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'Beetlejuice the Musical' Music and Stagecraft | Box Seat Babes Podcast · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome back listeners.
• 0:01
  We see you've returned to the netherworld once again in this bone chilling and downright hilarious episode of the Box Seat Babes podcast.
• 0:07
  We're continuing our discussion of Beetlejuice the musical with an emphasis on the music and stagecraft of their North American touring production.
• 0:14
  But before we summon the ghosts with the most like follow and subscribe to us on all major social media platforms to stay up to date on news and reviews from here in Michigan and
• 0:22
  the larger theater community.
• 0:24
  Spoiler warning.
• 0:25
  If you haven't seen Beetlejuice the musical before and wish to remain unspoiled about what you can expect.
• 0:29
  haste, as in mere moments the juice will be loose and there's no containing his excitement to be on the living side once more.
• 0:37
  However,
• 0:37
  if still with us, thanks again for joining us as we talk about the show about death.
• 0:41
  We got through that one a lot easier today.
• 0:45
  RJ, we're back for part two.
• 0:47
  We are excited to talk about the music and the stagecraft, which we both learned is the word for everything under the sun that is in the story and the music.
• 0:58
  I'm gonna throw that in everywhere I can.
• 1:00
  ah But to recap real quick, episode one, we went over the story, cast, and standout moments.
• 1:06
  uh The story is an adaptation of the Tim Burton movie featuring the story of Lydia and Beetlejuice.
• 1:12
  Lydia, who is lost her mother and is looking to reconnect with somebody and ends up stumbling upon Beetlejuice, is, got ulterior motives to say the least.
• 1:24
  There's also Adam and Barbara as they're trying to find their new life as ghostly inhabitants of the house and chaos ensues Pretty much sums it up right RJ?
• 1:36
  Thank you, I think you covered it.
• 1:38
  Perfect, that's all I needed to hear.
• 1:41
  So for the music of Beetlejuice the musical, we got an original score here by Eddie Perfect, which is it perfect?
• 1:49
  Is this perfect?
• 1:50
  It was nominated for the best original score at the Tonys in 2019, 2020.
• 1:54
  I think first, before we talk about each individual song, I would like to talk about how you would classify this show because we talked about this kind of sort of on the way home
• 2:04
  as we're walking to our car.
• 2:06
  And I think the first words out of your mouth was, don't know how I would classify this.
• 2:10
  Yeah, which then I immediately like tried to do some recon and it's still.
• 2:14
  Like cult classic?
• 2:16
  hard to say because is the movie considered a cult classic?
• 2:21
  Yes, but also I guess this depends on like so can you compare to cult classic if the move if what it's based on the cult classic if the the if the Broadway show is only six years
• 2:33
  old
• 2:34
  That's really tough to answer because like, where does this fall?
• 2:37
  This isn't exactly family friendly.
• 2:40
  I mean, it is, it is, but it's not.
• 2:43
  it's modern.
• 2:44
  Obviously, it's made for the modern.
• 2:47
  eye, ear, person.
• 2:49
  Definitely, think, geared towards maybe like younger to middle-aged folks.
• 2:56
  I think I could be totally wrong on that.
• 2:59
  I mean, all ages aside from children, but even then, like there were clearly children in the audience, which was a little bit shocking to me.
• 3:08
  I did not look up the rating of the show.
• 3:11
  And I only say that
• 3:13
  which like the world today, what I'm like, I can't even get into it.
• 3:18
  um But like social norms now like, and maybe I just grew up under a rock, but when I was a kid, like we didn't swear, we didn't hear swearing.
• 3:30
  I mean, like, and when I say swearing, I mean, the word stupid was a swear word, which I know is a little bit extreme, but um they were dropping F bombs left and right in act two.
• 3:44
  and so that, that surprised me a little bit because even when I think of what's on TV today and how it's graded, that feels like at least mature audience.
• 4:00
  Um,
• 4:01
  Well, cause when you think about like a movie rating, at PG-13 you get one F-bomb.
• 4:06
  You get to drop the F word, you get to drop fuck once.
• 4:11
  I mean, we're mature podcast actually, because I can't keep my mouth shut half the time.
• 4:15
  Like, you know what I mean?
