Film Beetlejuice? Not in my opinion. He’s too sleazy for it to come across as anything other than contrived. Musical Beetlejuice, on the other hand, comes across as poorly socialized- Alex Brightman has said that part of why he hits on people constantly is that, being alone so long, he has no concept of boundaries anymore- and awful, yeah, but like a guy who doesn’t fully grasp Why what he’s doing is awful. He also seems to have a completely different emotional capacity from humans; when he’s brought to life, he seems shocked and taken aback by the extreme range of emotions that living people experience, and he also doesn’t understand why Lydia can’t just bounce back from grief. Movie Beetlejuice is sleazy in a way that is real, while musical Beetlejuice is just divorced enough from reality to make it work.
i think a good subversive ending for beetlejuice would be him, after being a friend to lydia the whole movie, goes comically evil after being killed by her. its sympathetic because his goal was just achieved, but he was betrayed so he lashes out
@ParmesanTries that could be good! It would fit with his established characterization, motivations, and preexisting tendencies towards rage (the seance scene comes to mind)
IMO, the sandworm eating Juno was less “bad moms deserve to die and so did Lydia’s” and more “family is a valuable thing and all Juno ever did was treat her son poorly”, since Lydia’s experience with her mom is already set up as the polar opposite of Beetlejuice’s relationship with Juno (see: “why on earth would anyone want to spend more time with their MOTHER?”). I def agree that the Juno twist was too sudden and the thematic meaning needed to be clearer.
Ooh that’s a very nice interpretation! Yes, they should’ve definitely taken a bit more time to clarify the significance of this plotpoint (especially seeing it’s the ending)
I think the musical version of Beetlejuice is still an antagonist, but a much smarter one. When he thinks he needs the Maitlands, he isn't aggressive towards them. But once he meets Lydia, he forces them into the attic, which gives him much more control over her. He continues being kind up until Lydia follows the Maitlands into the netherworld, effectively choosing them over him, despite his efforts. Now that he knows pretending to be nice won't convince Lydia to marry him, he turns to intimidation and tricks, literally torturing Otho. I viewed the ending as a final fourth wall break; saving Lydia and leaving before anyone has a chance to question it, ensuring he is viewed only as a kind, goofy ghost with mommy issues.
There is a huge missed opportunity in the musical. Act two opens with Skye the Girl Scout singing about how she has a weak heart, and any scare could kill her. She's then chased off stage by the ghosts in "That Beautiful Sound". I was hoping we'd see her again in the Netherworld, letting us know that the experience did indeed kill her. Without that, it seems like her whole presence loses its point.
I honestly think this franchise got a whole new fresh take with this musical. About what you said of how Beetlejuice could have ended the story by being the one and only antagonist, I kinda see it in another way, where they pay homage to not only the movie but another loved (even if underrated) depiction of the Ghost with the Most: the Saturday morning cartoon. You see, a lot of the people knew Beetlejuice antics from the cartoon based on the movie, where we see a more friendly (even if still chaotic) BJ, where he manages to become a close friend to Lydia, even though there's the whole, you know, everything from the movie, not to count the fact that Adam and Barbara doesn't even appear in the animated series, making it almost a parallel universe to the events of the movie. Even though the movie is iconic, it must have been clear for the writers that some folk would only have watched the Satuday morning cartoon series and would have walked to the theater expecting to see that depiction of Beetlejuice. And even the movie-only purists, might I add, probably would only watch the musical if the titular demon had more screentime so they wouldn't have to sit through a bunch of songs just to see him appear near the Act 1 Finale (not saying the songs are bad, I LOVE THEM, just telling ehat the audience might've thought). So, how do you appease all these kinds of audiences that are looking for such a different depiction of the same character, almost polar opposites? Simple, you blend both depictions of him and make it clear from the get go that you're not picking favorites, and ultimately are just using different means to tell the same story. This way, we get 3 versions of Beetlejuice that can appeal to everyone in a way where we can pick our favorite depiction of the Mr. Juice in a series of "alternate timelines" of the same story, where key elements are kept but differently presented, and honestly I think that the way they did it was genial. Makes BJ's redemption at the end have a lot more of sense in my eyes, in a metalinguistical kind of way. Who would've thought that in a world where we're getting saturated of the multiversal storylines with alternate timelines, "Beetlejuice", of all things, would have one the most satisfying ways of doing it across its franchise's properties. But, I don't know, that's just me. What do you think?
I’ve personally never watched the cartoon, but I think you have a very interesting take! My only wonder is that in trying to appease to three different kind of audiences, they lose the poignancy of the story? It’s definitely a tough one to balance out when multiple versions of a story already exist.
I’m in the camp of people who grew up with the cartoon and not the movie. It’s weird to me to have a Beetlejuice and Lydia that aren’t friends, so the musical appealed to me a lot more than the movie does.
@@raspberryseedz I grew up with the movie. I didn’t even about the cartoon until this comment thread. I think I sometimes saw clips of BeetleJuice in a cartoon style but never realized it was part of a bigger media. Even if I did hear abt the cartoon I likely would’ve thought he was more similar to the movie version if I didn’t hear about the changes. Even with that I still did very much enjoy the musical.
I think the writers just realized that the actor they got for BJ was too lovable and that the audience would be rooting for him so they were like... shoot we gotta redeem him. Quick. New villian. Lol
13:17 they could get the perfect foreshadowing from the movie, when the movers are moving that sculpture Lydia uses a part of to stab Beetlejuice in the musical, it almost crashes into Delia and she screams “this is my art and it is dangerous! do you think I wanna die like this?”
I actually really like the musical version of Beetlejuice and he’s probably my favorite version of the character. I feel like he hits the sweet spot between the straight up gross creepy villain he is in the movie, and being basically the genie with a gothic aesthetic in the tv show. His more apprehensible actions are played for satire and laughs instead of fear and distrust in the movie. And I think that trope works here because of how exaggerated and ridiculous all the other characters around him also are. He’s less of a gross kind of comedic bad guy and more of a funny chaotic antagonist that gets turned around in the end. I do think it’d make way more sense for him to stay in the end. With the theme of found family, it completing his arc of being alone and invisible, and to fully differentiate itself from the movie version of beetlejuice
8:20 really took me by surprise. See, the theatre I went to apparently didn't gave the infrastructure to have them fall through the floor, so instead they died by getting electrocuted. I had no idea it was supposed to go differently.
That's the tour version, yup! (Possibly some of the international versions, too...?) Since they travel to so many different theaters they can't rely on them having a trap door right where they need it. There's some changed lyrics, too! Sets and costumes also had to be downsized for easier travel, but it's still such a good production.
Lydia kills Beetlejuice twice; she pushes him off the roof at the end of "Say My Name," which horrifies Adam and Barbara. Then the wedding scene happens. Both times, Beetlejuice shows no hard feelings. I do imagine he's always had that soft spot for Lydia, despite the terrors that he puts her family through.
Yes but when she pushes him off the roof he is dead anyway, whereas when she kills him after the wedding she takes away his one goal that he had finally achieved… idk, even with a soft spot for Lydia, I think after pining for being seen for a whole musical long, he sure doesn’t seem to mind too much when his fulfilled dream gets taken away 😅
Personally, I love the musical so much and consider it significantly better than the movie. And for me, the ending didn’t feel rushed more like a comeuppance for the characters. The Maitlands grew a spine and were able to be a lot more forward/cunning, Charles learned to trust his daughter and vice versa, Dehlia is finally accepted by Lydia, Juno gets the biggest Karma for treating Beetlejuice so horribly, and Beetlejuice gets to understand what true feelings of love (like platonic not romantic obviously) are. Think about it. Yes, the whole wedding was an excuse to kill him, but in that moment, he felt wanted. Loved. Appreciated. And Lydia really did care about him. Like, I think the reason he isn't mad at her for killing him was because A: Fair enough and B: He would've *literally* done the same. The whole group gave him something he had never gotten from anyone, including his own mother, a moment of true happiness and belonging. So him ditching everyone at the end of the show, it's him on his journey as a new and changed ghost/demon/supernatural being. His last words are "Tell my story" which are a little odd if you don’t understand why that's funny and crucial. His story has changed from being a chaotic, socially awkward demon who got his kicks from scaring people and using humor to cope with his afterlife or whatever. He grew and changed and got to relate to someone for the first time. Beetlejuice was finally *SEEN*, and that's all he ever wanted. That and it's a callback to the puppet show he did earlier. My point is, Beetlejuice, in my eyes, is a fantastic show and it's a story about how life is weird and crazy but despite not being able to choose where you come from, you can decide who will come with you on the banana boat that is life.
I love the musical more than the film. I watched the film and musical back to back for the first time to get ready for the sequel coming out and only knowing of Beeltejuice through pop culture, the musical is actually what I THOUGHT the movie was going to be like. I thought the movie was about Lydia who summons Beetlejuice who causes chaos, had no idea that the Maitlands were going to the main characters. Even the Day-O scene, before I had no idea that was done by Adam and Barbara. I thought that was done by Beetlejuice! Also since I had only seen the Day O scene out of context without knowing what the movie was about, I thought the movie was about an orphaned Lydia and the guests were her rotten extended family members who were fighting among each other cause they only wanted the house and fortune left by her parents and she had Beetlejuice help her get rid of them. In general, Beetlejuice actually had WAY less screentime than I thought going in. Just thought this would be fun to share!
I haven’t seen either in years. But Juno’s death could be seen as the mirror inversion of Lydia’s arc, coming to terms and resolution with the death, withdrawal, and seeming abandonment of one’s mother/parents.
In the first act of the musical, Delia constantly said stuff like "As my guru Ortho says" so you know they didn't combine them together. I think they wanted to keep the humor of his character but also not have a character being a 3rd wheel in scenes so they added that aspect to Delia
I loved the video, I just thought that the only thing you could also have explored was how Charles' character also changed from the movie to the musical. Since the story changed to Lydia becoming the protagonist, it also gave space for the last member of her biological family to grow as a character too. While in the film, we see a father who is so neglectful for the sake of comedy, to the point we don't remember Lydia having any other family besides the Maitlands (I mean, he didn't even join the commemoration party at the end of the movie for HIS own daughter), in the musical we can see a man who is so broken from the death of his wife that even saying her name hurts. This, in turn, leads him to get further and further away from his daughter. I just think it's a good representation of how different people deal with grief in very different ways, and how it's only by admitting these different ways that they can find as a family a common ground to deal more easily with this situation.
Yes, that was a beautiful dimension to add to Charles’ character. Loved that in the madness of the story, we suddenly got hit with this beautiful emotional scene between Lydia and Charles, in the Netherworld of all places!
