“Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!” It is finally time to summon the ghastly humorous entertainment that is Beetlejuice. But this time, it will be on stage. Beetlejuice The Musical screams fun in weirdness, an excellent love letter to the 1988 original. Who would have thought that high-spirited tunes and dark themes work together? Well, this musical proves that to you. Beetlejuice comes to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre this year. If you are feeling particularly cold this holiday season, you might need a little bit of a nudge from this dark-humored musical.
“High-spirited fun, wickedly good tunes, and eye-popping visuals make this night of the living dead a scream.” — Variety
“A Jaw-Dropping Funhouse!” — The New York Times
The 1988 movie of Beetlejuice is an icon for most horror fans. To the delight of all, it finally has a musical version after years of reworks. In this version, Scott Brown and Anthony King, writers of the musical’s book, aim to capture the freakiness that Tim Burton laid out for the movie. This is a challenging endeavor. Many recreations of the well-known film have been infamously known to fail, and only some did truly triumph. Being a critic himself, Scott Brown is especially aware of the musical’s reception. In an article he wrote for Vulture, he talked about this. “Being part of Beetlejuice (and, contractually mandated poster-font-size aside, I am a very small part of Beetlejuice) means fighting and folding and fulminating and resenting and benefiting from and ultimately submitting to the collective jet stream.” To strengthen the work, Australian musical comedian Eddie Perfect was tasked with the show’s music and lyrics, and Alex Timbers took the helm as the director. Their collaboration for this musical has been praised for being true to its source and for retaining the film’s enthusiasm.
This musical comedy is based on Tim Burton’s much-loved film, and it brings “ghost-with-the-most” to the stage. The story revolves around a peculiar teenage girl named Lydia Deetz, who is preoccupied with the concept of death. The musical opens with Lydia mourning her mother’s passing.
In the beginning, she talks about feeling invisible while her mental health is on a downward spiral. She feels her father slowly neglect her and her deceased mother’s memory. This led her to plan a way to retain her father’s attention. At the same time, she realized that she could see ghosts. She gets lucky when she discovers that the recently departed couple who used to live in her new house has left behind Beetlejuice, a delightful demon with a genuine enthusiasm for life. This double-crossing ghost reveals his true colors when Lydia summons Beetlejuice to scare away anyone with a pulse, unleashing a chaotic series of events that will ultimately teach everyone a valuable lesson about acceptance and cherishing life.
“Beetlejuice may be a show about death, but thanks to book writers Anthony King and Scott Brown, the musical pulses with heart.” — Playbill
A pre-Broadway run of the dark humor musical took place at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., in 2018. It made its Broadway transfer in April 2019 at the Winter Garden Theatre, where it still continues to run to this day. The peculiar yet enticing appeal of the musical was a massive success to both audience and critics. Thus, it was no surprise that it garnered several nominations from different reputable award-giving bodies, including Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama League Awards. The musical won the award for “Outstanding Set Design for a Musical” from both Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards. Moreover, director Alex Timbers received the esteemed “Founder’s Award for Excellence in Directing” in the 2019 Drama League Awards.
During the pandemic, “Beetlejuice The Musical” became popular on Tiktok, gaining traction from the younger generation. The official Broadway Cast recording reached the top 10 most listened official cast recordings of a musical and was viral among different countries’ charts. Thus, most musical patrons have been young people since it reopened on Broadway in 2022. Despite its success, Beetlejuice’s Broadway production is set to close on January 8, 2023, after 679 performances and 27 previews. So if you haven’t got the chance to watch this incredibly creative musical, you should take advantage of its national tour that will commence this December.
“A big, fantastical funhouse of Burtonesque magic!” — People magazine
Catch the goolish delights brought to the stage by Lydia, Charles, Adam, Barbara, and of course, Beetlejuice as they embark on a tour all over the country. The Beetlejuice production will kick off at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco, California, on December 6, 2022. The show will run until December 31, so pick the date of your choosing and bring holiday cheers to the entire family. Prepare to hear the musical’s famous songs, including “Beautiful Lives,” “Fright of Their Lives,” “Invisible,” “Jump in the Line,” and many others. You don’t need a copy of the Handbook for the Recently Deceased. All you need is a ticket to enjoy this highly-anticipated musical. Get yours by clicking the “Get Tickets” link on this site.
