Beetlejuice (Broadway)

“Fantastic stage adaptation...Its wild antics and grotesque yet glittery depictions of the underworld have restored lightness, cheek-aching laughter and unabashed, over-the-top, go-for-broke fun back to Broadway...A crowd-pleasing wonder...A movie-based musical that is entirely modern, original, stage-worthy and, in some ways, even superior to the film itself...The most devilishly delightful and debaucherously entertaining event on Broadway.” Full Review

"The new book and music and lyrics build on the source material, but add more rapid-fire jokes, some slightly different twists, and a score that infuses Broadway with rock, punk, pop, and Latin music styles for an ebullient edgy theatrical re-imagining of the cult-classic movie. Director Alex Timbers sets a lively pace, and a killer cast embraces the quirky characters, offbeat jokes, madcap songs, and zany choreography with full-blown vibrancy." Full Review

"If you are a great fan of Tim Burton’s creative genius and his enlightened vision of the 'Netherworld' and the malevolent, frightful spirits that populate it, you will not be disappointed by this glorious iteration that replicates them with the brilliance of twitting itself in the process...There’s a lot to be thrilled about. The puppetry is spectacular...'Beetlejuice' is a LOL ride and must-see, especially if you saw the film a number of times and appreciate its wit and originality." Full Review

"A creative team that includes director Alex Timbers and his inspired designers David Korins (sets) and William Ivey Long (costumes), animate this parade of eccentricity with flair and great comedy technique that turns it into a subversive delight. The score by Eddie Perfect is full of wit and grit, and Scott Brown and Anthony King's book propels it forward smartly. There are also hilarious performances from Leslie Kritzer and Sophia Anne Caruso." Full Review

"The musical is a theme park unto itself and a fun, offbeat roller-coaster ride from start to finish. It stands out as a superior adaptation for so many reasons, but mostly due to Brown and King’s clever book and outrageously effervescent performances by Brightman, Kritzer and Caruso, plus whimsical sets by Korins and over-the-top costumes by William Ivey Long...Director Alex Timbers holds everything together beautifully and gets noteworthy performances from the rest of the cast." Full Review

"One irreverent, funny roller-coaster ride to hell and back. It has bloodcurdlingly, witty dialogue. And a bunch of over-the-top characters. A man down the aisle from me laughed so hard he nearly lost one of his heads...The hidden star in this show, however, is Scott Brown and Anthony King’s book. It is cleverly written and constantly surprising, and very, very funny. This is one show where some people will bust a gut; others may laugh their asses off." Full Review

"From the moment you step into the theater, you are transported to a different world...What completely steals the show is not a specific actor, line or song but the sets, lights and special effects, which are to die for...Simply, 'Beetlejuice' is fun, fun, FUN! It is a wacky, witty, raunchy, sometimes messy, sometimes complete sensory overflow but is that not also a perfect definition of the titular character audience members recall from the movie?" Full Review

"The retooling done since its out-of-town tryout in D.C. gives the latest film-to-musical adaptation fresh snap, surprises and (gasp!) even heart. Sure, the narrative becomes a bit of a cluster-muck in the second act — but mostly it’s just screamingly good fun...The plotting eventually goes completely off the rails, but keeping things entertaining enough are the off-the-wall humor, endless visuals and aural delights, tuneful music and wicked lyrics of Perfect." Full Review

"'Beetlejuice,' as it now presents itself, is a loopy, nutty, loud, winning hoot. It’s still pretty tasteless, lewd and inappropriate too—just acceptably so...Kritzer’s performance is one of the comic cherries-on-top of the Broadway season...Yes, the show is an extremely long two and a half plus hours, yes it feels off-balance in places, but it is also shameless, big, bold, fun and brassy. This is the miss that may well become a hit." Full Review

“Under the resourceful direction of Timbers, the principals form a sublime ensemble...They create maximal mayhem...There are moments when relentless exuberance becomes monotonous and it's hard not to ponder all that doesn't add up in the story. Those moments are relatively few and when they occur, the eclectic musical score, the visual humor, and the cast's hijinks soon reassert themselves, distracting us once again from our disbelief." Full Review

“If you feel even the slightest hint of a migraine coming on, you might want to skip venturing into this funhouse/madhouse...It’s an incredibly noisy experience aimed primarily at scaring the living. And it’s done with a riotous score...The show has been directed with what feels like unhinged imagination...Coherence is thrown to the winds...What remains pretty constant is the playful obnoxiousness and energy of Brightman as Beetlejuice. It’s a monumental performance.” Full Review

"A very enjoyable, very self-aware, very slick, very tuneful, very constructed-to-please-the-crowds new Broadway musical...All of it builds to a perfectly, wonderfully, showbizzy good time...It’s those big performances that work best here — Jill Abramovitz, wonderfully ridiculous in a bit part as an investor’s vacant wife, is a standout — because the whole show is so big." Full Review

