#like even Alex Brightman has an iconic voice

[sing-me-under]

Every time I hear Jeremy Jordan voice act, all I can think is “that sounds like Jeremy Jordan”. Like, I can’t stop thinking he just sounds like himself. IMO, Varian is the most egregious example of this because I just think “this just sounds like Jeremy Jordan,” ESPECIALLY when he’s singing.

I don’t know. I can’t stop thinking about it. I think the only times I’ve heard Jeremy Jordan’s voice and thought “ah yes this sounds like the character” and not “this sounds like Jeremy Jordan” is when he was in Newsies and like some parts of Hazbin Hotel. In More Than Anything, he just sounds so much more like Jeremy Jordan than Lucifer. It’s this weird dissonance. Which is so strange because most of the rest of his lines outside of this one episode of heartfelt vulnerability sounds like Lucifer. His first lines were great! Take That Depression! And so are all of his interactions with Alastor. I know a lot of people’s favorite HH song is More Than Anything, but I just can’t get into it because all I hear is Jeremy Jordan.

[bloodreddemons]

Hazbin Hotel Episode 1-4 Hot Takes! ~

They finally dropped. They are finally here, and I have A LOT to say. (Good & the bad, my opinions of course.)

Episode 1 was kinda boring and it just seemed overall weird and off. It didn't really pick back up that well, or align with the pilot too much, and the pilot slapped.

I feel like for those who haven't seen the pilot would be so confused with what is going on or who the characters even are. It feels like you also have to do a bit of digging to actually figure out other details.

I wasn't expecting to like Adam he was funny asf and I loved his singing. Love Alex Brightman he's great.

I can see what people are saying now when they were talking about the premise changing or being different, it definitely seems that way. It just feels like it's all over the place and there's multiple things happening at once. A bit confusing.

Charlie just looks weird to me I don't know why, I kinda like how she used to look.

Sir Pentious new voice is better. Again, love Alex Brightman. Lol.

Loser, Baby, Hell is forever, Poison, & Respectless are the best songs so far. Stayed Gone is ok too tho.

I'm interested in finding out why Lilith & Alastor were gone for like 7 years. I wonder where they went and it just makes me wonder if the war against heaven was possibly planned?? 🤔

I love Brandon Roger's but I didn't really like him as Katie Killjoy I think I liked the other VA. I just don't hear Katie, I hear Bryce Tankthrust.

I wish Vivzie designed Sir Pentious with more of a steampunk look since that's what era he's from so he's not wearing almost the same exact suit every other Overlord has.

Nifty is literally fucking iconic. I enjoyed her every time she was on screen even if it was for a short time. She's so funny.

I was expecting Vox & Valentino to have deeper voices but they still sounded great.

Velvette fucking ATE I was pleasantly surprised by her. I love her so much. She's my favorite of the VVV's and her singing is so good.

Charlie & Vaggie's fight wasn't that impactful, it kinda just came out of nowhere and seemed like something that should have happened way later. It didn't even seem like such a big deal either to be an argument.

I don't really like Vox as a person for letting Valentino treat Angel Dust the way he does. Just trash. He has to know about it.

Vox is just too obsessed with Alastor. He wants his cock soooo bad it's kinda crazy. It's the most fakest beef ever. Bad meat.

I like the new VA's they're amazing, but I do really miss the old ones. Most of them.

I think Vaggie's singing is better than Charlie's and that's fucked up because singing is like her whole thing.

Camilla killing the Angel wasn't that impactful because we don't really know who she is.

I don't really care to know how they will be trying to redeem people...idk I always thought that those parts would be boring.

So far I don't think the show was worth a 4 year wait....

Huskerdust WILL be canon at this rate. They might just be the best couple.

Charlie should have lit Valentino's ass up for treating Angel Dust the way he was. She shouldn't have listened to Angel and just fucked him up. Stop crying omfg!

I get that Husk & Angel are like in the same boat & all but....is being Alastor's minion really as bad as being constantly knocked around by Valentino?

[hispieceofcake]

🕸️My thoughts and feelings on Beetlejuice 🪲 (at least for a while)

I know a lot of people probably won't care but I really want to share my thoughts and talk about this character and that's what I'm going to do, There are a lot of thoughts and feelings accumulated inside my head and I need to get them out, it's a little mess but I think it will be fun to read.

I've had this on my mind for a while, which has finally become one of my biggest, if not the biggest, hyperfocuses for now and I'm going to share a little bit of it now >:)

I really didn't think I would have the courage to post this because I'm not that confident in sharing my things but I CAN'T TAKE THIS GREEN DEMON GHOST MAN OFF MY MIND😫‼️

The beginning of this happened when I was already in another hyperfocus on the character Adam from the series Hazbin hotel on Amazon(I was already a fan since the pilot on YouTube), and then a slight curiosity hit me..."Who is his voice actor?"

So I went looking for who he was and I ended up being so interested in the actor, who is Alex Brightman (I love him a lot by the way and I can't wait to go see the musical and see him in person) and also in the characters he played and voiced, and in particular one of them won my heart.😔🩷

That's exactly what you're thinking, it was Beetlejuice.

For some reason he caught my attention and over time I ended up becoming quite fond of the character, even more so when I remembered that my parents watched the character's film when I was a child, which made me even more eager to research and look for any possible bit of information on the internet that I could find.

AND YES !

I actually achieved a lot and I'm going to share it <3

Firstly, the 1988 film, which was one of the first pieces of information I found about it, after all, it was in it that the character made his debut (apart from the story of its creator Tim Burton). And I know Beetlejuice is a pervert in this movie, but I try to ignore that and try to just look at the good side of him being a good character.

Secondly, and I think this is what caught my attention the most, is the cartoon of 1989 with the same name as the character called Beetlejuice where the character acted as the protagonist alongside Lidya (In this one there's nothing about him wanting to force her to marry him like in the movie, it's just a cartoon of them having a good friendship and being best friends).

And man, the way I was happy when found out that the cartoon had 4 seasons and about 68 episodes, I was almost like that kitten TikTok meme ✨ HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY ✨

Like, wow, a source of potential Gifs, icons, dividers, photos, edits, there was so much I could do that I didn't even know where to start because of all the hustle and bustle and animation I had (And of course I spent the next few weeks pestering my friends about it during class with every little bit of information I found🤓👆).

At the moment I'm trying to look for a website that has all the episodes together or just some, but so far I've only been able to find them on old DVDs. When I can find a website I will gather all the links and post them, so that more people can watch.

And one of the best parts...I FOUND A WHOLE COLLECTION OF 🩷VALENTINES' DAY CARDS🩷 and I'll probably make another post later to post all of them or at least their links, they're all official. This made me even more excited because I love all that romantic and cute aesthetic of the Valentine's Day season, hearts, red and pink decorations, heart-shaped candy boxes, love letters, Decorated store windows, stuffed animals, I just love everything (even though I don't have a valentine, and I don't want to🙃).

To give you an idea of how focused I was on this little green-haired corpse demon ghost man, everywhere I have the opportunity I make doodles or drawings of him all over the places, walls, notebooks, tests, napkins, classroom board, and in my sketchbook, in which I'm making an entire page dedicated just to him and Lidya, which maybe later I'll post too. Even more so after I managed to find several official reference sheets from the studio that designed and animated the cartoon, so now the drawings will be much better.💋

There is so much information that I managed to find that I am having to organize my thoughts because unfortunately I am very agitated and anything takes my focus easily, but as soon as I can really focus on that, it feels like I'm somewhere else.

But now talking about the Broadway musical, (which as said before has my beloved Alex Brightman as the main actor), I've always liked the idea of musicals, and even more so when his story is about my favorite character, and speaking of musicals, I REALLY WAS OBSESSED WITH THE SONG "SAY MY NAME" 😫🩷

And oh boy, I spend almost all day singing it or with it resonating in my mind, whenever I read, write, draw or do anything to do with Beetlejuice, I put on my headphones and listen this song as if it were the greatest masterpiece made in history.

AND I'M SORRY BUT I NEED TO SHARE THIS SONG WITH YOU GUYS

Leaving the character a little, and going to the actor...he is simply the SWEETEST AND CUTEST MAN I'VE EVER SEEN!!