• 4:17
  And I just looked it up, recommended for ages 10 and up.
• 4:21
  Interesting.
• 4:22
  not explicitly are but contains mature situations, suggestive material, and potentially disturbing content.
• 4:29
  Because this show, granted, you know, we talked about this a little bit in Act 1, but like, there's a lot of mature jokes.
• 4:36
  Like, there's a lot of dropping of like sexual jokes of Beetlejuice's making out with everyone.
• 4:42
  He's clearly bisexual, pansexual.
• 4:45
  yeah, that like I think some of it goes over kids heads, right?
• 4:49
  Like if I think back to even some Disney movies, I'm like, OK, this part was made for the adults, which I think part of that you could claim in the show.
• 4:58
  But yeah, the parts that are physically happening.
• 5:01
  I mean, let's be real, if you have a highly conservative person come into this show, I think they'd leave pretty upset.
• 5:08
  But yeah, you have you have.
• 5:13
  a couple making out with a demon, both male and female.
• 5:18
  You have a child bride.
• 5:20
  You have a couple cracks about politics that are obviously liberal leaning.
• 5:26
  uh So there's a lot that again, I mean, I guess if I'm like 10 years old, maybe I'm just I'm laughing because everyone around me is laughing.
• 5:38
  But the adults in the room definitely were like,
• 5:42
  It's interesting because when you talked about in the last episode about Beetlejuice Jr.
• 5:46
  in my head, thinking, I was like, clearly the part that gets taken off the most is probably Beetlejuice because if you take out Beetlejuice, the story itself could be very
• 5:54
  family friendly.
• 5:55
  But Beetlejuice himself is the one, like you said, like the jokes for the adults.
• 5:59
  He's the one that's clearly written for the adults to be like, haha, we can all laugh about the fact that we're talking about having sex with Adam and Barbara at the same time.
• 6:08
  Like, and we can all giggle about that.
• 6:09
  And the adults did.
• 6:11
  You're right, they probably flew over the heads of the little ones.
• 6:14
  Yeah, I mean, like they literally talk about orgies, right?
• 6:19
  And they literally, there's so many things.
• 6:22
  um
• 6:22
  I'm not sure that I would recommend to...
• 6:30
  Like if a family member came to me and said, should I take my kid to this?
• 6:33
  I'd probably say like maybe tween or teen and above.
• 6:41
  Sure.
• 6:42
  It's interesting because growing up in a house that I did as well, while we did talk about things, we also didn't have it so blatantly in our face.
• 6:51
  So when I took my nephew two or three years ago to see six, and as we're going in there, thought, oh man, he's only 13.
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  What am I doing?
• 7:00
  Is this appropriate for him?
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  Because they do talk about sex a lot, and he ended up handling it very well.
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  And I thought about this, was like, I don't know if I would have taken him at 13.
• 7:07
  He would have been embarrassed as all hell.
• 7:09
  as there's all of these jokes and would he be able to, like he wouldn't feel comfortable about that.
• 7:13
  So it definitely depends on like where you are as a family and where you are as like a person.
• 7:19
  Like I thought it was funny, but I'm also a 30 year old adult.
• 7:22
  Right, and to be fair though, and I, um you know, we ran into some friends at the production and uh I was thinking about it because uh some of them are children.
• 7:37
  And while there are mature themes, part of me is like,
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  We shield kids from so much these days and like art and theater are supposed to be expressive and uh kind of like eye-opening.
• 7:55
  And so if there was anywhere, like I would much rather a child be exposed to a mature theme in a play than in the hallway at school.
• 8:07
  You know what I mean?
• 8:08
  Because it also is art.
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  It is a play.
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  It is like that is a characterization.
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  was a choice.
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  It was a it's not particularly real life.
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  uh
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  And censorship is such a real thing in today's time, not to be political, but like, just like here we are.
• 8:30
  So if, if this is the only way that, that that exposure happens, then
• 8:34
  So be it.
• 8:36
  But let's not pretend like half of these things aren't said in the hallway at school or that your kids aren't hearing you with your spouse or with your partner, swear or
• 8:49
  whatever.
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  Like the internet exists.
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  Nobody is that naive.
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  And if they are, by choice.
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  And if they are and they're sitting through Beetlejuice, like they're probably either one, hating their lives or two,
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  They're continuing to be naive by choice.
