‘Beetlejuice’ Is Back! Fueled by Social Media Embrace, Musical Sets Broadway Return

Rebecca Rubin
·3 min read
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Whether or not you say his name three times, Beetlejuice is returning to Broadway.

The musical, based on Tim Burton’s 1988 film about a pesky poltergeist, was presumed to be leaving the Great White Way last June — especially since a revival of “The Music Man,” starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, had already set up shop at the Winter Garden Theater, the previous home of “Beetlejuice: The Musical.”

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However, producers found a new theater on Broadway to accommodate “Beetlejuice,” which requires elaborate set designs and fancy pyrotechnics to recreate the night of the living dead. The show will return on April 8, 2022 at the Marriott Marquis Theater, the cavernous venue that most recently housed “Tootsie.” Tickets will go on sale Oct. 1.

“We are overjoyed to be able to bring ‘The Ghost with The Most’ back to Broadway and are looking forward to seeing all our ‘Beetlejuice’ fans this spring at the Marriott Marquis,” the show’s producers Mark Kaufman and Kevin McCormick said in a statement. “We sincerely thank the ‘Beetlejuice’ fans; it is because of their support that we will be able to blow the roof off the Marquis Theatre three-times over with fun and laughter, laughter and laughter!”

Producers are expected to announce casting in the coming weeks. The story follows a married couple who buy a new home and almost immediately fall to their death. In the afterlife, they encounter Beetlejuice, a devious ghost from the Netherworld who promises to help them haunt the house’s new inhabitants: a widowed father and his young daughter named Lydia.

The show opened in 2019 to mixed reviews, with Variety’s critic Frank Rizzo delivering one of the more more positive takes. “Sure, the narrative becomes a bit of a cluster-muck in the second act,” he wrote. “But mostly it’s just screamingly good fun.” It scored eight Tony nominations, including one for best musical.

Despite a lackluster critical response, the musical resonated with audiences, some of whom took to social media to share photos dressed like characters in the show and post videos on TikTok and YouTube. Producers attempted to capitalize on the digital fervor through contests and promotional efforts on Facebook and Instagram, encouraging fans to show up in costume and hosting giveaways during the spooky month of October, and boosting box office ticket sales in the process.

“What’s crazy about our stage door is half of them are dressed up as Beetlejuice,” Alex Brightman, who originated the title character on Broadway, previously told Variety. “It’s this insane fan base, which I’m loving.”

Alex Timbers (“Moulin Rouge: The Musical”) directed the stage adaptation with a score by Eddie Perfect and a book by Scott Brown and Anthony King. Along with Brightman, who landed a Tony nod for “School of Rock” and later, “Beetlejuice,” the cast of the show includes Presley Ryan (“Fun Home”) as Lydia and Kerry Butler (“Mean Girls”) and David Josefsberg (“The Prom”) as married couple Barbara and Adam.

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