Beetlejuice 2018

Beetlejuice 2018 on Broadway Background

If a Broadway show that has plenty of 4-letter words, paranormal activity and a lot of blood appeals to your sensibilities, then this show is perfect for you and your family. Beetlejuice tells the story of Lydia Deetz, an outcast teenager who is obsessed with death, the deceased and the afterlife. Lydia moves into a new house with her parents and soon discovers the house is haunted by a recently deceased sweet couple and their degenerate demon from the "other side". When Lydia calls on this demonic apparition to scare away her insufferable parents, the demonic demon called Beetlejuice comes up with the a dastardly plan to get rid of them, a plan that will involve exorcism, a strange marriage and other outright evil acts.

Based on the original movie of the same name, Beetlejuice The Musical is now on Broadway and its ruder, meaner and far more ghastly than the original movie ever was. Tim Burton’s wonderfully demented 1988 original film that starred a young Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis and Michael Keaton, brought the characters to life in such a stylistic way that the producers of this Broadway show want to recapture the magic, but with a far more contemporary pitch. The 2019 Broadway show is directed by Alex Timbers (by way of Moulin Rouge) and it has a host of other Broadway names attached including choreography by Connor Gallagher, score by Eddie Perfect and the book by Scott Brown and Anthony King. With an out-of-town tryout at the National Theatre in Washington DC and a tall stack of bawdy jokes, Beetlejuice The Musical delivers a lot of crazy and inappropriate stuff that you would expect from a deranged demon, so Broadway buyer beware, this show may make your head spin around more than once.

This show was initially scheduled to close at the Winter Garden Theatre on June 6, 2020 to make way for the Fall opening of Hugh Jackman vehicle The Music Man. The Coronavirus pandemic closed all Broadway theatres in March 2020 and when a two month extension for the closing was announced taking the shutdown into June, this show was done and closed earlier than anticipated despite great box office numbers. The Shubert Organization made a grand overture of trying to find it another theatre to go into, but they avoided the embarrassment of their failure by the COVID-19 events that overtook the problem. The production played its final performance March 11, 2020 after completing a full year on Broadway. There was no fanfare at the final performance as they had no idea it was all over at that point.

What's Beetlejuice 2018 Like?

Beetlejuice The Musical on Broadway avoids trying to imitate the movie performances from the 1988 original hit movie of the same name and manages to blaze its own trail with a better plot, well placed songs and some good belly laughs to boot. The original movie had a paper-thin plot, but the actors of the day pulled out all the stops with some great dialogue and made the movie into the sleeper hit of the year. In the Broadway show, things are a great deal more balanced, with a better plot, but less visually stunning and less progressive. The show breaks down the fourth wall and delivers a new introspective on the theme, without pandering too much to the audience. The humor ranges from the highbrow to the very low road, thus keeping all levels of audience engaged, with only complaint being just too many unfunny jokes and an insane fever pitch that can get tiresome at times.

Is Beetlejuice 2018 Good for Kids?

Recommended for 10 +