• 9:06
  So that was a rant that we didn't need.
• 9:10
  You're welcome.
• 9:10
  okay.
• 9:11
  uh But speaking of the classification of the music then, I would argue that maybe this does have, like the music itself does maybe lean towards, I use traditional Broadway feel,
• 9:22
  but that also doesn't feel right.
• 9:23
  Like it's like a contemporary spin on a traditional Broadway show.
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  Like there was a lot of stand and sing, stand and belt, whatever you say, like dead mom.
• 9:32
  Like let's use dead mom as an example.
• 9:34
  She's pretty much standing there and singing that at the top of her lungs.
• 9:39
  And like that felt very much like the, okay, maybe not the topic, but the song itself could easily be like the type of music it is could be inserted into, as I say, like a
• 9:50
  phantom of the opera, but you know what I mean?
• 9:51
  Like more of like an older show with like a contemporary feel.
• 9:55
  I don't know if that makes any sense.
• 9:57
  Yeah, I mean, it's a power ballad, right?
• 9:59
  And it's probably like one of the first solo ones, I think, in the show.
• 10:06
  uh
• 10:07
  Yeah, I would agree.
• 10:09
  it is, I also was trying to think of another show or another example in which it was something similar.
• 10:18
  um Of course, there's probably a thousand examples that I can't think of currently, but it is traditional in that way.
• 10:26
  You're like, okay, we're getting the lead on stage by herself singing the song.
• 10:35
  Great.
• 10:35
  um Obviously,
• 10:37
  the story, it is kind of important.
• 10:39
  uh And we do hear themes of that specific song, like at least two to three times throughout the rest of the musical.
• 10:48
  uh But yeah, it's kind of, is a still, in general, I would say the music of this show is very contemporary, pop-centric musical theater.
• 10:59
  uh I don't know that I would say traditional.
• 11:06
  Okay, more like a Dear Evan Hansen almost.
• 11:09
  Yes, yeah, I mean it's, it's, it feels today-esque.
• 11:13
  Like it feels like it could have, I know it's a couple years old, but even so, it feels like it was made for the audience of today, not the audience of 20 years ago.
• 11:25
  which I think when you look at the music, that's kind of interesting you say that because there is most of the songs, again, original score by Eddie Perfect.
• 11:31
  A lot of the songs are original, but they do mix in songs from the original Beetlejuice like Day-O, Jump in Line, but like the Jump in Line Shake Sonora, I liked that they
• 11:43
  actually, and I don't remember this from last time, but they infused Dead Mom into that a little bit later in the song right before it closed, where I was like, that was a really
• 11:51
  cool callback because it's mixing that old.
• 11:54
  the music from the old version of Beetlejuice and bringing it to the new Beetlejuice to make it a little more contemporary.
• 12:00
  Because again, Beetlejuice is almost 40 years old.
• 12:02
  So when you look at that, that's kind of a cool way to kind of bring it into the future.
• 12:08
  Well, and people expect it, right?
• 12:10
  They're like, they're like, I hope it kind of reminds me of that TikTok trend, right?
• 12:14
  Where like, I hope they play blah, blah.
• 12:18
  That those are those songs.
• 12:20
  Like I hope they do day.
• 12:22
  Well, of course they do.
• 12:23
  uh
• 12:24
  like, who even are you?
• 12:27
  uh But yes, yeah, it gives it the flavor.
• 12:33
  brings it back to its roots, but it stays true to what's happening on stage.
• 12:38
  Was there any song or like musical performance that really stood out to you?
• 12:44
  I mean, there were some incredible group numbers.
• 12:49
  Honestly, there's so many songs in the show.
• 12:51
  I can't even remember them all, but there were some really good group numbers.
• 12:54
  uh The Dead Mom Ballad is probably one of the most notorious songs out of this show.
• 13:05
  Just because the vocal control is...
• 13:08
  absurd and also we don't get too many lead women that are like alto-y uh and this is definitely kind of a lower mezzo vocalist which i think is really cool but i am blanking
• 13:24
  on the name of the song but it's with Delia and Lydia in act one
• 13:32
  oh, the happy one.
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  The...
• 13:36
  Yeah, I think it was just the mixture of humor and musicality was it was just fun.