After I discovered that he voiced the characters that I like most in the Hazbin Hotel fandom and played the character that I like so much, I developed a huge affection for him, not just for his work, but because he is so sweet, fun and funny that I can't help but love everything and everything I find about this man online.

Alex Brightman bringing the character Beetlejuice to life and voicing Adam, Fizzarolli and Sir Pentious

That's it for now ,folks, that's all I have stuck in my mind for now or at least what I can remember

I apologize if this isn't so good, I'm writing this while I'm at school at 7am after waking up at 5am while my body is sore after a presentation.

So, thank you for reading 💞

[thewickedbohemian]

Dream Animated Movie Musical Tournament Finals

And weeks and musicals later it has come down to this, two musicals remain and I can't say I'm surprised it came down to these two given what I know about typical Tumblr preferences (and no I don't just mean because both these shows' male leads could be considered Tumblr sexymen). These may differ in tone and time period but both have the additional commonalities of a certain dark theatricality and a young often-typed-as-INFP woman dealing with grief over parental loss it's just in one the ghost that intervenes and sneaks his way into her life is a more literal ghost. So who will take home the crown for the musical that would make the best animated movie; the ALW Broadway stalwart that has made icons of so many stars yet its live-action musical movie crashed like a chandelier according to many of its fans or the modern dark comedy classic that shows how much an "IP musical" can put its own stamp on the source material and whose Broadway bounce-back became to some iconic of the recovery of Broadway after the pandemic?

Beetlejuice

Why this deserves to be an animated movie musical: its musical deserves a movie (even if that means you'd have to rewrite half of "The Whole Being Dead Thing" for fourth-wall-breaking to a movie audience instead of a stage audience but that just helps it be distinct) and animation would help distinguish it from the existing movies as well as just be able to really amp things up visually from what you can depict on stage (imho movie adaptations of fantasy or sci-fi musicals should always be animated unless you're using a majority of practical effects instead of so much CGI a live-action movie of them might as well be animated)

Ideal animation style (at least imho): Laika Studios's style but I'm not just saying that because of Coraline, I just feel like that visual style would kinda "match its freak" if you get what I mean and we haven't really seen that style with a musical yet

Additional notes: as I said last round I do have a partial dream-voice-cast but I'm completely freaking stuck on who should voice Beetlejuice as I feel like Alex Brightman isn't a big enough name outside certain circles for him returning to be worth it unless everyone else was a big enough name to sell tickets and a lot of the more-mainstream actors I think would work are almost-there-but-not-quite (e.g. while I may love dream-voice-casting NPH as trickster figures I feel like he doesn't have enough edge to pull off Beetlejuice)

The Phantom Of The Opera

Why this deserves to be an animated movie musical: it deserves another shot at a movie after whatever the heck we got almost 20 years ago (aka meaning time enough for a remake) and I feel like animation could capture the grandeur and theatricality the show's going for a lot better (and it's even got a sequel at the ready for if it does well so studios wouldn't have to BS a plot for one and I can already see that potentially following the format of the titles of a certain era of Disney sequels and being The Phantom Of The Opera II: Love Never Dies)

Ideal animation style (at least imho): this is another one for which my initial vision is 2D (but more a Dreamworks-esque 2D than a Disney-esque 2D) as it'd take a really particular/special kind of 3D animation to adequately convey the scope of my idea (and potential sequel of it), maybe a style similar to the main style of the Spiderverse movies could work

Additional notes: while I can think of many actors-who-can-sing and rockstars-who-I-hope-can-act who might make a great Phantom, because of the kind of voice/talent level she'd need Christine's proving especially difficult to dream-voice-cast (as the actress would not only need to be able to handle the role vocally but be the right "type" to be able to successfully act in that part)

[thedvilsinthedetails]

favorite musical?

ahhh my friend you should not have asked me that because this is a whole ass list ok:

so I also included my dream role in every one bc like…why not

Hamilton - this was one of the very first musicals I had like a proper obsession with and it’s sort of the reason I got into musical theatre + Angelica schuyler dream role obvi

Jesus Christ Superstar - I’m obsessed with this musical also the best album of it is the 1996 London cast remastered 2005 one and Judas dream role

Beetlejuice - fuck I love this musical so much it can’t even be comprehended like this is my comfort musical and just ugh perfection. Alex Brightman is an absolute icon. (Also my fav Lydia so far I think might have been Presley if anyone’s curious) and just beetlejuice dream role ofc

Anastasia - ahhhh Christy Altomare I think has the most beautiful voice and I just love this musical so much it’s so lovely + dream role Anastasia maybe (not so sure about this one idk I don’t think I’d be a good fit for any of the parts but also I’d love to sing Journey to the past so)

Les Miz - call me basic but this is arguably one of the greatest musicals ever created and I will never not love it. Also when I went to see it live the éponine I saw was jaw droppingly good (Nathania Ong if you wanna search her up idk) + dream role Éponine

Hadestown - just this whole musical is so fucking amazing and I’m so excited to see it live like ahhhhh and I’ve watched the slime tutorials over and over it’s not even funny how I have the whole show memorised + Persephone dream role bc like…just yeah

there’s more (mean girls, heathers, Jekyll and Hyde, Six etc but the list is getting a bit too long I think and these are like my all time favs)

[crazyw3irdo]

tfw you agree with a comment but the person’s profile pic + name are of a h*zbin h*tel character so you don’t know whether to like it or not

[meret118]

"Book of Queer" How to watch: Premiered on Discovery+

The most appropriate way to kick off Pride Month is with a celebration of LGBTQ+ history, honouring the heroes who likely never imagined there would be a month-long explosion of rainbow merchandise and corporate statements.

With the help of queer historians and experts, "The Book of Queer" aims to shed light on historical figures whose contributions have been overlooked, or their queer identities erased, by mainstream society. Narrated by queer icons and featuring an entirely LGBTQ+ ensemble cast, the five-episode series will include stories about Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bayard Rustin, Josephine Baker, Harvey Milk, Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson and more.As conservative lawmakers across the US attempt to ban educators from even acknowledging the existence of queer and trans people in classrooms, this series, infusing facts with comedy and musical fun, is a vital reminder that LGBTQ+ people have existed throughout history.

"Dead End: Paranormal Park" How to watch: Premieres June 16 on Netflix in the US

Fans of queer cartoons should make sure to clear their schedules for the arrival of "Dead End: Paranormal Park." The animated horror-comedy, based on creator Hamish Steele's graphic novel series "DeadEndia," follows trans teen Barney (voiced by Zach Barack) who gets a job at the local haunted theme park where an encounter with a demon gives his dog Pugsley (Alex Brightman) the ability to talk.

The coming-of-age story will see Barney, along with his pal Norma (Kody Kavitha), encounter zombies, ghosts and other supernatural beings while also navigating family, identity and even crushes.

The current political climate is especially hostile toward queer and trans youth, so an LGBTQ+-inclusive kids and family series in which a young trans protagonist (voiced by a trans actor) finds a space and friends that let him embrace his true self and laugh along the way cannot premiere soon enough.

"First Kill" How to watch: Premieres June 10 on Netflix

If you’re dying for a dose of delicious supernatural queer teen angst, look no further than "First Kill." Based on a short story by V.E. Schwab, the series puts a young lesbian twist on the classic forbidden romance between a vampire and a slayer.

Teenage vampire Juliette Fairmont (Sarah Catherine Hook) has hit vamp adolescence and is finally expected to kill and feed on actual humans. Although she has been pushing back against this rite of passage for as long as possible, Jules can't help but be drawn to her crush, Calliope Burns (Imani Lewis). Cal, a recent transfer student, has a secret of her own: She's the youngest daughter of a family of monster hunters.

Cal is eager to prove that she can take down a demon by herself, but she quickly discovers that killing Juliette is as impossible as denying her feelings for her. The series should appeal to anyone who thought "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" or "Twilight" would have been better if it were gay.

"Queer as Folk" How to watch: Premieres June 9 on Peacock

The men, the sex and the city are hotter than Hades in Peacock’s multicultural, New Orleans-set remake of the pioneering soap, this time without the same over-reliance on white, cis men to propel the narrative. (Whether you see its depiction of a mass murder reminiscent of the Pulse nightclub shooting as a strained device or an apt reflection of current affairs and LGBTQ history is another matter.)

