Review: Beetlejuice

Hey readers!
It's time for my review of Beetlejuice.
Beetlejuice tells 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 father and his new girlfriend, Betelgeuse 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.

This quirky and eccentric musical may not appeal to everyone, but I personally found Beetlejuice to be an extraordinarily entertaining piece of theatre. The show follows a fun and enjoyable story, whilst retaining a quick pace from beginning to end. The book, by Anthony King and Scott Brown, is excellent and had me laughing in stitches. The humour within the show is somewhat dark, and often relied on a number of one-liners. I often find that it will take a lot for me to laugh out loud, but Beetlejuice was truly and utterly hilarious. I also appreciated the writers ability to carefully balance the amount of comedy with the more sadder moments of the show. Whilst one scene will have its audience in hysterics with laughter, the next scene may have a  particularly poignant and tear-inducing moment. I was highly impressed with the book of Beetlejuice and thoroughly enjoyed watching this unconventional tale unravel.

As well as the book, I was also fond of the vast majority of the musical score, which has been written by Australian singer-songwriter Eddie Perfect. The songs featured with the show are exceedingly catchy; even one week after watching Beetlejuice for the first time, the songs have yet to fade from my memory. A few of my personal highlights from the score include 'Invisible', 'The Whole Being Dead Thing, Parts One and Two', 'Say My Name' and 'Home'. The songs were all excellently carried out by the remarkable cast and marvellous orchestra.

The cast is led by Alex Brightman, who portrays the mischievous titular character. Brightman is not someone that I would have immediately thought of when casting this role, and as a consequence this is a good example of inspired casting. Brightman appears well-suited as Betelgeuse, which is largely as a result of his precise comedic timing and high levels of charisma. Right from the get-go, he puts maximum levels of energy into his performance, giving it his all from beginning to end. By his side is Sophia Anne Caruso, who portrays gothic teenager Lydia Deetz. I had previously seen Caruso's remarkable performance in Lazarus, and I am pleased to say that she was once again outstanding. She is an immensely talented singer, and arguably has one of the most astonishing voices on all of Broadway. In addition to her singing abilities, Caruso is also a talented actress, excelling at both the comedic and more sadder parts to the character of Lydia.

The scenic design, by David Korins, is largely centred around a haunted house which has three different renditions that change as the show progresses. At first the scenery depicts the original home of the Maitland couple, which Korins himself has described as a "bleached country chic". It then changes to a more zany appearance once the Deetz family arrive, and soon after it changes yet again to an ominous black and white appearance in order to mirror the clothing of Betelgeuse. The three variations are both visually and structurally ingenious; it was clear that a lot of thought had gone into the process of creating this particular aspect. Both the costumes, by William Ivey Long, and lighting, by Kenneth Posner, were also stunning and highly creative. All three of these particular aspects complimented the show's tone and mood nicely. The special effects featured in Beetlejuice were also rather impressive, and in particular the uses of levitation tricks and the appearance of the giant sandworm were quite remarkable.

Now for my final verdict on Beetlejuice. I give Beetlejuice...

Whilst I understand Beetlejuice will not be to everyone's liking, I personally adored it. It had an exciting book, an enjoyable score, a number of outstanding performances, as well as a number of ingenious creative aspects; as a consequence, I believe that Beetlejuice is worthy of a five-star rating.

Agree with my rating? Think it should have got a lower rating? If so comment below.

Thanks for reading!

-The Reviewer