• 13:43
  em But
• 13:47
  No reason, sorry, I looked it up.
• 13:48
  Yes, yes.
• 13:51
  Between that and the what I know now, which was the beginning of Act 2, I believe, ish.
• 14:00
  I know now was with Miss Argentina.
• 14:03
  Yes, yeah.
• 14:04
  um Also, that one, dance-wise, was probably one of my favorites.
• 14:14
  plus, um, shrunken head.
• 14:19
  Yeah, the cool thing is that they didn't have a lot of dance numbers, but that was one that had a dance number, you know what I mean?
• 14:28
  That and I think opening of Act One with right after the Girl Scout, when they're bringing in the tap dancers, which like the pizza delivery guy, the delivery man, there wasn't too
• 14:39
  much dancing or big numbers in there, but those ones were really good.
• 14:42
  Yeah, I agree.
• 14:44
  I do have to say that I did really like Ready Set Not Yet as well.
• 14:47
  I think that's a really cool song to introduce Adam and Barbara with.
• 14:51
  And it's one that actually got reprised like quite a few times throughout the show.
• 14:56
  They keep going back to not being ready because they have this fear and like there's a fear of having kids, then there's the fear of being ghosts and then there's the fear of
• 15:03
  letting Lydia down and moving on.
• 15:05
  um, so I did like this, like there was a few songs that they kept coming back to.
• 15:09
  They kept coming back.
• 15:11
  to these different themes and everyone seemed to have like a very distinct theme to that, you know?
• 15:17
  Yeah, I mean, a lot of foreshadowing, a lot of calling back to that song specifically gave me Hamilton vibes because of the kind of quick rap, but just the rhythmic singing.
• 15:33
  don't get, it's very specific and almost no musicals do it.
• 15:40
  So that was, that was fun to hear.
• 15:42
  But going back to the Miss Argentina song, when you talked about, we're gonna talk about like the set design and the puppets and stuff like that.
• 15:49
  There was quite a few puppets in here, but one of them is the shrunken head guy, which they actually achieved on stage, which again, it blows my mind when you see the sandworm
• 15:58
  or like the shrunken head guy on stage.
• 15:59
  Like what a cool aesthetic from that Tim Burton world that has made it onto the stage.
• 16:05
  What did you think about that?
• 16:07
  Yeah, I mean, the, attention to detail with those things, right?
• 16:13
  Cause you can pull them off and they can be impressive to just exist.
• 16:16
  Right?
• 16:17
  Like anything, I think puppetry in general, people are like, Um, but I also know the backend of that is so, so complicated and takes so many people.
• 16:28
  Um, but the sandworm, I'm sure there's, I'm sure there's multiple operators.
• 16:33
  I'm sure there's a ton of mechanics in that.
• 16:37
  Um, for it to go on without a hitch, especially because that specifically, like it comes in from multiple entrances.
• 16:45
  So you are literally maneuvering this massive and it wasn't just like, it's peeking its head in.
• 16:51
  Like it was halfway across the stage, if not three quarters of the way.
• 16:56
  And so it's huge.
• 16:58
  Um, and then of course, shrunken head guy.
• 17:01
  I was watching because I of course thought it was hysterical, but the detail of the head actually moving um in alignment with where everyone else's heads were moving, literally
• 17:18
  doing the choreography, not just as a massive body on stage, but because every detail, every head movement, every step was.
• 17:29
  correct with the choreography, which is good riddance on the person in that costume.
• 17:35
  Because I literally was sitting there, I was like, I wonder how they do that.
• 17:39
  Like, I wonder if they have a chin strap and if they move their neck a certain way, like it also moves.
• 17:45
  I mean, there's so many mechanisms because they're also carrying like a, they've got to be either on stilts or have uh heightened boots.
• 17:56
  then you're carrying what, like a musket that's also like seven feet long.
• 18:00
  uh so again, and still doing all the choreography that everyone else is doing.
• 18:06
  So.
• 18:07
  And like during the final act, the final song of act one, I mean, we had somebody who had the shrimp hand come out of the shrimp and then you could see, like eventually you could
• 18:15
  see that they were operating it, but like there were so many of those details to call back to the film that took like theater magic, like actually took magic to bring it.
