by JESSICA NEU

“Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.” Say his name three times in a row, and the deceased yet paradoxically demonic yet kind-hearted man will come alive and visible for all living beings to see. 

The popular 2019 musical of the same name made a sold-out Benedum Center come alive with laughter, cheers, and even some singing and dancing (“Day-O” & “Jump in the Line”). Playing a sold-out run through February 26th, Beetlejuice delivers magnificent talent, big laughs, dynamic character acting, and classic Tim Burton-esque imagery. Combining digital effects with classic theater sets creates a hybrid setting, reflective of the different yet all equally dynamic cast of characters. 

Justin Collette brings Beetlejuice to life, his years of performing sketch and improv comedy are apparent. Collette’s timing and delivery presents palpable angst in a way that has you rooting for the antagonist.

Alongside Collette, Isabella Esler makes her professional debut as Lydia, a young girl forced to move into a new home with her absent father (Jesse Sharp). Lydia befriends Beetlejuice and Barbara (Britney Coleman) along with her husband Adam (Will Burton), who is also deceased.

Lydia, her father, and life coach, Delia (Kate Marilley), move into Barbara and Adam’s home after they both reach an untimely demise at the hands of Beetlejuice.

Lydia has the unique ability, despite their being dead, to see Beetlejuice, Adam, and Barbara. Together, they plot to scare Charlie and Delia out of the house so Lydia can return to her childhood home. Esler’s Lydia is assertive yet sardonic, but also riddled with a deep sadness over losing her mother and feeling invisible. Her solo, “Dead Mom,” is a show-stopping standout making Esler appear like a leading veteran instead of a rookie professional.

Each primary actor is accented by a chorus of costume-changing, character-shifting actors who pull off quirky, possessed, forlorn, and exuberant, all in 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Beetlejuice was nominated for eight Tony Awards in 2019 but lost Best New Musical to Hadestown, also part of this season’s PNC Broadway series. Both musicals tackle the theme of life vs. death and what it means to be living. However, while Hadestown assumes a dramatic, tragic approach to storytelling, Beetlejuice looks at the macabre through farce comedy, demanding big laughs to deliver an intense message. 

What is it to feel dead when you are actually still alive? Is sadness often invisible? Should it be? Delia suggests that sadness is “like a third nipple. Something that is a part of you but that nobody wants to see.” 

Is attempting suicide the only way for sadness to be seen by others, implying that sad and dead are, in fact, one and the same? Is death something to fear?

These questions are addressed beautifully through a spectrum of characters that link the present world with the afterlife as they search for meaning and contemplate how to navigate their physical and metaphorical place in the present moment. 

Underlying this theme is a commentary on culture and behavior that has come to be colloquially termed “basic.” Beetlejuice roasts everything, including dry white wine, Trader Joe’s, Pottery Barn, trendy buzz words, hipsters, vaping, cancel culture, and even the musical Brigadoon, as commentary on the stagnation and passivity of heteronormative, upper-middle class culture. As he observes Adam and Barbara converse on these fundamental material aspects of life moments before their death, Beetlejuice questions, “is this what people talk about right before they die?” 

Beetlejuice reminds us that even though tomorrow is never guaranteed, working through difficult emotions is a throughway to not only living but also seeing and being seen.

Beetlehice is part of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series, with performances now through Sunday, February 26th. Tickets at https://trustarts.org/production/81542/beetlejuice

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Categories: Arts and Ideas