BEETLEJUICE Previews — Page 5

darquegk I like your analysis of the source material. This makes sense.

The comparison to Addams Family interests me as well. That show was moderately blue in Chicago (jokes about Morticia's sex life and a song about Tentacle Rape) but it was cleaned up for a high school edition that gets produced frequently. Is Beetlejuice similarly easy to scrub clean or is Brightman's shtick mostly R rated?

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I think the comparison to Addams Family is apt. A fumbling of tone with a subpar score. I think there’s a healthy dose of Wonderland here too, especially during the act two opener when the entire ensemble dances around in Beetlejuice costumes, much like the multiple Alice’s when Alice first entered Wonderland.

I also couldn’t help but think of Rocky (though the tones couldn’t be further apart!). Maybe it was the same director in the same theater, but as Hamilfan states, they kind of wanted to have their cake and eat it too re: altering the characters and plot, but still throwing in many of the classic movie moments like Day-O. Rocky had to include drinking the eggs, climbing the steps, Eye of the Tiger, etc and no matter how much Beetlejuice changed the characters and set-up, they couldn’t escape including all the equivalent film moments here too.

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Am I wrong in being let down that the Banana Boat bit was sung instead of lip-synched? I understand it's a musical and you have trained singers on stage and to do so might be a waste of resources. But, in my opinion, half of the humor in that scene from the movie is that - out of nowhere - Harry Belafonte's voice comes bellowing out of Delia's mouth. And, little by little, as her body movies he slowly inhabits the rest of her.

I can appreciate the need for a director to want to add his own spin on an iconic moment, but I truly feel like he fumbled here. Part of the magic in these adaptations is a mix of old and new, adding depth and exploring themes or characters more closely. But, I think creatives sometimes worry about being accused of ripping someone else off if they hew too close to the source material. I can't help feeling that's false. Xeroxing a movie script, reformatting it and putting your name on it is plagiarism. But, adapting a work and making thoughtful changes while preserving some of the most iconic moments is deference. It's homage.

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Updated On: 3/29/19 at 02:03 PM

YvanEhtNioj said: "Sometime's it feels like people are almost happy to hear bad things about a show as if they want it to fail."

Michael Riedel Sydrome ( "I’ve got my foot on its neck, and I’m having too much fun to take it off" )

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Updated On: 4/1/19 at 02:24 PM

LightsOut90 said: "annnnny merch reports?"

The logo tee as a subtle tonal black stripe effect

The names tee has a faux "denim wash" look (same as the hadestown one below) - wish it was a plain black tee but it was super hard to see with the lighting at the merch booth in the back of orch

The ringer tee says "I myself am strange and unusual"

No windowcard yet

Sippy cups have the same design as the magnet

Oh & I meant to say, I know there has only been one Broadway preview so far, but I just thought it would be in better shape at this point. I know they will probably tinker with a lot between now & opening but it sounds like they still need a lot of heavy lifting. It'd be great if they continue to make huge changes to better the show, but I'm just not holding my breath that they will ever get there. Like what are the chances of them hiring an entirely new composer before opening? (Kidding. But that would be nice.)

Since I hate making only negative comments, I will say again (as I said in a post in another thread) that I really loved the visuals in this show. They were fantastic. Unfortunately nothing came close to those strengths. But kudos to the scenic design & lighting design folks.

Alex Kulak2 said: "I remember someone saying that this would have worked really well if someone like David Yazbek wrote the score."

Can we just talk about how phenomenal this show would be if Tim Minchin composed the score and replaced Brightman as Beetlejuice? He'd kill it. I know he said he's done with musicals for awhile, but either way, Warner Bros. just needs to begin licensing their properties to other Broadway producers who actually know how to put a good creative team together.

Updated On: 3/29/19 at 04:14 PM

DiscoCrows said: "Can we just talk about how phenomenal this show would be if Tim Minchin composed the score and replaced Brightman as Beetlejuice? He'd kill it."

I would have loved that, as I thought Groundhog Day was one of the best movie-to-musical adaptations in the past 10 years or so. But then again I would probably prefer any composer over Eddie Perfect!

The Beetlejuice film has such a distinct flavor. The Broadway show should have a score to match, whether it be edgy & rock n' roll or weird & calypso-inspired (which I thought I heard they were incorporating into the Broadway revisions). But instead it's just bland bland bland. The score could have really given the show its identity had they hired a more capable composer, but as it stands no one is going to remember these songs.

Vinosippycup2 said: "

"The lyrics are super inventive and smart" You are either a young teen who knows nothing about lyrics or you work for the show. I believe those are the options here :)"

No. I don't work for them.I was simply feeling happy after the show andI wrote about why I liked it. I loved theperformances, set, songs and that itmade me laugh. I don't claim to be an expertbut I was voicing my opinion and what I saw. I won't be doing that again since the reaction was so mean. Jeez."

I enjoyed reading your review. It made me hopeful for my visit to this show in a couple weeks.

I am standing outside this theater, a tourist from nowhere wanting to see a show, any show because I am on Broadway. I read the show card promotions, 'Beetlejuice'? never heard of it, says it was a cult film, well that leaves me out, better go and find something that I've heard about.

Like many of these movie to stage adaptations you have a core group of fans who want the movie to come to life, others are curious and love musicals whatever the source material and other who aren't willing to risk mega $s on a 'maybe'.

Seems like for this one the 'maybes' might be the majority.

massofmen said: "precisely. Its not like Beetlejuice is a world wide famous movie (pretty woman, king kong, mean girls). I think alot of people think that everyone just knows what this movie is and that will be a selling point, when in reality...its not very well known..
I think Warner Bros is in for a nasty surprise.
"

Beetlejuice was much bigger world wide than Mean Girls was x

massofmen said: "i apologize. you are right about BJ being a bigger hit worldwide..mainly in the UK though but yes"

Mean Girla did ok at the box office but didn’t really find a larger audience until it came out on home video.

Im old believe me Beetlejuice was a massive hit everywhere when it came out. Plus it has the cartoon series as well. It was a mainstream hit not a cult film.