I do definitely wish Beetlejuice had stuck around at the end of the musical, or show that he can and likely will actually come visit whenever. They Could've made it a cute callback to the cartoon where Beetlejuice and Lydia are friends who regularly go on adventures together. Let him be the weird fun uncle he deserves to be!
You also got to remember there was also the popular kids cartoon show of which is the main reason why some choices were made for both this and the sequel
Beetlejuice is honestly my favorite musical ever. I was neutral on the movie growing up, i thought it was good but i wasn’t passionate about it. I just love the story and characters of the musical so much and I love it’s almost a fusion of the cartoon and movie. Honestly every time I forget Beetlejuice leaves at the end💀it’s my headcanon he comes back and gets to be a fun uncle to Lydia lol
@@annevanderelst247 honestly if they do a reboot of the cartoon, I think the musical would be a great jumping off point. They could have beetlejuice show up on their front door a couple days later like “heyyy can I crash here for a while since I don’t have anywhere to go” and they can all be family together lolol
I agree that Juno is sort of an abrupt villain replacement for the end, but at least there was a little build up to her! I don't think Beetlejuice staying the villain and getting killed off for good would work in the context of the rest of the musical; he's much more sympathetic to the audience than in the movie, he talks directly to us and we know his goals and why he's doing what he's doing. I think Lydia's plan was the perfect balance - he gets a punishment, but isn't gone for good. Plus it makes use of the rules we've learned! (Idk if you've listened to the demos but I recommend them! There's a song that would've been after his "heroic" deed that I think you might enjoy, haha) The musical is definitely my favorite version, I've seen a little bit of the cartoon and I love that they took elements from both that and the movie, decided to give both Lydia and Beetlejuice more clear motivations, and built a story from there! The fact that they didn't feel compelled to keep too close to the original, despite it's popularity, still impresses me. They also were very smart about only introducing rules of the world that made sense and were consistent; one of my criticisms of the movies is the rules are whatever they need to be for the plot, and subject to change at any time. (Sequel was fun, but not...good. Plot holes and underutilized characters and storylines, etc. May not bother big fans of the original, though)
I think the issue was they HAD to use the sandworm and it HAD to be used in the finale, and Beetlejuice is the narrator and more likable here; given the show's new tone, it would have been a vibe-killer for Beetlejuice to get eaten. I think the fix for this would be to have Beetlejuice get resurrected and suddenly killed again - Lydia thinks this will force him into the Netherworld but as we've seen, by his choice he _won't_ go into the Netherworld and he's happy to continue being the same old demon and harassing the Maitlands and the Deetz's forever. But then _Juno_ actually rides in on the sandworm since she's the boss of the Netherworld. The is the last straw for her and she's DONE with her son causing her centuries of trouble for her and everyone else and trying to escape and flipping from dead/alive/dead again making a mockery of the afterlife process. But in an act of motherly kindness, Juno doesn't let the sandworm eat him and only uses it to force Beetlejuice through the Netherworld door as if it's his first day of school and he won't get out of the car. This reinforces the family themes and that Beetlejuice was the problem, not his mother. She's not so bad, but we've only heard about her from him. Beetlejuice's mom needs to help him finally accept the death process he's avoided for centuries just as Lydia needs to accept losing her mom. Him going through the door represents the completion of Lydia's grieving process that started when he appears at the beginning of the show.
As someone who loves both the musical and movie version I admit I love the movie version slightly more. Part of it is because I grew up with the movie version but, also because I like that the movie version explores through the Maitlands how a person feels after they passed away. They were content with their house and were thinking of having kids then they unfortunately meet their end. While Lydia mourning the loss of her mom is a valid theme to explore to me it needed more time to be explored. And I ended up wishing she didn’t make up with her dad too quickly. And I agree I didn’t like Juno being the actual villain. Though one thing I love about the musical is we get more bettlejuice. In the movie he doesn’t have much screen time. I just saw the sequel and i liked it. Though it did have some flaws. There is something I would like to say about it but, I also don’t want to spoil.
If you wanna get straight into the story and jump right into Beetlejuice, the musicals helps understand the story more than the movie it’s more straightforward but before watching any kind of adaptation, gotta read or watch the original book or movie or tv show!
I feel like there aren’t enough people who talk about how the Beetlejuice animated series colored the perception audiences have of Beetlejuice the character. I was terrified of the movie as a kid but I loved the cartoon since it was still re-run on Saturday mornings way after the original air date. That Beetlejuice and Lydia are a lot more like the musical’s characters. Beetlejuice is a weird and chaotic but fun person to be around and is Lydia’s best friend. And a lot of people who have fond memories of the show prefer that kind of characterization for the character (I was so grossed out when I finally watched the movie and saw that Beetlejuice was a creep). There are a ton of theme park appearances too where Beetlejuice is a silly guy that you want to watch and interact with. It’s refreshing to have a Beetlejuice story where he gets to be likable than the antagonist. I do think the end was rushed though, and should have been set up better than just the few twists. They don’t have the same kind of payoff.
Last month i saw the mexican leg of the Broadway tour and they didn't have the pig during Day O, so Barbara hams it up with her puppetry performance instead
As someone who is a big fan of the original movie, Tim Burton’s older style, mixed media, horror comedy, and a MASSIVE fan of the musical: GO see beetlejuice 2. Even if it’s not quite as good as the other two, it’s SO refreshing to watch and insanely fun, I’m not gonna spoil anything, go watch it!!!!!!!!!
@@annevanderelst247 Yes, she is. Plus, she and Beetlejuice are best friends. The show is currently on Tubi, if you want to see how it compares to both the movie and play.
IMO the core theme of the play is grief, more than death or family. The Deetz each represent one way of coping: Lydia is depressed, consumed by grief Charles is in denial, avoidance Delia (who's also griefing but because of her failed marrige) (For A Reason) uses toxic positivism Lydia is very much the main character of the play and we see her fall into the toxic and selfdestructive behaviours of a griefing teen: Alienation, emotional unstability aand the biggest of all: Beetlejuice I feel that Beetlejuice in the play is very much a stand in for toxic friends, which are very common for teens. He's rash, destructive, irresponsable, selfish and rebelious. He's not the bad guy pedo from the movie, he's much more sympathetic, sad and lonely himself with family trauma of his own (Invisible reprise), but he's still a bad influence that enables the worst behaviours and desires in Lydia (Do you hear that sound?). He's the friend that gets you to skip class, smoke cigs. He's not bad he's not trying to hurt you he just has aa bad way of dealing with his problems that he's passing on to you thinking it will help. On the other hand the Maitlands are a much healthier relation, a more mature kind of friendship, almost guardianship. And at the end, Lydia and Charles find a middle ground and reconnect on a much healthier form of grief (Jump in the Line), the bad influence is cut from their lifes and a much healthier life can come
i honestly didnt feel like they were redeeming beetlejuice in the musical. he is an unpredictible, unstable and very lonely gremlin of a demon/ghost/zombue with seemingly all powerful conjuration magic; of course hed befriend a teenager with that. but we also learn that he cannot handle being left alone which he blames on his bad childhood. so given all that i feel that juno threatening lydia might have just been the straw that broke the camels back and beetlejuice, now used to just doing literally whatever the fuck he wants on impulse, takes the oportunity to kill his mom bc he simply doesnt want her in his life ever again. i dont think the show needed a more cohesive or narratively satisfying ending bc much like its namesake, this musical rarely thinks more than one and a half steps ahead. and to me that just really worked
I loved the musical, I thought it did just about everything right, I do think it would have been more satisfying if Beetlejuice stayed in the house with the deats and maidlens as Lydia’s chaotic uncle/ brother person tho
As someone who only watched the musical through youtube, even I thought that it managed to do the story better than the movie (that is absolutely not just my Alex Brightman bias speaking) but even so there are some aspects of the film that I felt were done better, like I preferred the Maitlands death in the film and I actually prefer Delia's character in there as well. But for the endings at this point I feel like they were specifically done to not make much sense at least they didn't really to me. Beetlejuice getting eaten by the sandworm in the first film felt like it came out of no-where to me just as the death of him and Juno in the musical were and I won't spoil the ending for the second movie but I felt like that ending was pretty random as well but since it's happened three times I've put it down to random endings just being a part of the Beetlejuice charm and experience. (also amazing vid! I love that at least some people still care about the musical 🥲)
In the original film Beetlejuice’s death doesn’t feel too random for me, but there definitely is a plot hole because of the time disparity between Saturn and the regular world
10:38 about parts that are not possible to do in other theaters they DO change the script, for example in Monterrey, Mexico it wasn't possible to recrreate the fall of barbara and adam, so they changed it for an electrocution, changing even some parts of the song ready, set.
I just saw the sequel and I personally loved it! It was really funny, and it had the same charm as the original movie, just with a slightly more modern feel.
i think you are overthinking the beetlejuice and lydia's wedding, he is a creep AND pervert but he is usually circling just 2 ways constantly, unerving people (by either fear or disgust) for his amusement or desperation to get into the living world, so he play up everything to the max, i feel is never really put that he is doing this because of attraction since the ones moments he sounds as if he is "flirting" or so it is to make barbara nervous or acting in front of the priest, so again, unnerving and getting out also as others have said, is likely beetlejuice is way more forgiven here since the musical is in the end based in both the movies AND the cartoon, after all, he and lydia are full on best friends, so the ending is not so confusing with that in mind since if you watched the movie back then, you most likely watched the cartoon, so these people both like beetlejuice as full on villian losing but also a good guy trickster
Well, when Beetlejuice does his snake haunting in the film, he does say to Charles "We've come for your daughter". Which I guess you could still classify as a tactic to make Charles feel uncomfortable, but he does also grunt a little at Lydia to make her scared. Idk, even if it is to get on people's nerves, I think it still makes him a creep. But I've not seen the cartoon, hence why in my eyes he is more a bad guy than a good guy (in the film, that is. In the musical it's not very clear)
@@annevanderelst247 no yeah, i feel even if people dont talk about it, is in the subconscious of many of why they remember beetlejuice as a bigger presence in kids minds after the movie, imagine it as a more chaotic good bill cipher kinda deal
I think for a pretty large group of people the cartoon has made a major stamp in their mind. I saw the new movie and even though I hadn't seen the cartoon in years a large part of me hoped that they would have more Lydia and Beetlejuise together as team than they did. Still loved the movie though.