Still, carving out new terrain by moving Babylon to Frenchmen Street, and queer Southerners — especially queer people of color — to the foreground, this "Queer as Folk" conjures its share of carnal pleasures. As Brodie's (Devin Way) move home upends the lives of his ex (Johnny Sibilly) and a talented young drag artist (Fin Argus), you can have your bourbon ginger and drink it too. As for the rest, painfully earnest and more than a little pained do not read, in this particular political moment, as terribly far off the mark.

More at the link.

[popculturebuffet]

Pride Month: Queer Duck The Movie or Eh At Least I’m Not Praying For Death This Time (Commission for WeirdKev27)

Hello All You Happy People, and welcome back to my blog’s celebration of Pride Month! And welcome back to my second and thankfully final part of my  Queer Duck Duckololgy. 

Those of you just joining us, to quote a wonderful irishman who just hit 100 episodes, let’s get yo up to speed: Queer Duck was a crudley made flash web series created by Mike Reiss, former Simpsons writers responsible for the Bleeding Gums Murphy Episodes:

And co-creating the series “The Critic” with co-creator and writing partner Al Jean. That series ended up getting canceled after a season, moving to fox ,and getting canceled again despite a Simpsons lead in and a crossover episode that’s still one of my faviorite simpsons episodes. Fox proceded to hold up the show to prevent another network picking it up because they were dickkkksss. 

So naturally Reiss was a bit fed up with traditional models and wanted to see wha the could do with a smaller team, a lower budget and an internet distrbution, hooking up with early internet outfit Icebox.com, and creating two shows:  Hard Drinking LIncoln which sadly isn’t about Teddy Rosevelt traveling back in time to give Abe Lincoln an intervention then fight crimes, and this one Queer Duck. 

Now in Modern Day creators have made a great go of it breaking from the usual distribution models and going their own way: MST3K is currently making a go of releasing episodes themselves after a run at Netflix with the Gizmoplex and one of the best animated series of this year in my opinon is Helluva Boss, which is produced independently and released via YouTube, yet has gorgeous animation and an all star cast including such big gets as Richard Steven Horvitz, Cristina Vee, Alex Brightman and Norman Reedus. It also has one of the most iconic scenes in animation history:

Brandon Rogers may not be a big name but god is he glorious. Anyway point is what Reiss dreamed... is valid and the fact he was able to pull off a hit show with only three minutes of air time, ALSO get pretty big names involved (Ru Paul, whose only gotten BIGGER thanks to Drag Race did the theme, and voice acting legends Kevin Micheal Richardson, Billy West and Maurice LaMarche all did voices for it as did Jim J Bullock), get it on Showtime and get a movie greenlit, DTV or not. All in 2000 with the budget of a piece of string. He also made Queer Duck because he wanted to make a show laughing with Queer People instead of at them, a noble gesture. 

Thing was... Queer Duck The Series REALLY sucks. Even by the standards of the time i’ts regressive painting all gay people as promiscious drug loving sterotypes. 

It also wasn’t funny even for the standards of the time.  Instead of relying on Reiss’ rapid fire humor that made the Simpsons and Critic under his showrunning great he relied on jokes that amounted to

Not really leaning into the format and instead sticking to network standards despite not having one, as well as TRYING to make jokes out of inherently unfunny topics like Parents not accepting their child is gay, Gay Conversion Therapy, and “I don’t want to get married to my partner because I want to keep having sex with other people but am going to marry him anyway after my vows consisted entirely of loop holes to have sex with other people”. Yes that really was an episode. Given the very show Reiss had left , the Simpsons had done a VERY good episode bashing Homophobia featuring John Waters, and still managed to have fun with gay stertoypes without making me pray for death but death won’t come with the gay steelmill scene, Reiss had no excuse for how bad, uninetionally homophobic and trite this series was even for 2000. 

You can find the full review HERE. It was a chore to sit through and was comissioned by my finacial backer turned good buddy whose also still comissioning reviews from me, WeirdKev27. If you’d liked to comission reviews from me just hit me up in my inbox, prices are on my blog. 

So naturally he wanted me to cover both things and my reaction after wasting 60 minutes of my life on the web series to having to waste 90 MINUTES of my life on the movie was. exactly what your expecting. 

But I still had SOME small hope. The series biggest issue was it didn’t have the room for jokes that Reiss other shows had, so maybe with more space and a good 6 years since h’d come up with the concept Reiss would do better. Would he redeem himself or sink further? To find that out join me under the cut for another round of Queer Duck. Will it be better? Eh either way i’m FREEEEEEEEE FREEEEEEE after this so eh. 

Production Stuff:

I couldn’t find much on the making of the film. There was a making of feature on the DVD, but I watched this on Crackle instead so yeah. Out of luck there. The most I could find was on Wikipedia: the film was unsuprisingly originaly set for Showtime, which aired the shorts after Queer as Folk. But Showtime later backed out as they stopped producing gay content because the 2000′s were very stupid, and thus Icebox picked up full production. As a result teh Film’s animation is still cheap as all hell.. .but more fluid than the web shorts, if only by a smidge. The movie ended up going straight, pun untineded, to DVD, but did air on Logo soon after. So with that being all I got, I did genuinely try my best there just wasn’t a lot on this movie, shocking I know, let’s get into the movie shall we. 

MY EYES: 

We open with ... the Queer Duck Opening from the web series. 

I thought I was rid of this thing but nope... and if your wondering why this is an issue: 1) They barely change it and don’t even make a super special version of it they just literally use the opening from the series again and 2) I watched 20 episodes of the show in a row. The theme is wedged in my skull it did not need a refresher. 

We do get a specail bit introducing Queer Ducks friends as they party: QD, his partner Openly Gator, Paul Linde knockoff Bi-Polar Bear and saving grace of the original show Oscar Wildcat. We also get UTTERLY obnoxious flashing lights during this bit. Like HOLY SHIT...

What was WITH the 2000′s and flashing lights? It wasn’t like Seizures or epilpsy werent known. The Electric Soldier Porygon Incident was a well known thing even back then. 

Anyways the next day Queer Duck wakes up with Openly Gator and goes about his what i’m presuming is sunday given he works the next day: he finds two Pandas under the couch, who are gay pandas.. and speak with sterotypically chinese accents. 

Theres no excuse for this even back then. I mean its not as bad as the OTHER Icebox show they tried to give a movie, Mr Wong which had a buck toothed sterotypical chinese man as it’s lead. But it’s still just.. no. Chinese people deserve better, Asian people in general deserve better, and you can DO better.  I know the simpsons and the critic didn’t escape this, nor did their crossover episode but come the fuck on. 

So Queer Duck turns on the tv and finds it centering on Reverend VanGelderling, voiced by Jeff Bennet. Who while i’ve heard him in things genuinely didn’t recognize at first and it took me a bit, as the voice he was using sounded familliar.. and then it hit me....

YUP. Jeff is using his Johnny Bravo voice. Like i’ts SLIGHTLY less Elvis but it’s still noticable. And the show had only ended four years before this: It HAD adult fans along with the kids. Did.. did he think no one would notice? Was he trying to see if anyone would notice? Was he just trying to see if he could use the voice in other contexts?

He is good here though. VanGelderling is naturally our bad guy, talking to a dog he “””””””Cured””””””””. Val Gelderling is a hold over from the shorts, having shown up for one episode to try and convert Queer Duck , as is the dog he  “””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””cured””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””Queer Duck responds how you should to a bigot like that: by calling in to troll his ass, playing someone with tourettes and using it as an excuse to call Johnny No Homo what he is: a bigot, a fraud, an asshole etc> It’s not a bad bit honestly and were the series more of this and less spending an entire short talking about how santa claus is gay, maybe I wouldn’t of done this to my eyes. 

QD then sees an advertisment for Happy Land, a homophobic amusment park and decides to troll them by declaring it a “Gay Day at Happyland”. First off, as I said the series should’ve been more of THIS: Queer Duck getting into Daffy or Donald type shenanigans against homophobes. It would’ve fit Reiss style of hu mor and been way more intresting than 80 dozen gay jokes. 

