The pre-Broadway world premiere of the new musical comedy BEETLEJUICE will open the 2018-19 “Broadway at the National” season this coming October! BEETLEJUICE performance dates and the remainder of the 2018-19 “Broadway at the National” season will be announced in the coming weeks, with subscription packages going on sale at that time and individual tickets at a later date.
DON’T SAY THE B WORD.
Lock up your kids, folks, he’s back! Beetlejuice is ruder, raunchier and frankly, more repellant than ever in this original musical based on Tim Burton’s wonderfully demented film. Directed by Alex Timbers, BEETLEJUICEtells the story of Lydia Deetz, a strange and unusual teenager obsessed with the whole “being dead thing.” Lucky for Lydia, her new house is haunted by a recently deceased couple and a degenerate demon who happens to have a thing for stripes. When Lydia calls on this ghost-with-the-most to scare away her insufferable parents, Beetlejuice comes up with the perfect plan, which involves exorcism, arranged marriages and an adorable girl scout who gets scared out of her wits. Plus singing and dancing, of course.
Maybe I'm the only one who noticed (having developed, mostly for fun, a Beetlejuice musical pitch during my college years), but this musical description seems to suggest the show is returning to its roots in the film's original, darker and more plot-centric, unproduced screenplay. Two elements here were not made present in the film as produced, but were important to the original version of the concept: Beetlejuice is a demon, and the younger girl (I'm assuming the "Girl Scout" is her) playing a part in the denouement.
In our millions, in our billions, we are most powerful when we stand together. TW4C unwaveringly joins the worldwide masses, for we know our liberation is inseparably bound.
Signed,
Theater Workers for a Ceasefire
https://theaterworkersforaceasefire.com/statement
Maybe it's because this is one of my favorite movies, but something about Beetlejuice becoming a musical seems off to me. I'm afraid it will end up too campy and not dark enough. Of course, the movie itsself is very campy, but in a... gothic way? At the same time, I don't want this to just be The Addam's Family, you know?
I also hate to be like the audiences who hated Groundhog Day just because they loved the movie... as someone who had never seen the movie, I adored the show. So, maybe I just need to separate the two.
lightguy06222 said: "Norbert Leo Butz is playing Beetlejuice"
Don’t know if this is a joke, but this sounds perfect. Wonder how long his contract with My Fair Lady is. Weren’t early labs with Christopher Fitzgerald and then Alex Brightman?
In our millions, in our billions, we are most powerful when we stand together. TW4C unwaveringly joins the worldwide masses, for we know our liberation is inseparably bound.
Signed,
Theater Workers for a Ceasefire
https://theaterworkersforaceasefire.com/statement
Yeah, to my knowledge, Butz has never been involved in the show's development. Not to say that doesn't mean he can't be involved in the premiere, but still
I hope Leslie Kritzer continues as Delia Deetz.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
I'm also both fascinated and concerned by the "really f***ing explicit" and "ruder and cruder" take the promo promises- other than a notorious F-word and a few innuendos, Beetlejuice is the epitome of the boundary-pushing eighties PG, and it was standard programing on ABC Family and even Disney Channel.
Looks like they're running as hard as they can in the opposite direction, hoping to be an edgy Book of Mormon type success.
They just finished a lab (or maybe it’s still happening, I’m not completely sure). Sophia Anne Caruso is Lydia, Alex Brightman is Beetlejuice. George Salazar and Danny Quadrino were involved, as well.
Don't ask me how I know this, but I know firsthand that Beetlejuice doesn't work on stage. It just wasn't meant for it. Love Timbers, but this is a flop waiting to happen, as badly as I want it to work.
HUGE fan of the movie since I was a kid. Do you think it'd be sense to travel all the way to DC (Im from NY) to see this. Even if its a flop I want to make sure I get to see it because of my love for the film and am nervous that if reviews and word of mouth isn't good enough in DC it won't make its way over here.
The cast is still undecided. I was planning on going to the audition for Lydia, but I had a conflict and I couldn't go... I was soooo sad. But, yeah they are still casting.
Wonder if they’re going to cast a high school aged actress as Lydia. If they do Mallory Bechtel would be perfect for the part.
edit: oops. Just saw the post mentioning Sophia Anne Caruso. So it does look they are going for an accurate aged actress.
In our millions, in our billions, we are most powerful when we stand together. TW4C unwaveringly joins the worldwide masses, for we know our liberation is inseparably bound.
Signed,
Theater Workers for a Ceasefire
https://theaterworkersforaceasefire.com/statement
"HUGE fan of the movie since I was a kid. Do you think it'd be sense to travel all the way to DC (Im from NY) to see this. Even if its a flop I want to make sure I get to see it because of my love for the film and am nervous that if reviews and word of mouth isn't good enough in DC it won't make its way over here."
We took the train to DC for Mean Girls, it wasn't that bad at all. left Saturday morning and made a day of it. We were back home by 1am.
robskynyc said: ""HUGE fan of the movie since I was a kid. Do you think it'd be sense to travel all the way to DC (Im from NY) to see this. Even if its a flop I want to make sure I get to see it because of my love for the film and am nervous that if reviews and word of mouth isn't good enough in DC it won't make its way over here." We took the train to DC for Mean Girls, it wasn't that bad at all. left Saturday morning and made a day of it. We were back home by 1am."
That’s what I’m thinking about doing! Haven’t been to DC since I was very young so I’m sure it’ll be fun just to go!
Just a BTW, Equity shows (like this one) are required to hold EPAs and ECCs. So just because they were holding auditions doesn't mean the show isn't cast, or just because a role is on the breakdown doesn't mean the role isn't cast.