• 18:24
  They had a lot of like flames going on, which I thought was really cool.
• 18:27
  Like to signify Beeljuice's magic, um setting things, people were catching the flames.
• 18:34
  I was like, this is just so cool.
• 18:35
  Cause you don't see.
• 18:37
  a lot of stage magic in shows anymore.
• 18:40
  Yeah, the technical piece of this show with those pieces specifically, which again, like as someone who does theater pretty frequently, there were certain parts that I was
• 18:51
  specifically watching, like when they stab through Beetlejuice, watching him sneak uh the portion um from wherever he was hiding it.
• 19:02
  um And even towards the beginning, I think when uh Barbara's hand was on fire,
• 19:09
  Yes.
• 19:09
  they have the fire mechanism in her hand and I think she like sneaked it into Adam's pocket or something like that.
• 19:18
  Of course, not trying to like tell all the secrets, but it is as a theater person, it is funny and interesting to be like, where are they gonna put it?
• 19:28
  Where's it gonna go?
• 19:29
  Because you know it's not real, right?
• 19:32
  And it is still very, very magical.
• 19:34
  It is very cool.
• 19:35
  But you're like part of me, the back.
• 19:39
  theater part of me is like, God, they gotta put it in someone's pocket, put it away, hide it, don't let anyone see.
• 19:44
  um Because as an actor, that's what you're probably thinking.
• 19:48
  It's like, okay, I gotta get rid of this, I gotta, whatever.
• 19:53
  So.
• 19:53
  It's funny you say that because last time I saw it, when she flew, like when she like rose up the stairs and I was like, my God, how did they achieve that?
• 20:02
  And it happened so fast, I didn't catch it.
• 20:03
  And then to see, I saw the mechanism beforehand and I saw her go up and came down and then Adam rolled the janitor bucket over there while everyone was dancing in the front and he's
• 20:11
  like dancing in the background and he held it there and it dropped off of its track into the bucket and he just rolled the bucket off stage and went back to dancing.
• 20:17
  I was like, those little pieces that you just don't.
• 20:20
  Like if you're not looking or you don't know to look, that achieve the magic that are so simple.
• 20:25
  Like he just literally rolled the mop up, over and it dropped in there and he rolled it off.
• 20:28
  Like it was so cool.
• 20:30
  Well, in that, that in itself takes so much work and so much practice to, um, again, shout out to the people in the backend, making sure they're setting, they're setting the stage
• 20:42
  every time they're making sure all of those pieces work.
• 20:45
  Cause if you miss it in that split second moment, it's over.
• 20:49
  Like you just move on.
• 20:50
  So.
• 20:52
  Speaking of setting the stage, so you know me, I'm not a big fan of screens, you know, of the digital screens.
• 21:02
  And last time I don't believe that they had as many digital screens.
• 21:05
  They definitely optimized this with digital screens.
• 21:07
  But what I loved about the set of Beetlejuice the musical was that not only did they have screens, but they used.
• 21:15
  Set pieces like the living room was living room.
• 21:17
  It switched to the attic.
• 21:18
  There's pieces that came down There was the roof that made the house feel like that, but they also used the curtain as a prop and you know I love a curtain that can move ah But
• 21:28
  they're truly what?
• 21:29
  Death Becomes Her.
• 21:31
  Yes, because it was also purple.
• 21:34
  And like they use projections on the curtain.
• 21:36
  They used them on the house and they achieved all of the like what felt like Tim Burton magic.
• 21:41
  But like there was actually still a physical set that they could use.
• 21:44
  And so I was absolutely ecstatic to see even though we moved from the Detroit Opera House to a smaller stage, it was all still there and it was still practical even with digital
• 21:52
  effects.
• 21:52
  Yeah, they did do a very good job at blending the modern world of technology and what theater is going to look like with that, but also still staying true to being present and
• 22:04
  utilizing the space in the best way.
• 22:08
  Was there anything about the effects with like the digital age that didn't, I know you are Mr.
• 22:15
  Technical here, so is there anything that like didn't sit well with you?
• 22:19
  I think it all, didn't feel like too much, because I've been through shows where it's just, I think if they hadn't have had a set on stage, I would have felt like it was too
• 22:29
  much.