Second Gay Day is a real event done at Disney every year with tons of LBGTQ+ people showing up every year from 1991 to present day. Seriously the year I was born was awesome: We got sonic that year and now I find out we got Gay Day at Disney Land too. It’s unofficial because as we’ve well established on this blog Disney is either only for gay rights if a creator fights tooth and nail to get them in their show or like most corpos they put on a show for Pride month.. which then gets wholly mocked by one of their most famous creators whose currently in a relationship with said creator that fought to get a queer romance on the air:

It’s been almost a month since he did that and I will NEVER not find that amazing. 

But yeah we get a song which is okay., though honestly most of the songs in this movie are REALLY good. And OF COURSE this is a musical, you think Mike would miss that stereotype about gay people: his main character is promscious, has a lisp, loves drinking, drugs, partying, musical theater, and sucks at sports. Why WOULD he start portraying Gay People with Subtley NOW.

The songs do help inject some energy into this though. So after a song about everyone being gay SHOCKINGLY the openly homophobic amusment park that Queer Duck was specifically trolling dosen’t let them in. 

So this kicks off Queer Duck’s arc for the movie: he starts to question his sexuality because of all the difficulty that comes with being out and proud. The IDEA isn’t bad: Queer Duck either wanting to present as straight enough so he can be accepted or finding he might be bi instead are not bad plots apart or together. I thought I was straight for most of my life and was in denial for some time. It takes time to figure out who you are and being an adult dosne’t automatically make things easier or mean you stop growing or discovering yourself and being queer IS hard when a good chunk of the world hates you for how you were born and assumes it’s a “choice”. And being bi or pan CAN have issues. I thankfully haven’t run into those, but in media alone the same year Queer Duck debuted, we had the Sex and the City Episode “Boy Girl Boy Girl” where it treated being bisexual as “a stopover on the way to gay town”. An actual line someone wrote and treate dit as some trendy thing kids did instead of you know, my fucking identity. A lot of queer people are assholes who assume just what that show did: that your not REALLY bi your just gay and saying you are or straight and saying you like men. It’d be intresting to explore that. 

This movie dosen’t do that though because it dosen’t know bi people exist. As for struggles... Queer Duck tried to go to a theme park he was WARNED was homophobic specifically to make a statment. While being denied service or tossed out for being gay is a good catalyst the way they set it up just.. dosen’t work. They don’t spend enough time on his emotinos over the incident or portray it properly, have him crestfallen that for once he DIDN’T win out in the end like the universe should go and lost simpl ybecause smoene’s homophobic and society favors THEM. The IDEA, Queer Duck gets rejected just for being queer is good: rejection by the world for the crime of being who you are is just the reality the entire LBGTQ+ spectrum faces, a risk you take every time you put yourself out there and tell someone who you are, a risk damn worth fighting for and a truth damn worth living. It’s just the execution dosen’t match: it tries to paint queer duck as someone who dosen’t realize how bad things are or is just TIRED of it.. seconds after he effortlesly trolled a homophobe and the thing that set this off was in itself a plan to get back at homophobes that simply didn’t pan out. Given all the horrors, rejections and shit Queer people face and STILL face this .. just isn’t enough. I’m not asking for it to go in the oppositie direction, for him to be chased by a pack of dogs or to fight the Klan (again), i’m just asking for a bit of realisim, something that even in a work like this isn’t much to ask for: the simpsons and jay sherman both lived in a cartoony as hell, bizzare world.. but they FELT real. It’s not much to ask that Queer Duck also feel like a real person. It really isn’t and what holds this film and held the series back is that Mike just dosen’t seem to get how to elevate him beyond HE’S GAYYYY. 

Smile Ya Bastards Smile: 

The next day our heroes go to work. And since I forgot to mention their jobs and it frankly would’ve fit more to introduce those jobs in this section of the movie anyway, let’s start with Bi-Polar Bear and Oscar Wildecat, who were introduced at work before the happyland stuff. Bi-Polar Bear works at a perfume counter, is laughed at by his boss for wanting to be on the baseball team, a dream he’s always had since he was a kid, passed over for Little Steven Hawking and Little Stevie Wonder.. who were born 8 years apart but eh, it’s a joke about one being blind and the other being in a wheelchair with a crippling disease. I’m not expecting high art.. or good taste. or anything. Point is Bi-Polar Bear wants to play baseball. He’s not in this movie much and even comments on it. Here are my thoughts on that:

Out of the main 4 he was easily the worst character in the original shorts, he has no personality other than Paul Lynde imperession and the name shows off how Reiss really dosen’t get that Bi People exist. He knows the TERM exists, but he doen’t get it. I’m not sad this character is BARELY in the movie in favor of the two characters with actual plot relevance and comedic timing. 

Onto my boy Oscar Wildecat. He’s actually been upgraded as in the shorts his only real personality trait was “wants to commit matricide” which, thanks to being played by Maurice LaMarche, somehow worked. Well apparently he finally killed her and got away with it because it never comes up in the movie, but he not only gets an intresting arc we’ll get to later, but is funny as ever even without his main gimmick, getting some of the best lines and getting a great throaway gag to play him in as he runs a Shirley Temple memrobilia shop> While that itself isn’t funny, the fact he has the ACTUAL Shirely boxed up like a doll is and this exchange brings it over the top

Shirley: Hey mister.. I can’t breathe Oscar: Quiet you. 

Back to the present of the movie: Openly Gator works at a TGIFridays type restraunt. God I fucking miss TGIFridays. Not going to lie. It’s still around just not in my area anymore.  It was one of my faviorite places and it was still great when I visited it on vacation. But Gator hates it and is rude to customers waiting for his big break. He also meets Conan O’Brien which kicks off a decent enough gag where Conan ends up unluckily being Gator’s customer over and over despite Gator prioritizing his own needs. Gator even calls conan up for help at one point because he has no one else to turn to, and Conan indulges him because while he is on show his guest is carrot top, whose drawn as some sort of monstrosity.. in other words they nailed it, flawless no notes. Conan is played by himself and is clearly game for this, god bless that man. Late Night will not be the same without you my sweet ginger prince. 

So finally we get Queer Duck who spends more time as a Male Nurse in this film than the entreity of the web series despite it being in the title, being depressed. It’s here he meets Lola Buzzard, played by Jackie Hoffman, a stage actress i’d never heard of before this, but who does a REALLY good job and a hilarious performance. Lola is an over the hill actress who soon bonds with our hero and the two perform a great number “Smile Ya Bastards Smile” where the two cheer up the ward and Lola cheers up a morose Queer duck and charms him. 

Lola is smitten with our hero and asks him to spend the day with her. We meet her driver, butler, chalet and ex husband (Twice over) , Peccary, a pig played by TIM. CURRY. 

Mymymymymymy how have we gone over a YEAR on this blog without Tim Curry showing up. The man is a legend in voice acting, acting and ...

The man is a fucking delight and the fact he HASN’T come up more on this blog, let alone at all as a voice actor till now is a fucking tragedy. The man is a genius and he’s no less good here as the poor put upon pig. The man also has the second sexiest voice in the world just behind Keith David. I don’t thirst over the man the way I do keith but lord do I respect the man as much, and when I say I respect someone as much as Keith David what i’m saying is I have the utmost repsect for them as an actor, legend of screen, and person. 

Anyways, the two hang out, enjoy each other’s company, we also get a really fun beauty and the beast bit,  and Queer duck is now into Lola.. emotinally at least. He’s still gay as a goose and ready to gander, but he’s conflicted now. He withdraws a bit from Openly Gator and Gator figures things out quickley. Lola however dosen’t notice his anmosity and invites the two to a broadway show, with comments on how Broadway’s gotten really gay, and wishes she coudl go back there but wonders if a bunch of gay men would really listen to an old industry legend spill the tea on b-listers she dealt with. Given one of the best shows this year has been Hacks, which is about a beloved industry vetran kiling it on vegas and getting encouraged to change up her act by her young, dosen’t want to be here in the slightest protege, and stars screne Legend Jean Smart. Yeahhh.

And Queer Duck proves this right as some time later, how much exactly?

