‘Beetlejuice: The Musical’ Unveils First-Look Video and Two Songs

Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice helped solidify the filmmaker as one of the most unique and ambitious voices in cinema in the ’80s, with his macabre blend of humor and horror finding the precise balance of light-hearted fun and disturbing darkness. The adventures of the “Ghost with the Most” were continued in an animated series, allowing for the otherworldly style of the film to be continued. Debuting later this month is Beetlejuice: The Musical, giving audiences an all-new approach to the narrative, leading fans to wonder how the theatrical production would convey the bizarre world of the film. You can check out a first look at the production in the video above.

The production is decribed, “It’s showtime, folks! The ghost-with-the-most comes to the stage in this edgy and irreverent musical comedy based on Tim Burton’s dearly beloved film. Beetlejuice tells the story of Lydia Deetz, a strange and unusual teenager obsessed with the whole ‘being dead thing.’ Lucky for Lydia, her new house is haunted by a recently deceased couple and Beetlejuice, a delightful demon with a real zest for life. When Lydia calls on Beetlejuice to scare away anyone with a pulse, this double-crossing specter shows his true stripes, unleashing a (Nether)world of pandemonium, and the biggest sandworm Broadway has ever seen.”

In addition to the glimpse at the production, two songs were also released, which you can hear below.

The upcoming musical joins productions like Evil Dead, Carrie, and Re-Animator as films that have been reimagined as musicals, despite their grim subject matter.

The major tweak to this musical is that the narrative will revolve around Lydia as opposed to the ghosts haunting the home.

“Refocusing the story on Lydia’s emotional journey, Lydia’s relationship to Beetlejuice — who were [both] more like secondary characters in the film — felt like a great way in,” director Alex Timbers previously shared with Entertainment Weekly. “Beetlejuice and Lydia are both trickster figures, in a way. Certainly Beetlejuice is, but musical theater has a great history of con men as characters when you think about Bialystock and Bloom or Harold Hill in The Music Man, so it felt to me that the DNA of those two characters felt like great musical theater protagonists in the way they work off each other.”

Check out the production when it opens on April 25th.

Would you like to see the musical? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

—–

Have you subscribed to ComicBook Nation, the official Podcast of ComicBook.com yet? Check it out by clicking here or listen below.

In this latest episode, we cover the possible new Hawkeye series coming to Disney +, argue if Batman casting fatigue is setting in, we grade WWE Wrestlemania, and so much more! Make sure to subscribe now and never miss an episode!