Review: Broadway's 'Beetlejuice' is a Different and Brash Wild Ride

It goes without saying that Tim Burton’s cleverly stylized 1988 film, Beetlejuice, has legions of fans. Based on the crowd in the Tennessee Theatre lobby Tuesday evening, the Broadway musical stage adaptation of it seems to have quite a few as well. In every direction, one could spot an audience member who was sporting striped outfits of some design or another after the title character, or a cute black hairstyle that echoed that of the Goth-ish Lydia. They, and maybe a thousand or so others, were there for the now-touring Broadway production of Beetlejuice with music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect and a book by Scott Brown and Anthony King—directed by Alex Timbers.

It’s worth mentioning upfront that the creators have taken substantial license with some of the original Burton plot details and characters, replacing comic and cinematic nuances with brash and shallow in-your-face cartoon-ish-ness that is a louder, but a less complex alternative. For example, the role of Beetlejuice himself (Justin Collette, who clearly knows how to entertain an audience) has been inflated into a character that is even more manic and desperate, and admittedly, “more vaudeville.” The character of Delia (Sarah Litzsinger) has been given a somewhat different relationship to Charles (Jesse Sharp) and teenager obsessed-with-death Delia (Isabella Esler) that was a less-than-satisfying departure from the film plot.

To be honest, a good third of the fun and energy of this production comes from the clever set and stagecraft artistry by David Korins and lighting by Kenneth Posner that take the audience on a wild ride from the re-outfitted living room of the old Connecticut farmhouse to its attic where former owners Barbara and Adam (Megan McGinnis and Will Burton) retreat to as newly-deceased ghosts. The audience also goes to hell and back, with extra stops along the way. Some of this seemed wildly unnecessary as spooky effect is piled on to effect, headache-inducing strobe lights are used to cover scene changes, and sight-gags and f-jokes feel relentless. Peter Nigrini’s cartoon-like projections of birds or bats flying in a Gothic atmosphere were used as scene transitions quite effectively. On the technical downside, song lyrics that everyone wants to hear in the more raucous musical numbers were often obscured by the density of the electronic orchestration and the pounding amplification.

As a result, most of the show’s music fails to impress. One exception would be the riotously funny “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” taken at a dinner party for an investor as the tablemates are overcome by the “spirit” of the song. Mostly, though, Beetlejuice’s creators didn’t know where to stop. While “more” probably sounded great on paper, inevitably one comes away overwhelmed by effect and under-whelmed by the creative substance that made the film so charming.

BEETLEJUICE – Broadway TourTennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Downtown KnoxvilleTuesday, June 11 — Sunday, June 16Tickets and Information