I think it’s very cool how they managed to use elements from the og movie and incorperate them into the musical while still keeeping it unique! I definitely think other musical adaptations could learn from it. Also, i think a cool comparison to do could be the 1992 Newsies movie versus the broadway one!
as someone who didn’t see the original movie until after seeing the musical, i can pretty comfortably say that i like the musical WAY more for the fact that the characters somehow feel more fleshed out and cohesive, and just generally more enjoyable to watch. the musical does a great job showing the importance of family - and how family isn’t always bound by blood. lydia’s relationship with the maitlands and even with beetlejuice perfectly convey that message while also conveying themes like the value of companionship and finding people who accept you the way you are. and that’s ultimately how it ends- with both the maitlands and the deetzes becoming one found family bound by their connections to lydia. while beetlejuice by all means is not meant to be a good person, [he’s portrayed as a demonic entity with little regards for human morals in every portrayal of his character] the choice to make him more sympathetic in the musical was a good one to me personally. musical beej, although he finds great joy in causing misfortune, reads more like a person who’s been so neglected and alone for so long that he’s completely forgotten how to acceptably interact with other people. he’s meant to be the prime example of what a lack of friendship and companionship does to someone, and it’s a fate nobody deserves. admittedly this kind of characterization only really fits with the musical variant of beej [maybe a little bit onto the cartoon as well] and trying to do this with movie beej would immediately fall apart, it works exceptionally well for his character. woah i talked a lot more than i meant to, guess that proves just how in the trenches i am with this hyperfixation. heh. this is a great analysis, and i’m happy to see people still talking about the beetlejuice musical even after it’s been off broadway for over a year.
I got really into the musical when it first came out so my parents got me to watch the original movie, and I’ve gotta say that it being a ‘bold departure from the original source material’ really didn’t prepare me for it
I saw the sequel on Thursday and it was honestly not too bad and had more moments that made me genuinely laugh than I expected though I would say the original and musical are probably better
I mean, hey, that sounds much better than most sequels in this age.... (I'm looking at YOU, Last Jedi, and Rise of Skywalker....) I'm cautiously optimistic about this movie.
I personally prefer the movie. Don't get me wrong! I love the musical too! But considering the way that he is written, he just works better as an antagonist than a sympathetic character honestly.
Haven't seen the sequel yet - hoping to this weekend. But I did get to see the musical when it came back to Broadway in April 2021. One of my students had introduced me to the soundtrack just before lockdown, so it was my comfort soundtrack during a lot of 2020. And having rewatched the film (my wife didn't see it as a kid like I did), while it is a cult classic, I think it's aged less well than it could have. I still love it, but I'd rather have a less-creeper Beetlejuice, and the lampshading of the whole marriage scheme. It, to me, feels like the perfect midpoint between the movie and the cartoon series that aired in the late 80s/early 90s, where Beetlejuice and Lydia are BFFs, and she goes to the Netherworld to have adventures with him. No Adam or Barbara in the cartoon, but they do prank Charles and Delia a lot. I enjoy the Beetlejuice musical more than I did the Addams Family musical, and I'm also an Addams fan. The ending mirrors what was going to be revealed in the original sequel idea from the early 90s - it had the family going to Hawai'i on vacation, and Beetlejuice there for some reason, and Juno would be revealed to be his mom and they'd have to team up to fight her. I have no idea if/how Juno fits into the actual sequel movie (again, haven't seen it, don't want spoilers), but I liked that the musical paid homage to the sequel that could have been by including that bit of lore.
Beetlejuice in Hawaii? But I thought the Maitlands couldn’t leave the house for 125 years? 😅 I guess perhaps only the Deetzes went… This sounds like such a crazy sequel, but I think I would’ve loved it
I happen to be part of a beetlejuice discord server and we have this whole thing about “beetlebabes” IYKYK we hate them, and we happened to realize that it’s definitely not romantic in the musical, he makes it obvious it’s an exchange
I can’t speak for cruises, but I saw the tour. Adam and Barbara got electrocuted because the stage didn’t allow for falling through. He was trying to fix the mobile of a crib, iirc. The Day-o sets were pared down compared to the bootleg I saw, as was the sandworm.
One of my core memories as a musical theatre fan is going to New York during the original run of Beetlejuice. We were staying a few minutes away from Broadway, with the Beetlejuice theatre basically just around the corner from our hotel. But despite me being at the peak of my theatre obsession to the point of having a musical playlist over 1000 songs long, we didn’t go to see a single show So I had to walk past the Beetlejuice OBC theatre like six times a day for three days while unmedicated for my anxiety, in a constant state of sensory overload, and having my period. It’s honestly a surprise I was able to leave America
@@annevanderelst247 unfortunately not, I’m not a big fan of travelling and I’m not desperate to repeat the experience of being in New York. We’d planned on going to see a few musicals back in England the next year, but that was 2020 so that didn’t go well lmao
I am so excited to fly to London to see Alex Brightman reprise his role on the West End, and to see Beetlejuice the Movie Musical, which is the Beetlejuice Remake we really need. (If I keep saying it as though it's fact it will happen, right?)
Saw the sequel yesterday, it was a lot of fun, and easy recommendation if you liked the first one. The only thing that confused me about the movie was the purpose of the side antagonist of the movie, the stitched up woman from the trailers. You could virtually remove her from the movie and nothing much changes.
I kinda like to think of it as Juno and movie BJ had a kid and that kid is musical BJ, that kinda just made more sense to me and why they act so different, and I thought that would be kinda funny ngl
the second movie was actually so good, genuinely loved it so much. beetlejuice is just a really good franchise, ive loved everything that's come out of it
That's true, but seeing Juno dies at the height of the story, it feels like her death should be the resolution of the show. And Juno's death definitely doesn't feel like an answer to Lydia grieving her mum. Like I said in my video though, I think the writers got a bit caught up in trying to fit in too much. Someone else commented that Juno's death could be seen as an inversion of Lydia's character journey, and I thought that was a great way to interpret it :)
Another Otho thing: eventually you can see in (musical) theater, which roles were beefed up/included such to have a working understudy for another larger roll (eg the dad)
I saw the sequel with some friends and while it's a bit derivitive, it does enough of it's own things and is funny enough to be at the very least worth a watch if you just want a fun movie. Not gonna blow you away, but it was pretty good
you know what, i've never watched the og movie (usually don't watch horror) but when i listened to thr musical soundtrack i was SO confused why she killed him when they were buddies?? and thought, maybe something happened off-songs that she decided to backstab him because just from the soundtrack, i couldnt make out a reason. her relationship with the ghost couple didnt come off as strong through the songs, at least to me?
I by far prefer the movie as it just feels like everything i could want, and the story reflects the characters perfectly. That being the case and with the kind of stuff i enjoy i really liked Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and could see the care that was put into it though its not as good as the first. Critic's aren't going to have so much fun with it but to those who love the macabre and horror comedy its a breath of fresh air
The biggest difference between the two Beetlejuices is that all the adults in the musical are millenials when they were baby boomers in the original. I cannot stress enough how much this changes the way they’re characterized (at least in the version I saw)
I had a weird experience with the beetle juice movie and the musical. I had seen the movie when I was a kid and I had fun then I listened to the cast recording and saw a slime tutorial during the pandemic and I loved the musical. To the point I kind of forgot how much they change from the movie. Then last year I rewatched the movie with a friend and I couldn’t enjoy it, sure visually is really cool but I felt it had to many sexist jokes to the point it was just uncomfortable and it was more of a just vibes no plot movie. So for me the musical is the best version of the story, and I had the chance to finally see the musical a few months ago when the tour came to Mexico and it’s just such a fun time definitely understands what to take from the source material and what to improve
another film to musical you could talk about is Amélie! You could also compare the broadway vs west end versions (I much prefer west end. I recently discovered it and it’s become one of my favorite musicals)
I love the musical way more than the film and it’s hard to explain to people who’ve never seen the musical. I wish I could see it in person so much but I’m not American and have not yet been able to afford flying to America just to see it. I finally did get on a trip to the US and it happened to be 2 weeks the tour was on break 😢
@@annevanderelst247 ever few months I do a deep dive check for news of a West End Transfer and every time it’s just click bait news of unsubstantiated rumours. One website just automatically changed the year on the article and had been saying it’s be any day now since 2019.
I'm in love and obsessed with this show lol!! I love both movies ofc but the musical is really what kickstarted my Beetlejuice obsession!!!!! My really good friend Mischief got me into it and they were the one that really made me obsessed with it and in turn that finally made me a believer in the original movie because before I started getting obsessed with the show I thought the movie was good but also really weird but once I got into the musical I rewatched the movie it went from I think this is good but weird to this is Strange and Unusual and I love it!!!!!!! In a production of the show I'm hoping to do once the rights release with my family and friends my friend Mischief is gonna be playing Lydia and I'm gonna play Beetlejuice and something really special to me too is that 2 days after I saw the show I found out they got to see it too which made me so unbelievably happy!!!!!! So I really give all the credit in the world to them for really really helping kickstart my Beetlejuice obsession!!!!!
10:13 I’m assuming they’d do the same for off-broadway! I saw both broadway and off broadway, and the only major changes are no giant snake in the beginning and Barbara and Adam get electrocuted. I’m not quite sure what they did in the end to end Juno though lol, but I don’t recall a snake yet again.
i actually think that Beetlejuice needing to marry Lydia in the musical because "it's a green card thing!" makes it funnier. there's just something about it that tickles me.
I've never seen the Beetlejuice musical on a cruise ship but the company I work for built the set for Norwegian and the National tour Beetlejuice. I couldn't tell you much about the sand worm but the cruise ship set was compressed onto doublesided wagons and with very little cuts/alterations. I do know that we still make the actors "float." :) Most cruise ship theaters might be on the smaller side but still fully function. It's very meticulous on how things are stored, some even have fly houses. Unsure if the Beetlejuice one is but could ask a co-worker if you really wanted to know.
Ending sounds more like they were trying to redeem Beetlejuice because people find him attractive (yes, really), and they didn’t spend enough time considering what the change to Juno as the final boss would do to the story’s themes.
@@annevanderelst247 glad Tim Burton did the opposite of that in the movies. Wish more people would watch the old Beetlejuice cartoon. Fewer demands for Woobie-juice.