“Madcap spectacle, a killer set, and some fine performances dominate this movie-to-musical product of the Broadway-industrial complex...The sort of high-octane thrills you might you might find at a high-end amusement park...’Beetlejuice’ isn’t at its best when it’s trying to tug at the heartstrings. The story is most effective when it’s satirizing America’s out-of-touch bourgeois, and this cast is up to the task.” Full Review

"A joyful musical that celebrates death and the afterlife may seem like an odd mixture for audience entertainment, but black humor has long been an antidote to the venom of reality and Eddie Perfect’s wild and witty lyrics keep returning to existential minefields...The two best songs are reserved for the second act when we finally get a glimpse at the characters in the Netherworld." Full Review

"Crafted from a group of creative minds who clearly love the source material...There are still second act problems and a song list void of any real bops, but it’s a fun time for the Burton novice and pure fan service for the Burton stans, thanks in large part to the titular puckish undead spirit breathing life into a Broadway experiment that could’ve been dead in the water...The real surprise standout is Kritzer’s Delia. A supporting role, yes, but one she blends with all kinds of comedy." Full Review

"Wildly entertaining...You just have to sit back and be surprised, tickled, and over-joyed with ghoulish glee. That’s all because of the energetic dynamo Alex Brightman...'Beetlejuice' does everything that it needs to do 'Invisible'-y in about the first ten minutes, surprising and knocking us down with its wit and darkly fun play. And that’s quite the feat when you know the source material...Your heart won’t be twisted, but your funny bone will get worked out until death." Full Review

“A succession of inventive visual, comic, and musical delights…The lyrics are often risibly clever but the music is best at creating upbeat rhythmic backgrounds for Connor Gallagher's…acrobatic choreography...Too many…tunes…sound like the generic, big-note numbers that populate so many 21st-century musicals…I can't deny occasionally feeling I was six feet under but that doesn't mean that 'Beetlejuice,' which insists it's about death, isn't very much alive.” Full Review

"The show is a loving homage to a wonderfully weird original, reconceived for the stage with eye-popping design, full-throttle performances and a mischievous sense of fun...It's impossible to deny the virtuosic showmanship of lead actor Alex Brightman...The writers struggle to control the reins of their galloping narrative...The musical delivers a unique fan experience for lovers of the movie, and plenty of touches that Burton cultists will appreciate." Full Review

"Director Alex Timbers matches film director Tim Burton's ceaseless creativity. Obviously the challenge was on having to compete with all the filmic effects, and thanks to scenic designer David Korins and the special effects creators, the imagery is truly dazzling. Besides Beetlejuice, the showcase character is Leslie Kritzer's ditzy Delia, and she utterly slays us with this off-the-wall performance. For all the talent here, the show suffers from sensory overload." Full Review

"Against considerable odds, the musical manages to surmount most of the hurdles it faces, even if, like that nasty-funny ghost at its center, for many it may ultimately overstay its welcome...The musical is considerably funnier than the movie...The director, the prolific Alex Timbers, might have profitably taken an editor’s pen to the cumbersome gyrations of the plot...Kritzer and Brightman aside, the performers are not given much high-fiber comic material." Full Review

"Happily and improbably, 'Beetlejuice,' directed by Alex Timbers, lays those problems to rest. (A pretty hectic rest, but still.) Where the show falters is in the more ordinary stuff of musical theater, story and song...The book writers, Scott Brown and Anthony King, have plenty of good lines, but they haven’t really decided what story they want to tell...Eddie Perfect’s songs are forgettable...And yet somehow, impossibly, 'Beetlejuice' is pretty fun." Full Review

"True to its source material, it’s loud, it’s cheeky, and it’s all about excess. It’s also—thanks in large part to Alex Brightman’s spot-on performance as the incorrigible titular ghoul—a pretty fun time...The truth is we’re not here for the sweet stuff; we’re here for the mayhem, and the show is at its best when the growling, grinning Brightman is onstage...The musical is supposed to have twin engines, Beetlejuice and Lydia, but only the first is fully firing." Full Review

"This reworked incarnation, under Alex Timbers’s direction, breathes slightly more enjoyably even as it remains too faithful to the pumped-up inclinations of book writers Scott Brown and Anthony King and composer-lyricist Eddie Perfect...On the seriously plus side, two inferior songs have been cut from Act 2...It will never be among my favorite musicals, but I bet there will be a healthy and less-encumbered cheering section for it in New York." Full Review

“The story goes a bit flat, and is harder to follow than the film, Brown and King have fun with the dialog...Aside from Brightman and Kritzer, none of the performances really jump, mostly because the otherwise talented actors bring very little life or dimension to their characters. But the show succeeds...’Beetlejuice’ is a Broadway crowd pleaser that does what it sets out to do: provide a visually pleasing reminder of an old favorite. To look any deeper would be a mistake.” Full Review

"There’s plenty worth a haunt here, from David Korins’ off-kilter spook house set to Alex Brightman’s raspy-voiced title performance and, most of all, the deliriously gorgeous singing of young Sophia Anne Caruso, and it all comes within reasonable reach of exorcising the bad vibes that attached themselves to the production during its pre-Broadway run in Washington D.C...The book retains the best bits from the movie without adding much of lasting value." Full Review