Lola has become a hit with her show still ain’t dead, with QD taking his friends to the premiere and we get a decent musical number. Not very memorable but not bad. 

A Normal Life: 

Lola then drops a bombshell the next night and asks Queer Duck to marry her, knowing he’s gay and not carring. He makes her happy. She does give him a card for a conversion therapy guy which....

Yeah it makes her less sympathetic.... and feels out of character given she dosen’t seem to give a shit her possible husband is gay. So why give him this?  It dosen’t make a ton of sense and feels like a lazy way to bring our main antagonist into the plot. 

But Queer Duck is conlifcted and Oscar notices the next night at the gay bar. When Queer Duck explains his situation Oscar.. suprisingly relates. Turns out he also had a moment of doubt years ago: back then it being the 50′s gay bars weren’t exactly a thing and had to be kept underground to avoid literal gay bashing. Just ask poor Huckleberry Hound Sr. No seriously i’m not making this up for a gag, theirs an alternate unvierse comic focusing on Snagglepuss as an Oscar Wilde style play right dealing with the mcarthy hearings and featuring a violetnly closted Quickdraw McGraw too. It’s REALLY good. 

Point is he was at one of these clubs when he fell for a woman whose part of a trio of singers who sing about loosing a guy because he maasturbates too much. 

I have no response to that. They hit it off but the club was raided and Oscar never found her and encourages QD to go for it. 

So Queer Duck breaks up with Openly Gator.. by announcing his engagment. 

And OG is a trooper here taking it, just wanting him to be happy even if he’s miserable, depsite the fact Queer Duck was a pure uncut ass here abandoning his partner without a proper breakup and basically telling him “So yeah i’m dating a woman now sucks to be you”. 

So we then get the most obnoxious scene in the film, as Queer Duck tells his parents and Lebsian Sister he’s getting married to a woman. We do get a nice visual gag as said sister has brought her girlfriend with her whose a beaver. Is it a very clever gag? no. But they don’t bring it up so it ends up landing a bit as a subtle pun... not subtle though is her eating carpet... which is a nod to a certain slur against lebsians. 

That’s SUPRISINGLY not what makes it obnoxious. It dosen’t help but no the obnoxious part is his parents CELEBRATING.. to an annoying farty version of the queer duck theme. We just here it AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN until i’m driven mad.. for the second time with this friggin franchise. I’m not bringing the Ash gif back though this dosen’t deserve it. 

Queer Duck goes to see the conversion guy who turns out to be the Reverend. Me I prefer my reverends welcoming to all folks and transparently gay like they do up in canada. 

Anyway the Reverend tries takling Queer Duck back in time to see WHEN he started having Gay Thoughts. We get him as a sperm hitting on a bigger sperm that’s techincally his brother because fuck it at this point, and then a repeat of a gag from the series where he hatches saying he’s gay and his parents are in clear denial.

We then get the best song in the movie, a riff on the Major General Song from HMS Pentafore.. and not without reasons as Queer Duck fully realizes he was gay as a young lad seeing those bulges on the sailors, and it’s just a damn fun number, with both Bennet and Bullock just going for it. We also get an alternate version of his coming out, this time at his bar mitsfa. So the Reverend tries a clock work oranging Queer Duck, but it fails utterly as you’d expect. It’s something I LIKE: the Reverend’s methods really DON’T work, at worst they just brow beat into someone gay into living a lie about themselves and feeling what’s natural for them is wrong and evil. Conversion therapy like in real life is just tourture and gaslighting, pure and simple and while the movie dosen’t show it as horrific ENOUGh for my taste, it never paints it as anything BUT that, hence the clockwork orange analogy of using tourture to try and change him via an electroshock chair: it’s really what conversion therapy IS and i’ts an utter travesty it hasn’t been banned. I know i’m preaching to the choir here but it’s not like ti’s not worth saying. But it fails and Queer Duck goes to his wedding anyway. See what I meant about this feeling forced?

Johnny Bronco Does a Kidnappin:

So then it’s time for the wedding,. We get some awkard refrence humor... something tha’ts not sadly new to this series as the Critic would endulge in this from time to time too, though most of it’s jokes were designed to simply be funny on their own. And sometimes you’d get jokes about Woody Allen and Soon-Yi and Roseanne and Tom Arnold, though for the record Woody Allen is a rapist, a pedophile and abuser and deserves to burn the fuck in hell and Roseanne Barr is a racist abrasive trump suporter. They arne’t good people, it’s just the jokes were about Woody dating someone way yougner than him,  and Roseanne being obnoxious. It’s not exactly the kind of joke that dates well is what i’m saying. I mean again Roseanne IS OBNOXIOUS but she’s proved to be far WORSE than obnoxious in old age and at the time as we’d find out from Gilmore Girls Creator Amy Sherman Paladino, she used to NUMBER her writers because she didn’t like them getting egos. Yes really. ASP even used it for a bit on Gilmore girls to show that Paris was going mad with power. 

Point is jokes about MIcheal Jackson have not aged well nor have jokes about Rosie O Donnel. I just.. I got nothing their as trite and unfunny as you’d expect.  So while all this is going on Openly Gator is convinced to go chase after Queer Duck graduate style and Queer Duck himself.. is drugged and kidnapped by the reverend. 

Yeah the Reverend kidnaps him.. which begs the question why not just have him kidnap queer duck BEFORE over the phone calls, it not work and kidnap him again out of frustration of his therapy not working? It makes more sense. But this time he tries a potion to turn Queer Duck straight, something that WORKS and.. god i’ts cringe inducing. For one even if it’s temproraary a potion turning a gay person straight is just.. concernated nope. But it dosen’t help their version of straight: is a bro who wants to oggle every woman, acts like an ass and calls OG a homo. It’s just more awful sterotyping and while not as odious as this franchises usual gay sterotyping, it’s still pretty fucking bad and toxic to say all men are like this when we’re not. I’m horny as shit, I own that, but it’s not because I like women. I’m just lonely. Everyone is diffrent and this movie can fuck off with this. 

So Straight Duck beds Lola, and we do get some funny bits with there bein ga ton of stairs, an elevator and what not, before they finally do the deed... only for her to die. Yup that happened. 

So Queer Duck genuinely mourns over her death and is upset, even more so because he’s trapped as a straight man and miserable about it. Even a huge swerve dosen’t help: he finds out Lola left everything to him.. and dosen’t care. It’s like I siad, in his old self he may not have been attracted to her, but he LOVED her and this hurts. 

Pickering comes to the rescue though. Realizing QD wasn’t a gold digging asshat and genuinely loved Lola just like he had once, he helps QD get his Queer back with the power of barbra streisand, who helps him realize he can’t chagne who he is. It’s a nice message: no amount of bullshit or lies can change who you are. And who he is is gay. We then get a song about him wanting to bang every dude around because fuck this series. He TRIES getting openley gator back but OG rightfully rejects him because fuck him. 

Fairyland:

Queer Duck is naturally sad again, but Pickering encourages him to enjoy himself: He’s rich now, he can do whatever he wants. So Queer Duck’s first order of buisness.. is to rub it in the Reverend’s face... and bring some cops along since Gelderling naturally rants he’ll “drug and kidnap him as many times as it takes”. 

After that we get a riff on the queer eye guys as Queer Duck tries to have them redecorate and after doing it himself iwth PIckering, who he treats way better than Lola ever did and thus earns his loyalty, it’s really sweet, hangs iwth his boys. 

He gives both whatever they always wnated to make up for neglecting them. We do get a nice self dig as Bi Polar Bear wants more screentime, and Queer Duck offers him more in the sequel, which naturally did not happen. 

But Oscar’s wish does get fufilled: his own antiques roadshow style show where the first person he interviews is the dog the Reverend seemingly ‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘

“‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘CURED”‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘

He’s voiced by Andy Dick who SHOCKINGLY never showed up on the Critic... because it was headlined by John Lovtiz.. who rightfully haded that mop topped bastard as he helped get Phil Hartman’s wife back into drugs, a spiral that eventaully lead to her killing the both of them. Lovitz was a good friend of Phil and after too much shit from Andy beat the everyloving shit out of him. I will ALWAYS treasure that story. 

