the movie where he wanted to profit off the hauntings, he gives a Big "What?" when the investors spring the idea on him mid-conga line. Act Two has him go Papa Wolf when Beetlejuice ejects him and the dinner guests from the house while leaving Lydia inside. His goal becomes rescuing Lydia from a dangerous influence and doesn't blame Lydia for summoning the demon.
- While Delia becomes less assertive, smart and confident as a result, she is genuinely worried about Lydia's well-being in the show and doesn't dismiss her statements offhand. In the movie, she's a bit stern and tells Lydia to not make up wild ghost stories when Lydia says the house is haunted, as well as bossing her around to make the ghosts come on command after realizing Lydia was telling the truth. Charles hired her to be Lydia's life coach after Emily died, and Delia comes to truly love both of them. When they talk about breaking the news to Lydia that they're getting married, Delia wants to ensure that the news doesn't harm her future stepdaughter. She even offers that they could convert one of the spare rooms into a darkroom for Lydia's photography, while Charles had that line in the film.
- While Beetlejuice has a few moments where he is worse than his movie counterpart-- such as when movie Beetlejuice is horrified at the teen Lydia being suicidal while stage Beetlejuice seems more concerned about interrupting her suicide attempt to become her new friend and use her for his scheme to return to life, and he orchestrates Barbara's exorcism to coerce Lydia into marrying him-- overall his journey leans towards this trope. He actually is horrified when Adam and Barbara die in front of him, agrees not to hurt Charles and Delia when Lydia summons him, and makes it clear that he doesn't want Lydia sexually because she is way too young for him and that would be creepy. In the movie he is pretty indifferent about Adam and Barbara's predicament as ghosts until they decide to summon him, his pranks came very close to killing everyone in the house, and he's very upfront about the fact that he's attracted to Lydia despite her being a child. The movie climax ends with Barbara using a Sandworm to eat Beetlejuice, while in the play Beetlejuice tames the Sandworm to rescue Lydia from Juno.
Adaptational Jerkass: This is a consequence of making Lydia the protagonist, rather than the deuteragonist as she was in the film. The film had her as the Only Sane Woman that befriends Adam and Barbara, reassuring them she doesn't want them out while trying to serve as their voice to her father and stepmother. She fully prepares to marry Beetlejuice to save the ghost couple. While she's grieving over her mother's death and Delia understands why Lydia would freak out about her life coach marrying her widowed father, she does a few more Jerkass things in the musical. For one, the hijacked dinner is her idea when Adam and Barbara are simply too nice to think of how to scare the Deetzes out, but Lydia trusts them more than she trusts Beetlejuice. Act Two also has her hang out with Beetlejuice and under his influence pranks several people who come to the door, including a sweet Girl Scout with a heart condition.
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, he rescues her from Juno in the climax, before wishing her and the rest of the cast well and going off to see the world.
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.
Big "What?": Both Charles and Adam say this when Maxie Dean says that the ghosts will make the investors rich during the hijacked dinner. Adam is so shocked that he stops the possession immediately.
Bratty Teenage Daughter: Unlike in the movie where Lydia is the Only Sane Woman and tries to warn her parents about the ghosts, she embraces this persona in full to cope with her grief about losing her mother. Ruining the dinner becomes her idea. Act Two deconstructs this tendency; while living with Beetlejuice in her house for a few weeks, she pranks several people who come to the door, including a Girl Scout that unknown to her has a heart condition where any stress can kill her. While she hesitates with said Girl Scout Skye, she still goes through with the prank and sends the poor girl running and screaming. Beetlejuice more than approves; Adam and Barbara don't.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: Beetlejuice does this throughout the show.
Chekhov's Gun: The "Giant snake " in the opening. Beetlejuice uses it in the climax to save Lydia from Juno.
Curb Stomp Cushion: Credit to Delia during the dinner party, she freaks out when Barbara brings the roast pig to life and uses it to bat at her playfully, but she fights back before the pig wins. You can even see her in a video clip punching the pig square on the snout.
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.
Easily Forgiven: Ironically enough, Beetlejuice isn't the one who incites this. Everyone treats him with suspicion and distrust, understandably so. Instead, he acts this way towards Lydia. She pushes him off the roof, which incapacitates but doesn't kill him. He waits for her to call him at the end of Act One and treats her like a bestie when they're roommates at the start of Act Two, showing no hard feelings. In the climax, she pretends to agree to marry him, only to use some homemade art around the house to kill him. When he comes back to save her from Juno, his attitude is more "Eh, fair enough" than outraged. Beetlejuice than argues with Juno that Lydia is just a kid, and has her whole life ahead of her, so maybe she can overlook Lydia going into the Netherworld before her time came.