The only thing that I think is something I feel like they shouldn't have done for the Beetlejuice musical is have Beetlejuice leave just like it kind of made no sense free be like bye I'm not against you I'm just like it felt kind of weird and like it happened out of nowhere
i like the beetlejuice movie fine, but a main reason it didnt fully resonate with me was the grittiness and generally gross/unnerving aesthetic of the film. i understand that was the intention and i dont think it is a bad trait to have, but i am easily turned off to horror and gross out. if i watch either, i prefer there to be a lighthearted edge to it to balance out the negative reaction i have. and this is what i feel really hooked me about the beetlejuice musical. it had all the edginess, cynicism and meta humor that i enjoy while still having a pleasing visual aesthetic, lighthearted character moments, and positive messaging. all the grossness in the musical is balanced out by comedy, where in the movie i was always unsure of weather to cringe or laugh. it's like the difference between seeing violent fights in a live action film vs a in looney tunes cartoon. theyre both violent, but one makes you feel a little safer and a little more inclined to laugh. the choice they made to tone down the depravity of beetlejuice himself in the musical made me a lot more attatched to his character. i'm a sucker for having morally corrupt characters become humanized trope, and i think wanting to parallel his struggles as a ghost with family issues to lydia's was a really great idea. in fact, it feels like all the characters (except for otho) had their narritives expanded, giving us a chance to connect with them even more. the movie was great, but it couldnt make me feel emotionally moved by any of the characters. i cried for lydia in the musical because they put such a focus on her greif and how it affects her. i wanted to see more of beetlejuice because i felt connected with his human side despite him still being a nefarious creep. i was happy see lydia connect with her father because i got to see how his wife's death affected him too. where the movie left me with thinking how interesting and creative the plot was, the musical did this while also giving me a bunch of characters i can become emotionally attached to. plus, it's rare for me to find an album where i believe there are no bad songs. this is my first and favorite musical. (but i also wish beetlejuice would have stayed in the end, instead of leaving)
Completely agree that the film just didn’t bother with its characters. The film’s goal clearly wasn’t to tell character journeys, but to convey a certain aesthetic. Whereas a musical will always focus on character’s most inner emotions, otherwise there probably wouldn’t be a need to sing! I too was very moved by Lydia’s grief, I think the writers did an excellent job at translating these characters to best suit a musical
Like maybe when Lydia is dancing she could have been grabbing like some things that we couldn't see and then what's her and feels you've got married she got her makeshift spear out and then stabbed him that would make a lot more sense than just she has a sphere could we at least see her getting it while she's singing creepy old guy also I feel like if Beetlejuice the musical was to get a musical movie they need to rewrite it to make Juno more of an opposing Force make Beetlejuice actually saving Lydia from Juno make more sense and actually show video you know getting her weapon to kill Beetlejuice while she's singing creepy old guy and fix a lot of other things the musical that just kind of feel like they need more work put into them like either you use Auto or you just get rid of him okay or make him an entirely new character because in the musical he just feels like he's there for no reason because pretty much all of his character has been given to Delia either you just write them out or you give him back his character and make Delia no longer like this hippy dippy type person there's probably more in Beetlejuice the musical that would need to be rewind for a musical movie but I don't know right now also I feel like they probably should have gender swapped Juno that way the message wouldn't have read as Lydia's mom deserve to die cuz that just sounds bad and pretty toned death
The Musical is better and still on touring an National Tour , international productions , An Cruise Production on Norwegian Viva Cruise and upcoming Australian production in the works
What I'm understanding from the video is that the musical is better because it's streamlined and simplified, and has taken out content that might offend the audience. I think that making Beetlejuice more of the positive/kind side of the Trickster coin is an interesting idea, and makes sense in a musical setting since he is the most memorable and original character from the eponymous movie, but from your description of the plot it does seem like the narrative execution is lackluster. I've not seen the musical, so I don't know whether this is strictly an issue of subverting expectations and forgetting to keep oneself in check. Given the overall trend in the commercial arts to neglect the very core of what they're offering the audience, storytelling itself, to an extent that is disrespectful to the massive effort put into these big projects by everyone else involved, I would suspect that it might be just be poor writing. Here's hoping that the upcoming sequel would be better written than most current high-budget-for-their-genre Hollywood projects. The actors, set designers, costume designers, VFX artists, and so on, all deserve their labor to be poured into scripts that respect and merit it. I too saw Beetlejuice as a child, but I didn't interpret Beetlejuice's advances towards Lydia as something that the movie presented in a positive or neutral light. In the movie, he very much is the dark and nasty side of the trickster archetype, so him having nasty intentions towards a 16 year old isn't surprising. It's a matter of differing opinions though. I have no issue with art featuring the ugliest sides of human existence, if it's done purposefully. As a prime example on the topic of PDF files, Lolita is a phenomenal novel, and a very good film. I have zero issues with it tackling such an abhorrent aspect of human behavior. The marketing for the movie, however, instead played into Lolita as an erotic symbol, practically categorizing the film as the very opposite of what the story sets to accomplish. Speaking of books, The Fremen have had the claim to sandworms ever since Herbert introduced both in 1965. They of course were also featured in Lynch's 1984 adaptation, 4 years before Beetlejuice 😎 Anyway, excess word count for a UA-cam comment aside, here's hoping that the algorithm gods continue favoring your video niche, even if it's one I'm not particularly interested in. I'm selfless like that.
Hey Andeimir! Very interesting thoughts as usual, thank you for sharing them! I absolutely agree with your sentiment that all of the people involved in making a film deserve to be pouring their hard work in something that merits it 💪🏻 Wether or not the sequel falls under this category, we’ll have to find out. I completely forgot about the Dune books! The Sandworm is a Fremen after all, haha! Thanks for the support, really appreciate it x
@@annevanderelst247 I don't know that I usually have very interesting thoughts, but I appreciate your tactful and diplomatic comment! Initial impression seem to indicate that the sequel is consistent with the first movie and with the rest of Burton's output sans The Nightmare Before Christmas (for reasons known to all who care to know them), so I'm looking forward to catching it once it's available digitally. There's a topic for a potential future video though, a Christmas musical movies showdown 🙂
You know? After seeing the sequel film? It feels like it was intentionally structured to allow for the musical to adapt its contents without breaking the musicals canon. Like juno’s absence was notable despite her limited screen time in the original. With her being replaced narratively with the dead stunt actor playing cop. And it’s heavy emphasis on NEW characters not seen in the original.
@@Crazygamergal i thought about it too, and i have 2 theories It will be brought up again in anything new the franchise comes up with (there are rumours for a 3rd film or a new show, i repeat, just RUMOURS) Or they did it to dismiss the musical, like, to say "they are a diferent canon" or something like that, it is said that Burton was not convinced by the musical
The musicals plot exceeds the movie by so much. It’s so much more powerful and meaningful and especially Lydia’s storyline, when it comes to her mother and her relationship with beetlejuice. Not to mention, how beetlejuice the musical focuses on Lydia and beetlejuice, while to movie focuses on the Maitlands which was kind of boring.
Does Beetlejuice deserve a redemption arc or not?
Film Beetlejuice? Not in my opinion. He’s too sleazy for it to come across as anything other than contrived. Musical Beetlejuice, on the other hand, comes across as poorly socialized- Alex Brightman has said that part of why he hits on people constantly is that, being alone so long, he has no concept of boundaries anymore- and awful, yeah, but like a guy who doesn’t fully grasp Why what he’s doing is awful. He also seems to have a completely different emotional capacity from humans; when he’s brought to life, he seems shocked and taken aback by the extreme range of emotions that living people experience, and he also doesn’t understand why Lydia can’t just bounce back from grief. Movie Beetlejuice is sleazy in a way that is real, while musical Beetlejuice is just divorced enough from reality to make it work.
i think a good subversive ending for beetlejuice would be him, after being a friend to lydia the whole movie, goes comically evil after being killed by her. its sympathetic because his goal was just achieved, but he was betrayed so he lashes out
@@lindseyb2777 I see your point! I think the fault then lies with Juno not being prominent enough in the story
@ParmesanTries that could be good! It would fit with his established characterization, motivations, and preexisting tendencies towards rage (the seance scene comes to mind)
Yes!
IMO, the sandworm eating Juno was less “bad moms deserve to die and so did Lydia’s” and more “family is a valuable thing and all Juno ever did was treat her son poorly”, since Lydia’s experience with her mom is already set up as the polar opposite of Beetlejuice’s relationship with Juno (see: “why on earth would anyone want to spend more time with their MOTHER?”). I def agree that the Juno twist was too sudden and the thematic meaning needed to be clearer.
Ooh that’s a very nice interpretation! Yes, they should’ve definitely taken a bit more time to clarify the significance of this plotpoint (especially seeing it’s the ending)
I think the musical version of Beetlejuice is still an antagonist, but a much smarter one. When he thinks he needs the Maitlands, he isn't aggressive towards them. But once he meets Lydia, he forces them into the attic, which gives him much more control over her. He continues being kind up until Lydia follows the Maitlands into the netherworld, effectively choosing them over him, despite his efforts.
Now that he knows pretending to be nice won't convince Lydia to marry him, he turns to intimidation and tricks, literally torturing Otho. I viewed the ending as a final fourth wall break; saving Lydia and leaving before anyone has a chance to question it, ensuring he is viewed only as a kind, goofy ghost with mommy issues.
The sand worm eating Juno was worth it for the Cowboy Beetlejuice moment
Iconic
There is a huge missed opportunity in the musical. Act two opens with Skye the Girl Scout singing about how she has a weak heart, and any scare could kill her. She's then chased off stage by the ghosts in "That Beautiful Sound". I was hoping we'd see her again in the Netherworld, letting us know that the experience did indeed kill her. Without that, it seems like her whole presence loses its point.
Very much agree
I honestly think this franchise got a whole new fresh take with this musical. About what you said of how Beetlejuice could have ended the story by being the one and only antagonist, I kinda see it in another way, where they pay homage to not only the movie but another loved (even if underrated) depiction of the Ghost with the Most: the Saturday morning cartoon.
You see, a lot of the people knew Beetlejuice antics from the cartoon based on the movie, where we see a more friendly (even if still chaotic) BJ, where he manages to become a close friend to Lydia, even though there's the whole, you know, everything from the movie, not to count the fact that Adam and Barbara doesn't even appear in the animated series, making it almost a parallel universe to the events of the movie.
Even though the movie is iconic, it must have been clear for the writers that some folk would only have watched the Satuday morning cartoon series and would have walked to the theater expecting to see that depiction of Beetlejuice. And even the movie-only purists, might I add, probably would only watch the musical if the titular demon had more screentime so they wouldn't have to sit through a bunch of songs just to see him appear near the Act 1 Finale (not saying the songs are bad, I LOVE THEM, just telling ehat the audience might've thought).