But unsuprisingly the Dog turns out to be the woman Oscar loved, he was a REALLY good drag queen and they have a live sex celebration on air. 

Given the baseball setup, Bi-Polar bear gets his own team and a number about how “baseball is gay” that’s suprisingly good.

So with all this joy spread, Queer Duck decides to go back to where it started for one last big fuck you gesture: he buys Happyland (We get a nice gag about the owner not only gladly selling out “family values” for money but hoping his dad is rolling around in his cryo tube) and turns it into Fairyland inviting all Gay, Bi, Trans and others to join him. The ONLY time Trnas people, one of the biggest parts of the queer community, are mentioned in this entire franchise... given how this franchise treats gay people and acts like bi people don’t exist, it’s a blessing in disguise. 

This enrages the reverened into escaping his minimum security prison. At the opening..

We get some recycled gags from the Gay Theme Park episode of the shorts and Openly Gator gets a job at the ass pirates place.. I prefer Pirates of the Pancreas myself. 

But the Reverend has one last scheme and has hyjacked the dergible QD is on, and plans to use it to spray his straight shit on them. Phrasing. 

The rest of the Queer Duck Crew convince Openly Gator to help, which he does because he loves him.. 

And upon finding out what’s going on heads up and tries resucin ghim. We also get some decent gags with the tiny jesus on the reverend’s cruafix, played by David Duchovney, who bites the guy and generally snarks at the bigot. Our heroes barely escape the burning blimp and reconcile and the reverend is left to get raped by a bull because the series dosen’t get rape is bad even when it’s male on male. 

So our main couple gets back together and we get the worst song of the movie: “I’m Glad I’m Gay” the title means well but it’s reptitive, not all that funny, and just.. ugh. The lonely hearts club shoutout is nice, hence why I used it for the page image instead of the lackluster dvd art, but otherwise it’s just whatever. The two get married, this time WILLINGLY, and our movie thankfully ends. 

Final Thought:

This was rough in spots as you can tell.. but it’s not HORRIBLE. is it good, even fantastic?

It still has too many of the original series problems to be actually GOOD: The gay casts are caractures of gay people clearly based on terrible sterotypes, not even disscussing Queer Duck might be bi, the conversoin potion somehow working even though it’s undone, the racist pandas, the bull rape... there’s still a lot of ERRRURUUUGHHH stuff baked into the dna of this movie that makes it not fun to watch. Even for it’s time it’s regressive in it’s treatment of gay people , with both Mission Hill and the Simpsons having done loads better.

But... it IS better than the series. that’s not saying a lot, the series was pretty shitty. But more time means we get more rapid fire jokes in the style of The Critic, so I laughed WAY more during this than the series, and it does share the second half of the series tone: it’s more well meaning and Queer Duck is SLIGHTLY more likeable, and the humor isn’t AS dark. There’s still some bad shit as i’ve said... enough to make the film not GOOD, but it’s not nearly as odious as some of the stuff the series did. Were the series this level of quality.  I wouldn’t of tried to see if I could gouge my eyes out with one of the goofy’s on my desk watching. Now saying it’s WATCHABLE isn’t high praise and I don’t mean it to be but if your curious the movie IS free on crackle and is only 70 minutes, probably more with commericals but hey, so I can at least say check this out if your curious or like laughing at a piss poor attempt at representation. 

So yeah that about does Pride Month for this year. I mean I still have a Della and Penumbra episode this week, but otherwise that’s all folks. It’s been fun. And does that mean i’m done looking at queer media? No. And that includes bad stuff. With Q Force premering soon and ... this still needing adressing at some ponit. 

As well as this

So yeah i’m sadly not done with bad faith attempts at representation or good ones. Countering both I have America’s recent mini series at some point and the Iceman solo series. So yeah expect all that at some point and until then, there’s always another rainbow and no matter what the color of yours is.. I support you, I love you and you are not alone. 

[totally-incorrect-theatre-quotes]

Beetlejuice 12/18/2019

This will be long but this is a compilation of everything that stuck out to me about the show! Spoilers Obviously 

Who was in the cast:

Sophia Anne Caruso- Lydia

Alex Brightman- Beetlejuice

Kerry Butler- Barbara

Leslie Kritzer- Delia

Adam Dannheisser - Charles

David Josefsberg - Adam 

Act I:

The theater was GORGEOUS, the stage was beautiful, the music before the show was so good. The crowd was so excited, the ushers were so nice. It was just a wonderful experience before the show even started

Invisible started and I almost cried. Sophia is such an amazing singer, and hearing her sing live? She has so much power in her voice it gave me chills

I also liked looking through the ensemble and recognizing the cast members

The costumes were so stunning

The minute Beetlejuice arrived on stage everyone started clapping for a solid minute and he just waited there with a big grin on his face

OH MY GOD HIS SINGING was amazing

The sandworm was HUGE like I knew it would be big but it was literally huge

I was surprised that a lot of Beetlejuice’s jokes fell flat, they were hilarious

He said something along the lines of “I feel so out of place...like a gay republican”

I died

The MAITLANDS seeing them for the first time was so good!!! David plays an amazing Adam. Adam needs ot be protected at all costs, he is such a good husband

Barbara would do this low and growly voice during “Not Yet” and it was so funny. 

Beetlejuice just hanging around them before they died was very funny. He would have one liners that were just hilarious

When the Maitlands fell through the fucking floor boards, I knew it was gonna happen but like it still shocked me

THE SAD PUPPET SHOW

Literally five minutes after he found out there was a kid in the audience Barbara says “You give me the creeps” and he goes “Well you give me a boner!”

The whole being dead thing reprise was SO GOOD. It was so amazing to watch live

Charles is so much more RAUNCHY than I expected, very sex oriented lol but so blunt about it

LYDIA 

Can I just say that Sophia Anne Caruso plays teenage angst SO WELL. Like I 100% felt the sadness Lydia was feeling, it was so palpable

Just once more what the fuck did Lydia think was happening??? How dare she be surprised that they were moving. Like I love her but come on...

There’s a point during the scene where Lydia straight up gets this evil look on her face, starts giggling and goes up to Delia all innocently, trying to make it seem like this is hard for her to do and she’s breaking through. She does the whole “knock know” and when Delia said you don’t open the doors Lydia straight up started crying and said “I guess you’ll never know”

Dead Mom made me sob, Sophia has so much power when she is singing. There were points where Lydia would be near tears and it was so sad but so incredible. 

Fright of their lives was very funny. BUT THEY CHANGED THE KATHRINE HEPBURN joke. 

Adam is such a supportive husband

I also loved: “What are things that make you scared” and Adam goes “THE ELECTROAL COLLEGE! WHY DOES OHIO HAVE SO MUCH POWER” and Barbara deadass goes “Can I change my answer”

“WEll that was a soliloquy so you’re the rude one”

LETS HAUNT THIS BITCH

“No Reason” was also very funny, Delia tries so hard. This woman dabbed, did Fortnight dances, and just is a ray of sunshine. It’s just not what Lydia needs. Lydia was so savage during that song she took zero shits

Delia looked so upset when Lydia said “and good people die” It was very obvious she knew Lydia was talking about her mom, she went over to hug her but Lydia went under her arm

LYDIA MEETING THE MAITLANDS so adorable

Lydia telling the story about her mom. She looked so happy to have someone to talk to about it. 

“Every year me and my mom would build these haunted houses but it was during the summer so nobody was expecting it. One time she dressed up as the ghost of edgar allen poe! I thought she was so scary, but nobody knew who she was...because people don’t read.”

Also Adam is adorable, his dad joke made the whole audience groan

Lydia just needs to affection. She was like “I don’t have many friends...it’s nice to know I have you guys in the attic.”

