SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Aug. 11, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Beetlejuice, just a featured character in the 1988 film despite his top billing, truly stars in the touring production of the 2015 Broadway musical, “Beetlejuice.”
Do not read this review aloud as I have used his name twice, and comical disasters always begins after the third utterance of the “B” name. There, you have been warned.
Anyway, this version of the story about the green-haired, stripey-clothed demon bad boy plays through Sunday at Salt Lake City’s Eccles Theater, 131 S. Main, with shows at 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. For more information or tickets, click here.
In this version, Beetlejuice (just mouth that name) is present when affable homeowners Barbara and Adam (actors Britney Coleman and Will Burton) meet their untimely end and find themselves trapped in their beloved Victorian home, and unseen by new buyer and distracted businessman Charles (Jesse Sharp) and recent hire Delia (Kate Marilley), a flighty and flirty life coach hired by Charles to counsel grieving daughter Lydia (Isabella Esler), whose mother has died.
After limited success manipulating the mild-mannered Barbara and Adam, Beetlejuice (actor Justin Collette) discovers that the gloomy, black-garbed teen, Lydia, can see and converse with the dead. And that’s when Beetlejuice devises a plan, and this play about the dead really sparks to life.
Here, I will stop to confirm this play obviously has dark themes, and it contains several curse words, and also features a few episodes of intense flashing white lights, which could trigger people with some medical issues. Once again, you have been warned.
Now for the good stuff. It’s a Broadway quality production, of course, with great music and dance numbers, and multiple Beetlejuices for occasions when one is just not enough.
The acting is strong, and the musical also allows much more character development for Lydia, through spoken word and song, and — bonus points here — she may just be smart enough to trick a certain demon rather than becoming his unwitting victim.
Despite changes, several key movie scenes and “special effects” also appear in the musical, with most of them being effective and satisfying. And the lively music and high caliber sets, costumes and dance numbers naturally add a lot of energy the movie could not access.
And another difference in the musical is that almost every key character gets a little bit of redemption in the end. It ties up loose ends with a ribbon, but I almost prefer Beetlejuices’ film ending, where he remained a demon hellion, ready to cause more havoc at a moment’s notice should anyone say his name:
Beetlejuice … Beeltlejuice … Be juiced if you get to see this clever musical before it moves on. You have been warned.
