”
Beetlejuice The Musical”
the Winter Garden Theater
Manhattan
Music/Lyrics: Eddie Perfect
Book: Scott Brown, Anthony King
cast: Alex Brightman, Sophia Anne Caruso, Kerry Butler, Rob McClure
As wacky as director Tim Burton 1988’s cinematic comedy, “Beetlejuice,” was, throwing it on stage is even a wackier idea. With the film version starring such a sterling cast as Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin as Barbara and Adam Maitland respectively; Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz; and Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse — that’s “Beetlejuice” actually — Burton’s happy house haunting would seem hard to translate to a live Broadway experience.
Yet, there is a staged version and this musical adaptation goes much further in the narrative chaos that oozed from the film’s all-over-the-place plot. Whatever nuttiness ensues in the staged theatrical version, Tony-nominated actor Alex Brightman — in the title role — makes it all acceptable through his energy and presence.
Complementing his performance is that of teenaged Sophia Anne Caruso as Lydia Deetz, the black-clad, angst-ridden “young adult” who needs to overcome internal and external challenges — including managing the maddening Beetlejuice — to fully make it to adulthood. Recalling the storyline gets challenging given its angular nature but it goes something like this: there’s this much loved house, once occupied by the now drowned Maitlands —Barbara and Adam (played by Kerry Butler and Rob McClure respectively). Once they realize they’re both dead and ghosts, they try to drive out the Deetzs — a family they particularly dislike who now occupy their residence. In order to 
be more effective ghosts, they enlist the aid of the demon Beetlejuice to help in the haunting. That sort of backfires — because, thrown into the mix, is their daughter Deez, who can see all the ghostliness. Ultimately, Deetz, the demon and the Maitlands find some sort of resolution and Beetlejuice has to deal with his monstrous mother in Hell.
At least that’s what I pieced together from what was experienced on stage. Loaded with many conceptual incursions such as a demonic puppet monster worm and Beetlejuice’s fourth-wall breaking commentary addressed directly to audiences attending the performance, it wasn’t always clear whether there was any logic to the plot. But thanks to Brightman and Caruso’s exemplary performances, the whole cast worked through the show with a kind of amped-up enthusiasm that pushes back against the lack of logic — making it worthy entertainment.
And much as it was in the film, the “Beetlejuice” rendition of Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” — with Delia, Charles, Maxine, Maxie, Lydia, and the ensemble all rocking out — stirred the audience. In fact, like other cult faves such as “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” this Broadway musical is bringing the hardcore regulars who know every lyric and melody and rave along — enhancing the experience even if it doesn’t always make sense.