Even Evil Has Standards:
- While Beetlejuice is spying on Adam and Barbara while they are alive, he is downright shocked when the bad flooring in their house kills them, just as they're planning to try for a baby again. He actually needs a minute before he resumes singing that the play is about death.
- 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 Beetlejuice refuse to let Juno take Lydia back to the Netherworld. While part of it was that briefly living again gave him a Heel Realization about being a bad guy, the other part is that Juno is only supposed to process dead souls, not living ones, and Lydia is only a teenager.
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. In Act Two, she briefly hesitates about pranking a sweet Girl Scouts girl before going through with it, to Beetlejuice's amusement.
- 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. Ultimately, this trope is why Adam and Barbara can't be scary; sure, they have a few good ideas with Lydia at the dinner party like with bringing the roast pig to life, but neither of them actually wants to hurt anyone while they're ghosts. It's their protective instinct towards Lydia in the Second Act when Beetlejuice uses Barbara as a bargaining chip that makes Charles and Delia realize that the ghosts aren't their enemies, and they all become housemates.
Foreshadowing: Beetlejuice despite himself starts singing along to Adam and Barbara when they talk about the reasons to have -- or not have-- a kid, how they're worried about being good parents. It's why he gets blindsided after they fall through terrible flooring in their house just as they agree to give it a shot, though he later tries to teach them how to be scary and not move on to the next plane. Turns out Juno was Beetlejuice's mother, an emotionally abusive alcoholic that drove him to a premature death. Beetlejuice was appreciating how Adam and Barbara were actually thinking about all the implications of bringing a child into the world and giving them the best life possible.
Hidden Depths: Charles admits that, contrary to his outward exterior, he hasn't stopped mourning Emily. He was burying his sadness in an attempt to stsy strong and not realizing that he was hurting Lydia.
I Gave My Word: Beetlejuice may manipulate a situation to his benefit, but he keeps all his promises. When Lydia summons him but specifies that she doesn't want her dad or Delia killed? He boots them out of the house along with Maxie Dean and the investors, alive and well. Blackmails Lydia into marrying him in exchange for stopping Barbara's exorcism, which he orchestrated to get said marriage? He saves Barbara before trying to make Lydia go through with the deal. Indeed, he's more enraged that Lydia is the one who breaks the deal than about the fact that she runs away to the Netherworld to find her mother.
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. She's outraged on learning that Otho sold her a scam parlor trick to stop Beetlejuice when the latter is endangering Lydia, and joins the adults when Juno tries taking an alive Lydia to the Netherworld.
Morality Chain: Lydia becomes this for Adam and Barbara, as well as her father, Delia and Beetlejuice in the climax. 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! Lydia, this is a dangerously unstable individual." It's this quality that eventually endears him to Charles, who feels the same way about his daughter.
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.
Replacement Goldfish:
- Ultimately subverted with Delia considering how she plans to marry Charles after he falls for her and says that he wants her in his life. While Lydia suspects that Charles is trying to replace Emily with Delia by marrying a life support coach, Charles actually reveals that he could never forget about Emily, after rescuing his daughter in the Netherworld. He can still love Delia and remember his first wife. This conversation allows Lydia to give her blessing for their marriage
- Lydia is a replacement possibility goldfish for Delia as well as Adam and Barbara. Delia reveals to Lydia during a session that her husband had an affair and ran away from her with his lover, making her fear that she would never have children. Adam and Barbara were talking about trying for a baby before they had their fatal accident. As a result, they are very parental towards Lydia after realizing that she can see them.
Screen-to-Stage Adaptation: Lampshaded with Beetlejuice's very first lines:

Holy crap! A ballad already! And such a bold departure from the original source material!

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.

This Is Gonna Suck: Adam and Barbara, combined with Oh Crap, have this reaction in the Act One finale when their attempted hijacking of the dinner backfires, and Lydia becomes so desperate that she summons Beetlejuice. They brace themselves for the inevitable chaos.
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".
Wham! Line: "I can't keep living like this!" Lydia shouts at the end of Act One, before saying "Beetlejuice" three times. That's right, Lydia summons him before the Maitlands do in the movie.
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, it's not as if I've lost my mind!"
You Are Worth Hell: Parental example; Charles proves that he does care about Lydia by chasing after her in the Netherworld and helping her escape Juno. He also admits to Lydia that he's been burying his sadness about Emily in pursuing Delia and didn't think about how his daughter would feel.