• 22:30
  Interesting, the transitions with like, I think at one point it was like the wind in the trees or the bats and you I don't know if it was like necessary.
• 22:41
  Like I think you could have just run in front of the curtain.
• 22:43
  um
• 22:45
  But I get why they made that choice.
• 22:46
  And honestly, if you have the ability to do that, I mean, great.
• 22:50
  um But I, yeah, I thought it was, it worked.
• 22:57
  It wasn't so noticeable that I was like, why are they, why are they doing that?
• 23:03
  I do want to say that I don't always appreciate a strobe light in my eye.
• 23:09
  And there was a moment where those strobe lights were super bright towards the end as they were getting ready for the netherworld.
• 23:14
  And I was like, you are shooting me in the eye with that bright ass strobe light.
• 23:18
  Well, and they obviously were doing it so that you couldn't see them clearing the set, which I understand.
• 23:26
  But I almost think people wouldn't mind, you know, like just a little bit lighter because as experienced previously, you know, you have folks who are epileptic or have other issues
• 23:40
  and those lights are intense
• 23:44
  And they go on.
• 23:45
  mean, it was a good, what 15 seconds.
• 23:51
  and while that doesn't sound like a lot while you're sitting in a transition, that is very long.
• 23:56
  Um, so I think there's other ways like use, use something else or use that in tandem with something else.
• 24:05
  So it doesn't feel like, cause all that ends up, all, all that ended up happening is I avert my eyes, which maybe it's the goal, right?
• 24:13
  I'm gonna look down, I'm gonna close my eyes, I'm gonna look somewhere else.
• 24:17
  Yeah, no, truly.
• 24:18
  uh That being said, before we close up, I do have to know your opinion.
• 24:23
  I know I read your review, like, comparatively to Beetlejuice, the movie, this is better.
• 24:29
  I think this is better than the movie.
• 24:31
  I think that this is a strong thing.
• 24:32
  But I also talked to VeryBigGame, so I want to know like, comparatively to the movie, how was it?
• 24:36
  But also, comparatively to how I fucking talked this up, how was Beetlejuice the musical?
• 24:40
  Yeah, I think it's in its own...
• 24:44
  It's so hard to actually rate it.
• 24:47
  I think it is very good for what exactly it is.
• 24:51
  I can't imagine it being any other way, I guess is a good way to put it.
• 24:56
  So, yeah, I would recommend it definitely to folks, which I think speaks for itself.
• 25:05
  Even if you didn't like the movie.
• 25:08
  Like for instance, I know many of my family members, not a fan, one of my best friends literally was like,
• 25:14
  I hate the movie.
• 25:15
  I'm not going to go see the show.
• 25:17
  I would recommend the show to that person because I think it, while there is creepy, it's not gross, creepy.
• 25:26
  It's just not the same Tim.
• 25:28
  Like there are pieces of Tim Burton's, it's, not the same.
• 25:34
  yeah, it's funnier.
• 25:35
  It's, it's, there's more happening.
• 25:38
  Um, and there's more for you to be involved in comparatively to.
• 25:43
  what may feel like a gross, what I call gross movie.
• 25:49
  While this is a musical that I would always catch over and over and over again, would you go see this again?
• 25:54
  I would, I think there's a lot.
• 25:56
  I want to catch more like because I'm not familiar with it or with the music.
• 26:01
  There are things that I feel like I may have missed that I wouldn't mind seeing again.
• 26:06
  And just again, the music is very catchy.
• 26:09
  It's very good.
• 26:12
  I don't think.
• 26:13
  Yeah, there, there wasn't a moment where I looked at my watch that I don't have, but you know what I mean?
• 26:22
  I never went down to look at my program and be like, what song are we on?
• 26:26
  And I know listeners, we've all been there, right?
• 26:28
  We've all been sitting in the audience and been like, all right, three more until the intermission.
• 26:33
  There was not a moment of that for me in this.
• 26:36
  so therefore would see again.
• 26:41
  And so that with that, have wrapped up our Beetlejuice the musical discussion,
• 26:46
  tuned for future episodes of the Box Seat Babes podcast.
• 26:50
  We will be discussing shows both here locally and on Broadway.
• 26:54
  Thank you again for joining us here in our box seats till next curtain call.