Actor, designer talk 'Beetlejuice the Musical' ahead of sold-out show
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“Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetle...”
Fans of Tim Burton’s horror-comedy film know better than to repeat that name three times and invoke the rude title character.
For audiences of the Broadway musical based on the film, though, the third time may be the charm.
“Beetlejuice is such a part of the zeitgeist. Even if you didn’t see the movie, you sense what it means to say 'Beetlejuice!’ three times,” said Justin Collette, who plays the supernatural trickster on tour.
“People think horror movies are scary because ghosts want to kill you. I disagree. I think ghosts want to play with you. ... Beetlejuice just wants everyone to come hang out and party with him in the netherworld."
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How unusual is this musical?
The national tour of “Beetlejuice,” currently sold out for its run here starting March 7 at the Ohio Theatre, marks the third chance for the show to connect with theatergoers and bring the relatively short-lived Broadway musical back from the proverbial dead.
“This is a different type of show from most others on tour now," said Jeremy Chernick, the musical’s special effects designer. "'Beetlejuice’ taps into a certain energy, irreverence, joy and fun more geared toward media-savvy teenagers and those in their 20s and 30s – not your normal older Broadway audience.”
Chernick also said there are now "intense fans" who love the musical.
"For me, its real appeal is as an over-the-top dark comedy about a family finding a way to move forward under fantastical circumstances,” he added.
How did 'Beetlejuice' fare on Broadway?
Initial reactions were mixed to the 2019 Broadway debut. Just as Warner Bros.’ 1988 film divided critics, so did the musical.
While praising the “feverishly inventive” design and direction in his New York Times review, critic Ben Brantley wrote that “this hyperkinetic musical ... tries too hard to haunt,” and faulted its “anything-for-a-laugh intensity.”
Poor ticket sales prompted an early-closing notice, but cast album sales (reaching 100 million streams in 20 weeks, just two weeks longer than “Hamilton” took) fostered a resurgence, with $8 million in advance sales.
Chernick noted a “wonderful” fan base was growing, amplified by social media and many returning fans, by March 2020, when the pandemic shut down Broadway.
With hopes high as the pandemic faded, producers revived “Beetlejuice” in April 2022 at a different theater. Popular at first, the expensive-to-run production closed in January.
Telecharge statistics, confirming a much-higher percentage of first-time and younger ticket buyers than usual for Broadway, made the case for touring – along with vocal support from “The Netherlings,” hard-core fans nicknamed after the show’s antic netherworld.
How does the design define the show?
With “incredible” scenery, lighting, costumes, sound, video projections, puppetry, magic illusions and effects building the supernatural world and its surreal atmosphere, the show’s “rich” design looms larger than in most musicals, Chernick said.
The home is key to the story about the Maitlands, a happily married young couple whose unexpected death makes them naïve newcomers to the afterlife.
“It’s both a haunted house and a fun house, integrated to create a spooky world with joy, surprise and the mystical,” Chernick said.
“The netherworld is a big part of the musical... with at least a dozen different types of smoke machines hidden all over for surprising moments... Every time Beetlejuice enters, there’s a gust of smoke somewhere,” he said.
Who's Beetlejuice, really?
Collette, who starred in Broadway’s “School of Rock,” puts his own spin on the self-advertised “bio-exorcist.”
“He’s a demon trying to con people into giving him some life," Collette said. "The idea is to be completely uninhibited. My Beetlejuice is puckish, joyful, horrible and a little sensitive.”
Beetlejuice dominates from the start with “Being Dead,” the frenetic opening ensemble number hailed by Brantley as “one of the best meta-theatrical songs since ‘The Book of Mormon.’”
“’Being Dead’ is the most thrilling piece I’ve ever been lucky enough to perform," Collette said. "It’s like being lit on fire and shot out of a cannon at an audience doused in gasoline.”
How different are the movie and musical?
Composer-lyricist Eddie Perfect and co-authors Scott Brown and Anthony King adapted the two-act stage version.
“It’s such a beautiful, unpredictable score," said Collette, a writer-musician himself. "I call it punk Sondheim, with a stream-of-consciousness structure ... The brilliant, clever book is full of punch lines and heart.”
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While the film mostly focused on the Maitlands, giving Beetlejuice just 17.5 minutes to shine, the musical centers more on Beetlejuice and Lydia, a goth teenager.
“They’re both lonely in different ways," Collette said. "Beetlejuice, trying his best to out-con Lydia, is incredibly lonely, being dead and having no one see him. ... Lydia, different from the film, is grieving the loss of her real mom."
How important are the effects?
Chernick collaborated closely with director Alex Timbers to incorporate the film’s signature scenes, from the netherworld door-opening to the “Day-O” dinner party and séance.
“We’ve done extensive work adding ‘Easter eggs’ throughout and capturing the film’s aesthetic with visual gags, illusions, memorable bits and Beetlejuice’s wild spirit,” said Chernick, who’s done effects for 22 Broadway productions, including “Hadestown,” “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” and Disney’s “Frozen” and “Aladdin.”
“‘Beetlejuice’ takes place mostly within the walls ... The show lives in that box, as the haunted house becomes a super-fun extra character,” he said.
Nominated for eight Tony awards, including book, score and design (scenery, costumes, lighting and sound), “Beetlejuice” conjures its Burton-esque vision with help from an unusually large 26-member design team.
“We’re all working together,” Chernick said, “to tell this story and evoke this supernatural world.”
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At a glance
Broadway in Columbus and the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts will present “Beetlejuice” (currently sold out) at 7:30 p.m. March 7-9, 8 p.m. March 10, 2 and 8 p.m. March 11 and 1 and 6:30 p.m. March 12 at the Ohio Theatre, 39 E. State St. (cbusarts.com)
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Actor, special effects designer talk sold-out Beetlejuice the Musical
