‘Beetlejuice’ ends Broadway season at Dr. Phillips Center in high spirits | Review
There’s an automatic snobbishness among theater purists about a musical adapted from a movie. And, God knows, Orlando audiences were already burned in this season’s touring Broadway series by a dismal version of “Pretty Woman.”
But I decided to attend “Beetlejuice” at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts with an open mind. It helped that I had never seen the hit 1988 comedy film (we can discuss that oversight in my cultural education later). So, having missed the musical’s Broadway runs around the COVID-19 shutdown, I didn’t know what to expect from the stage musical. With no preconceived notions, I was pleasantly surprised.
“Beetlejuice” is loud and crass and weird — and a heck of a lot of fun. There’s even a soupcon of depth, if you think about how people cope with grief and loss and loneliness. But it’s truly just a smidge of that; nothing can get in the way of the double entendres in this story of a girl who’s lost her mom and, like the titular ghost, feels invisible. (An enjoyable subplot finds a young couple learning how to live their best lives — after they’ve died.)
There’s a pleasing sly meta factor in that Beetlejuice himself talks to the audience and knows it’s all a show. It’s gorgeously lit, by Kenneth Posner, on an inventively askew set, by David Korins, with pitch-perfect costumes, by William Ivey Long.
You’re either going to like this style of in-your-face humor or not, but director Alex Timbers keeps the show chugging along.
Scott Brown and Anthony King’s story has a few, shall we say, holes. And Eddie Perfect’s music, a bracing mix of rock, pop and showtune, fits the vibe although reprises itself a bit too often.
But the cast sings this and sells this with such gusto it’s nigh impossible not to be carried along with the fun.
Justin Collette is the gregarious, oversexed, can’t be trusted demon of a title character — whom you like despite his glaring flaws. Isabella Esler has a winsome way and powerful pipes as the grief-stricken young girl who teams with him. Britney Coleman and Will Burton ooze charm with self-deprecating winks at their stereotyped suburbanite characters.
And understudy Lexie Dorsett Sharp displays excellent comic timing as a goofy life coach who gets tangled up with the ghosts.
The second act is creakier than the first, but the big dance numbers do their job and keep the energy high. Is “Beetlejuice” theater for the ages? No, but it is a spirited night of entertainment.
“Beetlejuice” clearly has a fan base: The queue for souvenir purchases stretched down the long lobby of the Dr. Phillips Center on opening night (and there was a similar line on an upper level). And, the production’s entire run in Orlando is sold out. So that’s an upbeat ending to a mixed season overall.
We had some definite clunkers — the aforementioned “Pretty Woman” and a misguided “My Fair Lady” — alongside a production that never quite lived up to the strength of its message: “Chicago.”
“Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” was solidly entertaining. And then we had some bona fide winners: The season add-on of “Wicked” was especially powerful, the new concert-style “Six” took female empowerment to rock-star heights, and a return of “Hamilton” reminded what makes that show so potent.
Finally, there were two that hit the highest of heights: Richard Thomas headlined a breathtakingly spellbinding “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and last month’s “Into the Woods,” another extra outside the regular season, was superlative from “once upon a time” to the emotional end.
The 2023-24 season opens in October with the umpteenth tour of “Annie,” but includes multiple titles new to Central Florida: “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Jagged Little Pill” and “Moulin Rouge,” among them. On the surface, none of them seems likely to become the next “Hamilton” or “Into the Woods” — but just as with my reaction to “Beetlejuice,” the magic of theater means you never know.
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