So, how do you appease all these kinds of audiences that are looking for such a different depiction of the same character, almost polar opposites? Simple, you blend both depictions of him and make it clear from the get go that you're not picking favorites, and ultimately are just using different means to tell the same story. This way, we get 3 versions of Beetlejuice that can appeal to everyone in a way where we can pick our favorite depiction of the Mr. Juice in a series of "alternate timelines" of the same story, where key elements are kept but differently presented, and honestly I think that the way they did it was genial. Makes BJ's redemption at the end have a lot more of sense in my eyes, in a metalinguistical kind of way.
Who would've thought that in a world where we're getting saturated of the multiversal storylines with alternate timelines, "Beetlejuice", of all things, would have one the most satisfying ways of doing it across its franchise's properties. But, I don't know, that's just me. What do you think?
I’ve personally never watched the cartoon, but I think you have a very interesting take! My only wonder is that in trying to appease to three different kind of audiences, they lose the poignancy of the story? It’s definitely a tough one to balance out when multiple versions of a story already exist.
I’m in the camp of people who grew up with the cartoon and not the movie. It’s weird to me to have a Beetlejuice and Lydia that aren’t friends, so the musical appealed to me a lot more than the movie does.
@@raspberryseedz I grew up with the movie. I didn’t even about the cartoon until this comment thread. I think I sometimes saw clips of BeetleJuice in a cartoon style but never realized it was part of a bigger media. Even if I did hear abt the cartoon I likely would’ve thought he was more similar to the movie version if I didn’t hear about the changes. Even with that I still did very much enjoy the musical.
I never had the feeling beetlejuice saved lydia at the end. I always thought he just wanted to kill juno
Oooooh well that is an interesting take 🧐 that definitely makes more sense
As a person who has seen all 3 versions of Beetlejuice media, I'm kinda shocked by how much they took from the plot of the musical for the sequel.
From the musical? That’s bizarre. You’re making me very curious 👀
Oh, yeah, definetly. It was a good movie overall, but I couldn't stop thinking that ir was like watching a different version of the musical.
@@dorito_berenjena1738 I watched the sequel yesterday and filmed a video about it today haha! Hopefully I'll get through editing swiftly
Lydia's new boyfriend in the sequel really feels inspired by Musical Otho and Delia with his ties to spirituality and life coaching
The ending too!
I think the writers just realized that the actor they got for BJ was too lovable and that the audience would be rooting for him so they were like... shoot we gotta redeem him. Quick. New villian. Lol
Haha! Honestly, very plausible
13:17 they could get the perfect foreshadowing from the movie, when the movers are moving that sculpture Lydia uses a part of to stab Beetlejuice in the musical, it almost crashes into Delia and she screams “this is my art and it is dangerous! do you think I wanna die like this?”
Yeeeeessss!!! You should send in this suggestion haha
I actually really like the musical version of Beetlejuice and he’s probably my favorite version of the character. I feel like he hits the sweet spot between the straight up gross creepy villain he is in the movie, and being basically the genie with a gothic aesthetic in the tv show. His more apprehensible actions are played for satire and laughs instead of fear and distrust in the movie. And I think that trope works here because of how exaggerated and ridiculous all the other characters around him also are. He’s less of a gross kind of comedic bad guy and more of a funny chaotic antagonist that gets turned around in the end.
I do think it’d make way more sense for him to stay in the end. With the theme of found family, it completing his arc of being alone and invisible, and to fully differentiate itself from the movie version of beetlejuice
100% agree!
8:20 really took me by surprise. See, the theatre I went to apparently didn't gave the infrastructure to have them fall through the floor, so instead they died by getting electrocuted. I had no idea it was supposed to go differently.
That's the tour version, yup! (Possibly some of the international versions, too...?) Since they travel to so many different theaters they can't rely on them having a trap door right where they need it. There's some changed lyrics, too! Sets and costumes also had to be downsized for easier travel, but it's still such a good production.
Interesting! 🤔 the ultimate subverting of expectations by always changing the way they die 😂
@@annevanderelst247 practical AND appropriate! 😆 (ok but it makes so much more sense that they die in their house, however it happens!)
Same here when I saw it in Detroit
Lydia kills Beetlejuice twice; she pushes him off the roof at the end of "Say My Name," which horrifies Adam and Barbara. Then the wedding scene happens. Both times, Beetlejuice shows no hard feelings. I do imagine he's always had that soft spot for Lydia, despite the terrors that he puts her family through.
Yes but when she pushes him off the roof he is dead anyway, whereas when she kills him after the wedding she takes away his one goal that he had finally achieved… idk, even with a soft spot for Lydia, I think after pining for being seen for a whole musical long, he sure doesn’t seem to mind too much when his fulfilled dream gets taken away 😅
I know that with smaller stages, they change how the Maitlands die, ( Electrocution instead of falling) but the sandworm is still there.
Oh yeah they did this when I saw it in Detroit! I didn’t realize this was a smaller stage change
Personally, I love the musical so much and consider it significantly better than the movie. And for me, the ending didn’t feel rushed more like a comeuppance for the characters. The Maitlands grew a spine and were able to be a lot more forward/cunning, Charles learned to trust his daughter and vice versa, Dehlia is finally accepted by Lydia, Juno gets the biggest Karma for treating Beetlejuice so horribly, and Beetlejuice gets to understand what true feelings of love (like platonic not romantic obviously) are. Think about it. Yes, the whole wedding was an excuse to kill him, but in that moment, he felt wanted. Loved. Appreciated. And Lydia really did care about him. Like, I think the reason he isn't mad at her for killing him was because A: Fair enough and B: He would've *literally* done the same. The whole group gave him something he had never gotten from anyone, including his own mother, a moment of true happiness and belonging. So him ditching everyone at the end of the show, it's him on his journey as a new and changed ghost/demon/supernatural being. His last words are "Tell my story" which are a little odd if you don’t understand why that's funny and crucial. His story has changed from being a chaotic, socially awkward demon who got his kicks from scaring people and using humor to cope with his afterlife or whatever. He grew and changed and got to relate to someone for the first time. Beetlejuice was finally *SEEN*, and that's all he ever wanted. That and it's a callback to the puppet show he did earlier. My point is, Beetlejuice, in my eyes, is a fantastic show and it's a story about how life is weird and crazy but despite not being able to choose where you come from, you can decide who will come with you on the banana boat that is life.
I love the musical more than the film. I watched the film and musical back to back for the first time to get ready for the sequel coming out and only knowing of Beeltejuice through pop culture, the musical is actually what I THOUGHT the movie was going to be like.
I thought the movie was about Lydia who summons Beetlejuice who causes chaos, had no idea that the Maitlands were going to the main characters. Even the Day-O scene, before I had no idea that was done by Adam and Barbara. I thought that was done by Beetlejuice!
Also since I had only seen the Day O scene out of context without knowing what the movie was about, I thought the movie was about an orphaned Lydia and the guests were her rotten extended family members who were fighting among each other cause they only wanted the house and fortune left by her parents and she had Beetlejuice help her get rid of them.
In general, Beetlejuice actually had WAY less screentime than I thought going in. Just thought this would be fun to share!
I like the orphanaged lydia with distant family members trying to steal the house idea! 😃
I haven’t seen either in years. But Juno’s death could be seen as the mirror inversion of Lydia’s arc, coming to terms and resolution with the death, withdrawal, and seeming abandonment of one’s mother/parents.
Fair point!
In the first act of the musical, Delia constantly said stuff like "As my guru Ortho says" so you know they didn't combine them together. I think they wanted to keep the humor of his character but also not have a character being a 3rd wheel in scenes so they added that aspect to Delia
I loved the video, I just thought that the only thing you could also have explored was how Charles' character also changed from the movie to the musical. Since the story changed to Lydia becoming the protagonist, it also gave space for the last member of her biological family to grow as a character too. While in the film, we see a father who is so neglectful for the sake of comedy, to the point we don't remember Lydia having any other family besides the Maitlands (I mean, he didn't even join the commemoration party at the end of the movie for HIS own daughter), in the musical we can see a man who is so broken from the death of his wife that even saying her name hurts. This, in turn, leads him to get further and further away from his daughter. I just think it's a good representation of how different people deal with grief in very different ways, and how it's only by admitting these different ways that they can find as a family a common ground to deal more easily with this situation.
Yes, that was a beautiful dimension to add to Charles’ character. Loved that in the madness of the story, we suddenly got hit with this beautiful emotional scene between Lydia and Charles, in the Netherworld of all places!
YAY! PEOPLE ARE STILL TALKING ABOUT THE MUSICAL!
🥳🥳
I do definitely wish Beetlejuice had stuck around at the end of the musical, or show that he can and likely will actually come visit whenever.
They Could've made it a cute callback to the cartoon where Beetlejuice and Lydia are friends who regularly go on adventures together.
Let him be the weird fun uncle he deserves to be!
Yeah exactly!
You also got to remember there was also the popular kids cartoon show of which is the main reason why some choices were made for both this and the sequel
12:40 My favourite line from that song is "I can`t believe, some cultures think this kind of things alright!" ahahah!XD
Talk about being straight forward, am I right haha
Beetlejuice is honestly my favorite musical ever. I was neutral on the movie growing up, i thought it was good but i wasn’t passionate about it. I just love the story and characters of the musical so much and I love it’s almost a fusion of the cartoon and movie.
Honestly every time I forget Beetlejuice leaves at the end💀it’s my headcanon he comes back and gets to be a fun uncle to Lydia lol
If only he would’ve stayed 🥲
@@annevanderelst247 honestly if they do a reboot of the cartoon, I think the musical would be a great jumping off point. They could have beetlejuice show up on their front door a couple days later like “heyyy can I crash here for a while since I don’t have anywhere to go” and they can all be family together lolol
@@Ruby-96 omg I would love that! 😍
Don't forget the Beetlejuice cartoon, which is different from both the movie and the musical! And... Winona Ryder ships Beetlejuice/Lydia 🥲
Winona is weird, man haha
@@annevanderelst247 little bit 😆
also Michael said Lydia and beetlejuice should belong together too ❤
I agree that Juno is sort of an abrupt villain replacement for the end, but at least there was a little build up to her! I don't think Beetlejuice staying the villain and getting killed off for good would work in the context of the rest of the musical; he's much more sympathetic to the audience than in the movie, he talks directly to us and we know his goals and why he's doing what he's doing. I think Lydia's plan was the perfect balance - he gets a punishment, but isn't gone for good. Plus it makes use of the rules we've learned! (Idk if you've listened to the demos but I recommend them! There's a song that would've been after his "heroic" deed that I think you might enjoy, haha)
The musical is definitely my favorite version, I've seen a little bit of the cartoon and I love that they took elements from both that and the movie, decided to give both Lydia and Beetlejuice more clear motivations, and built a story from there! The fact that they didn't feel compelled to keep too close to the original, despite it's popularity, still impresses me. They also were very smart about only introducing rules of the world that made sense and were consistent; one of my criticisms of the movies is the rules are whatever they need to be for the plot, and subject to change at any time.