Delia: “That was the most impressive rogering you’ve ever given me” Charles: “I’m very good at sex”

ICONIC

Charles proposing and Delia being so happy, so cute. But then Lydia runs in and Delia has to hide

LYDIA IS SO DRAMATIC. I’m talking she's fake fainting about the scary ghosts, collapsing to the floor. A+ performace, it was so funny

WHEN LYDIA FIND DELIA heart breaking. She was crying I just wanted someone to hug her. The Maitlands looked so concerned, Charles didn’t make any attempts to comfort her which kinda made me pissed at him because he was being very selfish. Also when Lydia cried, “I wish I was dead.” he didn’t even bother to follower her. Do better Charles

Beetle juice's multiple limbs very funny gag

Also he started scatting

Poor Lydia :(

Lydia started like having a mental break down when BJ started singing “I’m gonna have a new best friend!” like someone please give this girl a break. She so smol

Beetlejuice stopping her from killing herself 

“Say my name” was SO INCREDIBLE

the line “and kill him” was said so quietly that he was like trying to have Lydia not hear him

FAKE CARTWHEEL

Any time Lydia said Beetlejuice a light would shine on BJ but then go out when she would go beeeeeee- “cuz/” “being” “be a doll”

Nice lighting touch

The lighting, in general, was amazing

Lydia was so intrested in the possesion of Adam and Barbara it was so cool to see the little glimmer of a plan forming in her head

SHE PUSHED BJ off the roof and when she goes “what he was already dead” the Maitlands just kinda shrug like “she right” 

Charles and Delia trying to High-five but missing? Cute ass couple, they are actually really cute together

Maxie Dean is a creep and has ZERO RIGHTS

Lydia’s yellow dress and how excited Delia was and how relieved Charles was

Day-O was fantastic Lydia looked so happy but then it started failing and instantly she got very angry but a sad kind of angry. She had such a look of hesitation on her face when she summoned BJ but she went through with it when she looked over at her dad and he was giving Delia a kiss.

You could see in her eyes that Lydia almost instantly regretted it when she saw just how chaotic he was being, but she just kept going because she thought she had no other alternative. 

Charles reaching out for Lydia before he got pushed out of the house and Lydia looking at him as if she just wanted him to come and get her? HEART BREAKING

“It’s our house now kid!”

Intermission:

I got a cool cup and bought some merch. Very cool

Act II:

When Skye came on stage someone behind me said “Who is she??” like bitch just WATCH

Dana was amazing as Skye, Skye deserves the world she is so pure

LYDIA so chaotic as Skye definitely has a bby crush on Lydia

“Boo. Hope I didn’t scare you!”- Skye

Then Lydia scares her, Skye starts hyperventilating and Lydia goes “you’re fun!” and Skye says “I like you too!”

Poor Skye :(

Poor everyone in “That Beautiful sound”

Lydia SMILING. Any time she smiled it felt like a blessing. She seemed so happy

The clones do acrobatics in the aisles I did not expect that, it was so intense

NPR where tote bags come from

“And a book you’re never going to read” “the hand book for the recently decease?” “yep but you’re not recently deceased so...do you wanna see a sad puppet show??”

Beetlejuice looking so betrayed when Lydia left....

Lydia upstairs with the Maitlands. Omg Lydia looked so cute when she was holding the book and just kinda swaying in her spot when she was talking about it

“and we? We are old book smell people”

Lydia loving the smell of old books? Cute, adorable, 10/10

Adam being a dad

ADAM BOOPING her nose with the chalk. I would DIE for them

Lydia yelling at the maitlands when they won’t help her find her mom. WOW she had so much anger behind her voice but it was so sad because you can tell she was trying not to cry

Barbara 2.0 was amazing

Lydia walking across the stage trying to open the book :(

Charles and Delia coming back for Lydia and both of them flirting with each other...like bruh you’ve come to rescue your daughter please help her....

Beetlejuice tricking Lydia :(

Delia falling off the couch and just seeing her crawl off stage to do her Ms. Argentina quick change. ICONIC

Lydia accidentally exorcising Barbara was SO MUCH SADDER THAN I HAD EXPECTED like Lydia was having a mental breakdown she was os upset and lost and confused

When Beetlejuice showed up her face went so pale and she looked so scared.

“Well you wanted your mommy so this is what you get!” I CRIED that was so uncalled for

When the whole family was trapped Lydia really looked like a scared little kid because she is...like you forget how young Lydia is but there are several moments in the show where you are reminded that she is a scared, and lonely little girl who misses her mom

Charles trying to reach out to her but being chained to a wall, heart breaking. This scene made me so sad in general

Lydia agreeing to Marry him but her voice cracking and sounding so scared :(

THE HUG SHE GIVES BARBARA before she runs off

Charles pushing Adam and Barbara down so he could follow her

The whole Netherworld scene was so good

Poor Lydia was being pushed around, and pulled, and dragged, she looked so scared. Like she would try to run away from people but they would just grab her and pull her back. She looked like she was hyperventilating and just needed a hug but any time Charles got close to her 

Lydia calling for her mom in the Netherworld and crying

HOME WAS CHILLING

Charles and Lydia making uP sobbing, I legit sobbed 

OTHO’s real name being Kevin...very funny 

Delia had NO MERCY when she found out his name was Kevin

Adam’s name plack being “Sexy”

BJ fliritng with Adam in general was pretty funny

When BJ didn’t buy the wedding thing and went to go kill Charles Lydia did no freaking hesitate and went to go grab the art peice to kill him with

ADAM FOR THE WIN

Creepy Old guy was very funny

When BJ came back to life and everything was shaking on stage Sophia straight up yeeted her hat off stage, I laughed so loud even though nothing else funny was happening on stage

Lydia looked so mortified when she killed BJ

Juno coming back for Lydia and Lydia actaully looking scared, but then the threat paused and Juno tricked BJ with love, and then went right back to Lydia. The whole family trying to protect her...veyr soft

BJ AND THE SAND WORM

Bj giving Lydia the cowboy hat

Jump in the line made me CRY 

Lydia flying :D

End of Show

Instant standing ovation 

I got to stage door and got autographs from Presley, Dana, Kerry, and David

[i-want-anne-hathaway]

Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice

Yup, we’re back at it again. It is 11:43, and I am tired as fuck.

Why the fuck did I decide to do this at basically midnight in a pitch black room? Seems like a poor choice to me.

Sometimes I sing The Whole Being Dead Thing during the worst possible moments as a coping mechanism, and my mother doesn’t appreciate it.

Ready Set, Not Yet is so good, and I don’t appreciate it. Like, it sounds so odd, but I love it. I spent an entire morning trying to get the “folks say, ‘Adam’” part right, and it’s been so long that I can’t do it anymore.

I’ve still never... watched Beetlejuice. Like, I know everything that happens, and I have a boot, I’ve just never sat down to watch it.

Okay, my sister has this friend who really likes Beetlejuice and Dear Evan Hansen, and he has this long black hair and wears a lot of black. And his name is Connor. That boy is literally Connor Murphy, I don’t care if people tell me he’s nothing like him.

I remember when my friend tried to get me to listen to Dead Mom, she went “you should listen to this really good song called- wait, your mom’s not dead right-” “no” “-okay, good, this really good song called dead mom.”

All soliloquies are the part in Fright of Their Lives. All of them. Including the one in & Juliet. They’re all from Beetlejuice.

Also...

THE THREE GENDERS: AARON TVEIT, KATIE LADNER, AND KERRY BUTLER

No Reason is a bop. And Lydia’s little “okay” and “is this still about me” are literally the best.

Can we just... I love Alex Brightman. He is literally so precious. He is The Best

The beginning of Say My Name is just Not It anymore. I’ve heard it so many times, I’m tired of it.

“Yes... yes... arGH” best part of the whole song honest to god. He nailed this role.

Sophia Anne Caruso’s voice owns my heart. Just like- yes. Yes. Just overall Yes.

Can you imagine how weird it would be if Day-O actually happened? Like, can you imagine just seeing some lady start singing a Jamaican folk song? That would be terrifying.

“Woah” woah, indeed, Lydia, woah, indeed.

The Girl Scout is fucking iconic. I’m 74.52% sure that her name is Skye. And I was this close to saying “I don’t like that name” before remembering that is literally my nieces name, which makes me like the worst aunt ever. I don’t even dislike the name Skye, I’m just tired and when I’m tired I’m judgy.

OKAY, I’M GONNA SAY IT! HOW THE FUCK DID SKYE NOT FUCKING DIE?! THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF GIRL SCOUT! AND THEN SHE DIDN’T EVEN DIE AT THE END! WHAT A LET DOWN! (/j)

Sometimes you just gotta sing That Beautiful Sound to freak people out. It works 7.0844/10 times, and their faces are priceless.

