There are only so many theatres in London big enough to stage a proper full on Broadway musical spectacular, and with MJ the Musical off, the door is open for Beetlejuice the Musical to enter.
The name ought to make it pretty clear what we’re talking about here: Beetlejuice is of course Tim Burton’s cult classic 1988 film about a young couple with a very nice house who die in a car crash and are horrifed to observe – from a very surreal, bureacracy-bound afterlife – that some ghastly new people have moved into their old gaff. So they unwisely turn to the services of the eponymous ‘bio-exorcist’ to get rid of them; unfortunately Beetlejuice (real name Betelgeuse) is a total whackjob.
Written by Scott Brown and Anthony King with music and lyrics by Australian singer-songwriter Eddie Perfect, Beetlejuice the Musical is a massive trippy goth spectacle that’s directed by Alex Timbers, best known to London audiences for his heroically OTT smash Moulin Rogue! The Musical – you can expect similar amounts of excess here.
There’s no word on casting though it is notable that Beetlejuice is making a limited return to Broadway immediately before its UK run – it’s certainly not impossible that we might end up with a seasoned American-led cast. It’s being billed as a limited run, although as it’s ‘limited’ to 11 months in a massive theatre you probably don’t need to worry too much.