(Sequel was fun, but not...good. Plot holes and underutilized characters and storylines, etc. May not bother big fans of the original, though)
I agree, Beetlejuice in the musical can only be killed off in the end if they don’t make him too likeable before
I think the issue was they HAD to use the sandworm and it HAD to be used in the finale, and Beetlejuice is the narrator and more likable here; given the show's new tone, it would have been a vibe-killer for Beetlejuice to get eaten.
I think the fix for this would be to have Beetlejuice get resurrected and suddenly killed again - Lydia thinks this will force him into the Netherworld but as we've seen, by his choice he _won't_ go into the Netherworld and he's happy to continue being the same old demon and harassing the Maitlands and the Deetz's forever. But then _Juno_ actually rides in on the sandworm since she's the boss of the Netherworld. The is the last straw for her and she's DONE with her son causing her centuries of trouble for her and everyone else and trying to escape and flipping from dead/alive/dead again making a mockery of the afterlife process. But in an act of motherly kindness, Juno doesn't let the sandworm eat him and only uses it to force Beetlejuice through the Netherworld door as if it's his first day of school and he won't get out of the car. This reinforces the family themes and that Beetlejuice was the problem, not his mother. She's not so bad, but we've only heard about her from him. Beetlejuice's mom needs to help him finally accept the death process he's avoided for centuries just as Lydia needs to accept losing her mom. Him going through the door represents the completion of Lydia's grieving process that started when he appears at the beginning of the show.
Oooh I love the idea that Beetlejuice represents Lydia’s grief
As someone who loves both the musical and movie version I admit I love the movie version slightly more. Part of it is because I grew up with the movie version but, also because I like that the movie version explores through the Maitlands how a person feels after they passed away. They were content with their house and were thinking of having kids then they unfortunately meet their end. While Lydia mourning the loss of her mom is a valid theme to explore to me it needed more time to be explored. And I ended up wishing she didn’t make up with her dad too quickly. And I agree I didn’t like Juno being the actual villain.
Though one thing I love about the musical is we get more bettlejuice. In the movie he doesn’t have much screen time.
I just saw the sequel and i liked it. Though it did have some flaws. There is something I would like to say about it but, I also don’t want to spoil.
I haven’t seen it yet so no spoilers please! 😘
Personally I think the musical is so much better than the original movie
I think you might like my video then 😏
If you wanna get straight into the story and jump right into Beetlejuice, the musicals helps understand the story more than the movie it’s more straightforward but before watching any kind of adaptation, gotta read or watch the original book or movie or tv show!
@@ItsGabbylol531 I saw the musical first. And there’s lots of adaptations that I saw before reading/watching the source material.
@@fashionablechangeling1988 people have their preferences of watching media but that’s what I think
oh story wise yeah 100%
I feel like there aren’t enough people who talk about how the Beetlejuice animated series colored the perception audiences have of Beetlejuice the character. I was terrified of the movie as a kid but I loved the cartoon since it was still re-run on Saturday mornings way after the original air date. That Beetlejuice and Lydia are a lot more like the musical’s characters. Beetlejuice is a weird and chaotic but fun person to be around and is Lydia’s best friend. And a lot of people who have fond memories of the show prefer that kind of characterization for the character (I was so grossed out when I finally watched the movie and saw that Beetlejuice was a creep). There are a ton of theme park appearances too where Beetlejuice is a silly guy that you want to watch and interact with. It’s refreshing to have a Beetlejuice story where he gets to be likable than the antagonist.
I do think the end was rushed though, and should have been set up better than just the few twists. They don’t have the same kind of payoff.
That's fair! I guess the writers got lost in trying to incorporate both versions of Beetlejuice
Last month i saw the mexican leg of the Broadway tour and they didn't have the pig during Day O, so Barbara hams it up with her puppetry performance instead
“She hams it up”
I see what you did there 😏
As someone who is a big fan of the original movie, Tim Burton’s older style, mixed media, horror comedy, and a MASSIVE fan of the musical: GO see beetlejuice 2. Even if it’s not quite as good as the other two, it’s SO refreshing to watch and insanely fun, I’m not gonna spoil anything, go watch it!!!!!!!!!
So, Lydia is the protagonist. Yeah, that was definitely inspired by the cartoon.
Oooh ok, I never watched the cartoon, so I didn’t realise she was the protagonist there as well
@@annevanderelst247 Yes, she is. Plus, she and Beetlejuice are best friends. The show is currently on Tubi, if you want to see how it compares to both the movie and play.
@@annevanderelst247 You should watch it the cartoon.
Adam was so real for lovingly cradling that spider ;.;
What a hero!
IMO the core theme of the play is grief, more than death or family.
The Deetz each represent one way of coping:
Lydia is depressed, consumed by grief
Charles is in denial, avoidance
Delia (who's also griefing but because of her failed marrige) (For A Reason) uses toxic positivism
Lydia is very much the main character of the play and we see her fall into the toxic and selfdestructive behaviours of a griefing teen:
Alienation, emotional unstability aand the biggest of all: Beetlejuice
I feel that Beetlejuice in the play is very much a stand in for toxic friends, which are very common for teens. He's rash, destructive, irresponsable, selfish and rebelious. He's not the bad guy pedo from the movie, he's much more sympathetic, sad and lonely himself with family trauma of his own (Invisible reprise), but he's still a bad influence that enables the worst behaviours and desires in Lydia (Do you hear that sound?).
He's the friend that gets you to skip class, smoke cigs. He's not bad he's not trying to hurt you he just has aa bad way of dealing with his problems that he's passing on to you thinking it will help.
On the other hand the Maitlands are a much healthier relation, a more mature kind of friendship, almost guardianship.
And at the end, Lydia and Charles find a middle ground and reconnect on a much healthier form of grief (Jump in the Line), the bad influence is cut from their lifes and a much healthier life can come
I’m fully on board with this
i feel like the musical took a lot of inspiration from the cartoon series regarding the relationship betwenn lydia and BJ
i honestly didnt feel like they were redeeming beetlejuice in the musical. he is an unpredictible, unstable and very lonely gremlin of a demon/ghost/zombue with seemingly all powerful conjuration magic; of course hed befriend a teenager with that. but we also learn that he cannot handle being left alone which he blames on his bad childhood. so given all that i feel that juno threatening lydia might have just been the straw that broke the camels back and beetlejuice, now used to just doing literally whatever the fuck he wants on impulse, takes the oportunity to kill his mom bc he simply doesnt want her in his life ever again. i dont think the show needed a more cohesive or narratively satisfying ending bc much like its namesake, this musical rarely thinks more than one and a half steps ahead. and to me that just really worked
I loved the musical, I thought it did just about everything right, I do think it would have been more satisfying if Beetlejuice stayed in the house with the deats and maidlens as Lydia’s chaotic uncle/ brother person tho
As someone who only watched the musical through youtube, even I thought that it managed to do the story better than the movie (that is absolutely not just my Alex Brightman bias speaking) but even so there are some aspects of the film that I felt were done better, like I preferred the Maitlands death in the film and I actually prefer Delia's character in there as well. But for the endings at this point I feel like they were specifically done to not make much sense at least they didn't really to me. Beetlejuice getting eaten by the sandworm in the first film felt like it came out of no-where to me just as the death of him and Juno in the musical were and I won't spoil the ending for the second movie but I felt like that ending was pretty random as well but since it's happened three times I've put it down to random endings just being a part of the Beetlejuice charm and experience. (also amazing vid! I love that at least some people still care about the musical 🥲)
In the original film Beetlejuice’s death doesn’t feel too random for me, but there definitely is a plot hole because of the time disparity between Saturn and the regular world
10:38 about parts that are not possible to do in other theaters they DO change the script, for example in Monterrey, Mexico it wasn't possible to recrreate the fall of barbara and adam, so they changed it for an electrocution, changing even some parts of the song ready, set.
I just saw the sequel and I personally loved it! It was really funny, and it had the same charm as the original movie, just with a slightly more modern feel.
That’s exciting! 🤩
i think you are overthinking the beetlejuice and lydia's wedding, he is a creep AND pervert but he is usually circling just 2 ways constantly, unerving people (by either fear or disgust) for his amusement or desperation to get into the living world, so he play up everything to the max, i feel is never really put that he is doing this because of attraction since the ones moments he sounds as if he is "flirting" or so it is to make barbara nervous or acting in front of the priest, so again, unnerving and getting out
also as others have said, is likely beetlejuice is way more forgiven here since the musical is in the end based in both the movies AND the cartoon, after all, he and lydia are full on best friends, so the ending is not so confusing with that in mind since if you watched the movie back then, you most likely watched the cartoon, so these people both like beetlejuice as full on villian losing but also a good guy trickster
Well, when Beetlejuice does his snake haunting in the film, he does say to Charles "We've come for your daughter". Which I guess you could still classify as a tactic to make Charles feel uncomfortable, but he does also grunt a little at Lydia to make her scared. Idk, even if it is to get on people's nerves, I think it still makes him a creep. But I've not seen the cartoon, hence why in my eyes he is more a bad guy than a good guy (in the film, that is. In the musical it's not very clear)
@@annevanderelst247 no yeah, i feel even if people dont talk about it, is in the subconscious of many of why they remember beetlejuice as a bigger presence in kids minds after the movie, imagine it as a more chaotic good bill cipher kinda deal
I think for a pretty large group of people the cartoon has made a major stamp in their mind. I saw the new movie and even though I hadn't seen the cartoon in years a large part of me hoped that they would have more Lydia and Beetlejuise together as team than they did. Still loved the movie though.
I think it’s very cool how they managed to use elements from the og movie and incorperate them into the musical while still keeeping it unique! I definitely think other musical adaptations could learn from it. Also, i think a cool comparison to do could be the 1992 Newsies movie versus the broadway one!
Ooh great idea! I've never watched the 1992 newsies!
as someone who didn’t see the original movie until after seeing the musical, i can pretty comfortably say that i like the musical WAY more for the fact that the characters somehow feel more fleshed out and cohesive, and just generally more enjoyable to watch. the musical does a great job showing the importance of family - and how family isn’t always bound by blood. lydia’s relationship with the maitlands and even with beetlejuice perfectly convey that message while also conveying themes like the value of companionship and finding people who accept you the way you are. and that’s ultimately how it ends- with both the maitlands and the deetzes becoming one found family bound by their connections to lydia.
while beetlejuice by all means is not meant to be a good person, [he’s portrayed as a demonic entity with little regards for human morals in every portrayal of his character] the choice to make him more sympathetic in the musical was a good one to me personally. musical beej, although he finds great joy in causing misfortune, reads more like a person who’s been so neglected and alone for so long that he’s completely forgotten how to acceptably interact with other people. he’s meant to be the prime example of what a lack of friendship and companionship does to someone, and it’s a fate nobody deserves. admittedly this kind of characterization only really fits with the musical variant of beej [maybe a little bit onto the cartoon as well] and trying to do this with movie beej would immediately fall apart, it works exceptionally well for his character.
woah i talked a lot more than i meant to, guess that proves just how in the trenches i am with this hyperfixation. heh. this is a great analysis, and i’m happy to see people still talking about the beetlejuice musical even after it’s been off broadway for over a year.
I got really into the musical when it first came out so my parents got me to watch the original movie, and I’ve gotta say that it being a ‘bold departure from the original source material’ really didn’t prepare me for it
Hahaha I can imagine that!
I saw the sequel on Thursday and it was honestly not too bad and had more moments that made me genuinely laugh than I expected though I would say the original and musical are probably better
I mean, hey, that sounds much better than most sequels in this age.... (I'm looking at YOU, Last Jedi, and Rise of Skywalker....)
I'm cautiously optimistic about this movie.
Very true! I’m curious
I personally prefer the movie. Don't get me wrong! I love the musical too! But considering the way that he is written, he just works better as an antagonist than a sympathetic character honestly.
Yeah I think the writers got caught up in trying to do too much with him in the musical!
I saw the musical in a smaller theater and instead of the floor collapsing they were electrocuted.
Haven't seen the sequel yet - hoping to this weekend. But I did get to see the musical when it came back to Broadway in April 2021. One of my students had introduced me to the soundtrack just before lockdown, so it was my comfort soundtrack during a lot of 2020. And having rewatched the film (my wife didn't see it as a kid like I did), while it is a cult classic, I think it's aged less well than it could have. I still love it, but I'd rather have a less-creeper Beetlejuice, and the lampshading of the whole marriage scheme. It, to me, feels like the perfect midpoint between the movie and the cartoon series that aired in the late 80s/early 90s, where Beetlejuice and Lydia are BFFs, and she goes to the Netherworld to have adventures with him. No Adam or Barbara in the cartoon, but they do prank Charles and Delia a lot. I enjoy the Beetlejuice musical more than I did the Addams Family musical, and I'm also an Addams fan. The ending mirrors what was going to be revealed in the original sequel idea from the early 90s - it had the family going to Hawai'i on vacation, and Beetlejuice there for some reason, and Juno would be revealed to be his mom and they'd have to team up to fight her. I have no idea if/how Juno fits into the actual sequel movie (again, haven't seen it, don't want spoilers), but I liked that the musical paid homage to the sequel that could have been by including that bit of lore.
Beetlejuice in Hawaii? But I thought the Maitlands couldn’t leave the house for 125 years? 😅 I guess perhaps only the Deetzes went… This sounds like such a crazy sequel, but I think I would’ve loved it
I happen to be part of a beetlejuice discord server and we have this whole thing about “beetlebabes” IYKYK we hate them, and we happened to realize that it’s definitely not romantic in the musical, he makes it obvious it’s an exchange
I can’t speak for cruises, but I saw the tour. Adam and Barbara got electrocuted because the stage didn’t allow for falling through. He was trying to fix the mobile of a crib, iirc. The Day-o sets were pared down compared to the bootleg I saw, as was the sandworm.
Makes sense!
One of my core memories as a musical theatre fan is going to New York during the original run of Beetlejuice. We were staying a few minutes away from Broadway, with the Beetlejuice theatre basically just around the corner from our hotel. But despite me being at the peak of my theatre obsession to the point of having a musical playlist over 1000 songs long, we didn’t go to see a single show
So I had to walk past the Beetlejuice OBC theatre like six times a day for three days while unmedicated for my anxiety, in a constant state of sensory overload, and having my period. It’s honestly a surprise I was able to leave America
Aaaawww that’s a lot, I’m sorry! Did you manage to see the show later in life?
@@annevanderelst247 unfortunately not, I’m not a big fan of travelling and I’m not desperate to repeat the experience of being in New York. We’d planned on going to see a few musicals back in England the next year, but that was 2020 so that didn’t go well lmao
I can’t wait for the beetlejuice beetlejuice the musical.
🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
I am so excited to fly to London to see Alex Brightman reprise his role on the West End, and to see Beetlejuice the Movie Musical, which is the Beetlejuice Remake we really need.
(If I keep saying it as though it's fact it will happen, right?)
Omg you really had me getting excited for a second there 🥲
Maybe if we say it three times?
Beetlejuice the Movie Musical
Beetlejuice the Movie Musical
Beetlejuice the Movie Musical
Saw the sequel yesterday, it was a lot of fun, and easy recommendation if you liked the first one. The only thing that confused me about the movie was the purpose of the side antagonist of the movie, the stitched up woman from the trailers. You could virtually remove her from the movie and nothing much changes.
Tim Burton just had to put in a stitched up woman I guess 🙈
I am also dying to see the musical! I saw the sequel last weekend and I really enjoyed it.
If you loved the sequel, the musical will steal your heart
I kinda like to think of it as Juno and movie BJ had a kid and that kid is musical BJ, that kinda just made more sense to me and why they act so different, and I thought that would be kinda funny ngl
the second movie was actually so good, genuinely loved it so much. beetlejuice is just a really good franchise, ive loved everything that's come out of it
The phrase "bad moms dessrve to die" does not imply that lydias mom deserved death because she wasnt a bad mom or wife from the waybshes talked about
That's true, but seeing Juno dies at the height of the story, it feels like her death should be the resolution of the show. And Juno's death definitely doesn't feel like an answer to Lydia grieving her mum. Like I said in my video though, I think the writers got a bit caught up in trying to fit in too much.
Someone else commented that Juno's death could be seen as an inversion of Lydia's character journey, and I thought that was a great way to interpret it :)
Another Otho thing: eventually you can see in (musical) theater, which roles were beefed up/included such to have a working understudy for another larger roll (eg the dad)
Oooh very true! Completely forgot how the understudy puzzle definitely comes into play for things like this as well
ooo that’s really interesting and now I’m going to keep an eye out for that in musicals
So..Are we all forgeting The cartoon?
I saw the sequel with some friends and while it's a bit derivitive, it does enough of it's own things and is funny enough to be at the very least worth a watch if you just want a fun movie. Not gonna blow you away, but it was pretty good
Honestly, if that's the case.... Sounds good enough for me.
Well at least that’s something! Can’t all be Shrek 2
@@DataDrain02 my thoughts exactly
@@annevanderelst247 haha, yeah, but not everything has to be, either. Sometimes we could use a dumb fun movie
@powerrangerturbo1 Well, can confirm I liked it.
i’d literally cut off my left leg for a proshot of this musical yall do NOT understand
Haha I hope they will accept your offer
you know what, i've never watched the og movie (usually don't watch horror) but when i listened to thr musical soundtrack i was SO confused why she killed him when they were buddies?? and thought, maybe something happened off-songs that she decided to backstab him because just from the soundtrack, i couldnt make out a reason. her relationship with the ghost couple didnt come off as strong through the songs, at least to me?
Alex Brightman is amazing tho his singing is literally insane
I would love to see him live!
I by far prefer the movie as it just feels like everything i could want, and the story reflects the characters perfectly. That being the case and with the kind of stuff i enjoy i really liked Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and could see the care that was put into it though its not as good as the first.
Critic's aren't going to have so much fun with it but to those who love the macabre and horror comedy its a breath of fresh air
I LOVE Beetlejuice the musical sm I think it has so much heart and idk it makes me very happy
15:45 for some reason, I always read this moment as the sandworm taking the soul of Lydia's mom to the underworld. I do not know why
15:02 bestie the Dune books, and their sandworms, are from the 60s.
🤣 Yes, I’ve realised that my brain apparently decided to completely ignore that the Dune films were books first. Whoops! 💁♀️
Actually going to see the sequel in theaters tomorrow but I love the musical so much
Amazing, I can’t wait to watch it either!
I think they pulled a bit from the cartoon a bit too.
The biggest difference between the two Beetlejuices is that all the adults in the musical are millenials when they were baby boomers in the original. I cannot stress enough how much this changes the way they’re characterized (at least in the version I saw)
This is an interesting take 🤔 care to elaborate a bit?
A thoughtful and well put together video on one of my favorite little known musicals? You’ve yourself a subscriber! 🪲🧃💚
Yay, thanks!
I had a weird experience with the beetle juice movie and the musical. I had seen the movie when I was a kid and I had fun then I listened to the cast recording and saw a slime tutorial during the pandemic and I loved the musical. To the point I kind of forgot how much they change from the movie. Then last year I rewatched the movie with a friend and I couldn’t enjoy it, sure visually is really cool but I felt it had to many sexist jokes to the point it was just uncomfortable and it was more of a just vibes no plot movie. So for me the musical is the best version of the story, and I had the chance to finally see the musical a few months ago when the tour came to Mexico and it’s just such a fun time definitely understands what to take from the source material and what to improve
Yeah the film is definitely more about the aesthetic, whereas the musical focused a bit more on character development
i really like your editing!! great video!
Ooh, thank you! 😊
another film to musical you could talk about is Amélie! You could also compare the broadway vs west end versions (I much prefer west end. I recently discovered it and it’s become one of my favorite musicals)
Ooooh very interesting 🤔
I love the musical way more than the film and it’s hard to explain to people who’ve never seen the musical. I wish I could see it in person so much but I’m not American and have not yet been able to afford flying to America just to see it. I finally did get on a trip to the US and it happened to be 2 weeks the tour was on break 😢
Oooh bless you, that is so annoying! I’ve not seen it live either, would really like it if it made a West End transfer 🤞🏻🤞🏻
@@annevanderelst247 ever few months I do a deep dive check for news of a West End Transfer and every time it’s just click bait news of unsubstantiated rumours. One website just automatically changed the year on the article and had been saying it’s be any day now since 2019.
@@dragonetafireball Haha well that's useful!
I'm in love and obsessed with this show lol!! I love both movies ofc but the musical is really what kickstarted my Beetlejuice obsession!!!!! My really good friend Mischief got me into it and they were the one that really made me obsessed with it and in turn that finally made me a believer in the original movie because before I started getting obsessed with the show I thought the movie was good but also really weird but once I got into the musical I rewatched the movie it went from I think this is good but weird to this is Strange and Unusual and I love it!!!!!!! In a production of the show I'm hoping to do once the rights release with my family and friends my friend Mischief is gonna be playing Lydia and I'm gonna play Beetlejuice and something really special to me too is that 2 days after I saw the show I found out they got to see it too which made me so unbelievably happy!!!!!! So I really give all the credit in the world to them for really really helping kickstart my Beetlejuice obsession!!!!!
Ooow I love that this show means so much to your friendship!
i just saw the tour version and sandy wasnt even in the whole being dead thing and i was so sad we weren't going to see her but she was just smaller
Yeah makes sense for there to be a mini Sandy
10:13 I’m assuming they’d do the same for off-broadway! I saw both broadway and off broadway, and the only major changes are no giant snake in the beginning and Barbara and Adam get electrocuted. I’m not quite sure what they did in the end to end Juno though lol, but I don’t recall a snake yet again.
Oh yeah, how does Juno die then? I find these little differences always so interesting 🤓
i havent seen the musical yet. ill when they come to my city next year, but i did see the sequel and i love it.
Exciting! Can’t wait to watch it!
i actually think that Beetlejuice needing to marry Lydia in the musical because "it's a green card thing!" makes it funnier. there's just something about it that tickles me.
Yeah haha, I love how much they emphasise it being a logistical thing haha
I really wanna fully watch the musical but I saw the second movie and I really liked it, I thought it was really good
If you liked the sequel, you will really like the musical!
I've never seen the Beetlejuice musical on a cruise ship but the company I work for built the set for Norwegian and the National tour Beetlejuice. I couldn't tell you much about the sand worm but the cruise ship set was compressed onto doublesided wagons and with very little cuts/alterations. I do know that we still make the actors "float." :)
Most cruise ship theaters might be on the smaller side but still fully function. It's very meticulous on how things are stored, some even have fly houses. Unsure if the Beetlejuice one is but could ask a co-worker if you really wanted to know.
Oh how cool! So they basically have the show fully functioning like on tour? But are masters at tetrissing it all into a smaller space
Winona herself ships bj and Lydia (since the first movie) so I don't think you want to save her
Yikes
“Look Lydia, now we both have dead moms,”
So harsh haha! But obviously perfectly fitting for him to make that joke
Classic bait and switch, oldest trick in the book
😏
This video or the musical?
Ending sounds more like they were trying to redeem Beetlejuice because people find him attractive (yes, really), and they didn’t spend enough time considering what the change to Juno as the final boss would do to the story’s themes.
Yes I’m afraid so
@@annevanderelst247 glad Tim Burton did the opposite of that in the movies.
Wish more people would watch the old Beetlejuice cartoon. Fewer demands for Woobie-juice.
The only thing that I think is something I feel like they shouldn't have done for the Beetlejuice musical is have Beetlejuice leave just like it kind of made no sense free be like bye I'm not against you I'm just like it felt kind of weird and like it happened out of nowhere
Agreed, it makes no sense
i like the beetlejuice movie fine, but a main reason it didnt fully resonate with me was the grittiness and generally gross/unnerving aesthetic of the film. i understand that was the intention and i dont think it is a bad trait to have, but i am easily turned off to horror and gross out. if i watch either, i prefer there to be a lighthearted edge to it to balance out the negative reaction i have. and this is what i feel really hooked me about the beetlejuice musical. it had all the edginess, cynicism and meta humor that i enjoy while still having a pleasing visual aesthetic, lighthearted character moments, and positive messaging. all the grossness in the musical is balanced out by comedy, where in the movie i was always unsure of weather to cringe or laugh. it's like the difference between seeing violent fights in a live action film vs a in looney tunes cartoon. theyre both violent, but one makes you feel a little safer and a little more inclined to laugh. the choice they made to tone down the depravity of beetlejuice himself in the musical made me a lot more attatched to his character. i'm a sucker for having morally corrupt characters become humanized trope, and i think wanting to parallel his struggles as a ghost with family issues to lydia's was a really great idea. in fact, it feels like all the characters (except for otho) had their narritives expanded, giving us a chance to connect with them even more. the movie was great, but it couldnt make me feel emotionally moved by any of the characters. i cried for lydia in the musical because they put such a focus on her greif and how it affects her. i wanted to see more of beetlejuice because i felt connected with his human side despite him still being a nefarious creep. i was happy see lydia connect with her father because i got to see how his wife's death affected him too. where the movie left me with thinking how interesting and creative the plot was, the musical did this while also giving me a bunch of characters i can become emotionally attached to. plus, it's rare for me to find an album where i believe there are no bad songs. this is my first and favorite musical. (but i also wish beetlejuice would have stayed in the end, instead of leaving)
Completely agree that the film just didn’t bother with its characters. The film’s goal clearly wasn’t to tell character journeys, but to convey a certain aesthetic. Whereas a musical will always focus on character’s most inner emotions, otherwise there probably wouldn’t be a need to sing! I too was very moved by Lydia’s grief, I think the writers did an excellent job at translating these characters to best suit a musical
I liked the sequel, it had a lot of heart.
Like maybe when Lydia is dancing she could have been grabbing like some things that we couldn't see and then what's her and feels you've got married she got her makeshift spear out and then stabbed him that would make a lot more sense than just she has a sphere could we at least see her getting it while she's singing creepy old guy also I feel like if Beetlejuice the musical was to get a musical movie they need to rewrite it to make Juno more of an opposing Force make Beetlejuice actually saving Lydia from Juno make more sense and actually show video you know getting her weapon to kill Beetlejuice while she's singing creepy old guy and fix a lot of other things the musical that just kind of feel like they need more work put into them like either you use Auto or you just get rid of him okay or make him an entirely new character because in the musical he just feels like he's there for no reason because pretty much all of his character has been given to Delia either you just write them out or you give him back his character and make Delia no longer like this hippy dippy type person there's probably more in Beetlejuice the musical that would need to be rewind for a musical movie but I don't know right now also I feel like they probably should have gender swapped Juno that way the message wouldn't have read as Lydia's mom deserve to die cuz that just sounds bad and pretty toned death
The Musical is better and still on touring an National Tour , international productions , An Cruise Production on Norwegian Viva Cruise and upcoming Australian production in the works
idk if u've done this before but u should do carrie movie vs musical and if you want to read it the book
Oh Carrie is deeeefinitely on my list! I performed it in my final year at dramaschool
What I'm understanding from the video is that the musical is better because it's streamlined and simplified, and has taken out content that might offend the audience.
I think that making Beetlejuice more of the positive/kind side of the Trickster coin is an interesting idea, and makes sense in a musical setting since he is the most memorable and original character from the eponymous movie, but from your description of the plot it does seem like the narrative execution is lackluster.
I've not seen the musical, so I don't know whether this is strictly an issue of subverting expectations and forgetting to keep oneself in check. Given the overall trend in the commercial arts to neglect the very core of what they're offering the audience, storytelling itself, to an extent that is disrespectful to the massive effort put into these big projects by everyone else involved, I would suspect that it might be just be poor writing. Here's hoping that the upcoming sequel would be better written than most current high-budget-for-their-genre Hollywood projects. The actors, set designers, costume designers, VFX artists, and so on, all deserve their labor to be poured into scripts that respect and merit it.
I too saw Beetlejuice as a child, but I didn't interpret Beetlejuice's advances towards Lydia as something that the movie presented in a positive or neutral light. In the movie, he very much is the dark and nasty side of the trickster archetype, so him having nasty intentions towards a 16 year old isn't surprising. It's a matter of differing opinions though. I have no issue with art featuring the ugliest sides of human existence, if it's done purposefully. As a prime example on the topic of PDF files, Lolita is a phenomenal novel, and a very good film. I have zero issues with it tackling such an abhorrent aspect of human behavior. The marketing for the movie, however, instead played into Lolita as an erotic symbol, practically categorizing the film as the very opposite of what the story sets to accomplish.
Speaking of books, The Fremen have had the claim to sandworms ever since Herbert introduced both in 1965. They of course were also featured in Lynch's 1984 adaptation, 4 years before Beetlejuice 😎
Anyway, excess word count for a UA-cam comment aside, here's hoping that the algorithm gods continue favoring your video niche, even if it's one I'm not particularly interested in. I'm selfless like that.
Hey Andeimir! Very interesting thoughts as usual, thank you for sharing them! I absolutely agree with your sentiment that all of the people involved in making a film deserve to be pouring their hard work in something that merits it 💪🏻 Wether or not the sequel falls under this category, we’ll have to find out.
I completely forgot about the Dune books! The Sandworm is a Fremen after all, haha!
Thanks for the support, really appreciate it x
@@annevanderelst247 I don't know that I usually have very interesting thoughts, but I appreciate your tactful and diplomatic comment!
Initial impression seem to indicate that the sequel is consistent with the first movie and with the rest of Burton's output sans The Nightmare Before Christmas (for reasons known to all who care to know them), so I'm looking forward to catching it once it's available digitally. There's a topic for a potential future video though, a Christmas musical movies showdown 🙂
@@Andeimir Or even a Halloween movie musical showdown!
@@annevanderelst247 ¿por qué no los dos?
You know? After seeing the sequel film? It feels like it was intentionally structured to allow for the musical to adapt its contents without breaking the musicals canon.
Like juno’s absence was notable despite her limited screen time in the original. With her being replaced narratively with the dead stunt actor playing cop.
And it’s heavy emphasis on NEW characters not seen in the original.
In the sequel, though, it's mentioned that Lydia's mom didn't die
@@Honeyr0ck in an offhand comment they could easily just… not include, that is literally never brought up again 😭
@@Crazygamergal i thought about it too, and i have 2 theories
It will be brought up again in anything new the franchise comes up with (there are rumours for a 3rd film or a new show, i repeat, just RUMOURS)
Or they did it to dismiss the musical, like, to say "they are a diferent canon" or something like that, it is said that Burton was not convinced by the musical
Yeah I think the comment was included to separate the versions
I haven't seen the sequel but both films have nearly the same ratings on IMDb, so it's probably goot
Oooh that’s promising
The musicals plot exceeds the movie by so much. It’s so much more powerful and meaningful and especially Lydia’s storyline, when it comes to her mother and her relationship with beetlejuice. Not to mention, how beetlejuice the musical focuses on Lydia and beetlejuice, while to movie focuses on the Maitlands which was kind of boring.
The fact that the dude playing Beetlejuice plays Adam in Hazbin Hotel is the only reason I watched that show 💀
He’s phenomenal and I love Alex owo
"the baseball team"
Haha yes I have been corrected 🙈 my bad!