“I brought you a pie... it’s from the store :)” has to be the best line ever. She says it so happily.

Barbara 2.0, in which a dead couple aggressively looks back at their pointless hobbies.

If you’re not doing all the different voices when you listen to What I Now Know, you’re not listening to What I Know Now.

Okay, but the fact that my dumbass didn’t realize that Leslie just changed into a green suit and didn’t actually completely cover herself in paint until I saw a backstage video of the change is fucking sad.

Home makes me really sad for no reason. I don’t relate to it, it doesn’t hold much emotional value to me, but it makes me really, really sad.

Creepy Old Guy is too funny, but also way too real. But like... the whole point is that it’s disgusting, so it’s got that going for it.

Despite not having actually watched a boot yet, I’ve watched a lot of videos with clips from the show and I just- “IT’S LIKE A GREEN CARD THING”

“I wanna see a tear in every eye as I pass by” is literally a goddamn mood. I’m that fucking petty.

WHY THE FUCK DID I GET CHILLS WHEN HE SAID “I HAVE CHILLS?!” UMMMM, CALL AN EXORCIST, I DON’T FUCKING LIKE THIS

Me when hearing Jump In The Line: IT’S ABOUT THE FOUND FAMILY, OKAY?!

It is currently 12:41am, and that did not feel like an hour. And if I was on the verge of passing out from exhaustion, I would totally listen to the next musical.

Which is

Mean Girls!

And there will be a Discord reading of Mean Girls, and I will be Regina.

Final Judgement of Beetlejuice: It’s really fun, and it can appeal to a lot of people with the type of music it has, and it has a nice message about family and love.

Also, my dog has started making demon noises, and if I believed in exorcists, I would totally get one.

[jq37]

So I saw Beetlejuice yesterday in DC. Had a really good time! I bought tix before reviews dropped and then the reviews were...less than effusive. I went in with kinda deflated expectations because of that but I ended up really loving it. Here are some quick notes in no order with very little coherency.

To give a baseline of my connection to the source material, Beetlejuice is one of my favorite Halloween-ish movies. But Beetlejuice isn’t my favorite character in the movie. Weirdly, my favorite characters in the movie are the Maitlands, even though they are probably, on paper, the most boring characters in the movie.

I saw someone on a forum say something to the effect of, “Oh for all the warnings about how raunchy the show is, it was pretty tame.” And my response to that is...no? Like, it was raunchy in a childish way a lot of times, but I wouldn’t call it tame. It was a little much for me occasionally but more often than not it was funny and, either way, the quick clip of the jokes kept it moving. Also, the audience was eating everything up. The disconnect between the critic reaction and the in person audience reaction was wild.

I was always gonna see this when it came to NY but what made me suck it up and see previews in DC was that Kerry Butler was cast as Barbra and I really wanted to see her (fun fact, I actually saw her in Mean Girls and she even signed my Playbill but I didn’t know who she was until, like, a year later when I got obsessed with the 2003 cast recording of LSOH.). Didn’t wanna risk that they’d recast in the move to Broadway. Anyway, I love her. She has this really sweet quality to her voice that I love. She has a ballad in the second act and I don’t really like ballads that much but I love hearing her sing. 

The first number really sets the tone for the whole show. It shows off the crazy Burton-y visuals, the wild swing of humor from clever to super low-brow, the 4th wall breaking that BJ does the whole show, and the crazy pace. Also, the giant sandworm puppet which is so cool. 

My favorite joke in the whole show might be during the song when BJ is trying to teach the Maitlands to scare people and he goes into a verse upstage by himself about how much they suck and Adam is like...we can still hear you. And BJ is like, ummm, this is a soliloquy? 

This is really low key but I think my favorite effect in the show was the one they used for floating? They use it when Lydia accidentally exorcises Barbra (she floats seemingly out of nowhere into the air and goes all wail-y and glow-y) and during the iconic Shake Senora scene (it looks really good).

“Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Be-ing young and female doesn’t make me an easy mark.”

The Day-O scene got the biggest reaction from the crowd I think and it earned it. It took me a sec to realize what was going on for some reason, but once I did, I was very into it. 

In the movie, the Maitlands are like,normal, boring, and nice. In the musical, they’re boring, dorky, and slightly neurotic (also, still nice). I figure the change is because the rest of the show is so off the wall, they felt like they needed to heighten their personalities some so they’d gel better?

The first act tracks the movie pretty well with some notable changes, but you realize pretty quickly that they’re running close to the end of the movie by the end of Act 1. Most of the back half of Act 2 is completely new material. 

Idk how I’ve gotten this far without saying it but Sophia Caruso as Lydia is so so good. She had to carry a lot of scenes and I was very impressed with how well she did.

The entire living room set changes at least three times during the show and it’s visually great every time. When BJ takes over the house, it happens pretty much instantly through lighting and it looks fantastic. 

BJ and Lydia have a back and forth song that I love the scene before the Day-O scene that ends with her pushing him off the roof. Also, during that scene, BJ controls Adam and Barbra marionette style which I found probably more funny than it was meant to be. Idk, they really sold the nothing upstairs, smiley puppet thing. 

I think the show was more judicious about pulling from its source material without being a shot for shot remake and leaning solely on audience recognition of iconic lines/scenes than Mean Girls which is the last show I saw at that theater. 

I wanna hear the conversation that got a boy band song in this musical. 

“I’m 36 so I stay in the back yo.”

At the start of the 2nd act, there’s a stark cut from a demonic version to the Day-O song to a smiley, sunny, happy looking scene with the house in the foreground that is just hilarious. 

I thought it was interesting that they gave Lydia her grief about her dead mom as a character motivation. 

The NPR totebag. 

Otho in this is a lot. Like,I know he’s a lot in the movie, but he’s even more in this. It’s like he escaped from Zoolander. 

Sucksyes.

I love how this musical acknowledges how insane some of the plot points of this story are. Like the marriage plot. They have a lot to say about that.

I don’t think any of this would be helpful to someone who wants to know about the show, but if you have questions, I’m totally game to answer them as best I can.

I am almost certainly gonna see this when it comes to NY to see what changes they make. I also am looking forward to the soundtrack to drop since I def missed lyrics when I saw it.

“Hey. Fuck you guys.”

Also, I stage-doored, and Alex Brightman said fuck because he was reading something on a girl’s shirt that said fuck and then he was like, “Sorry for cursing,” as if he hadn’t just spent 2 hours on stage saying every curse word currently in circulation. 

[justreviewingokay]

D.C. Beetlejuice Review

Let me cut to the chase.  I know what you’re gonna ask, is Beetlejuice “good”?  Now I have a very complicated answer, but I will say this: if a Tim Burton styled stage show is what you’ve always wanted, then should probably be off to see it as soon as you can.  Hold your sandworms, I’m not done yet.  Beetlejuice may be a visual masterpiece, but it is also a work in progress.  If you’re looking for more than high caliber Broadway comedy actors and half-baked humor, it may be better to wait and see what the move to the Winter Garden Theatre has in store for us.  

Now for the complicated answer.  If spoilers aren’t your thing, turn back now, for the surprises of Beetlejuice are extremely rewarding.

Making it Beetlejuice’s given job to usher the dead into the netherworld is an excellent addition to the character, except there isn’t very much character to begin with.  The opening makes the blind mistake of relying on the audience already knowing who Beetlejuice is.  A newcomer to the show might find him confusing or vague.  “The Whole Being Dead Thing” is an explosively entertaining number where BJ bashes some funeral goers.  Cutting in half way is Lydia mourning with “Invisible”.  Although the long arm gag is good and the bus driver costume from the film is much appreciated, the big B is introduced all too soon. The buildup is killed rather quickly and consequently, the anticipation.  Alternatively, since the scene starts off with a dirge, Lydia could plunge right into “Invisible” with Beetlejuice popping out of the casket and delivering the brilliant line “a ballad already?” The audience cheers as he climbs out and begins “The Whole Being Dead Thing”, uninterrupted.   Act One’s pacing is quite tangled, so this jumpy establishing song is important.  Alex Brightman is an absolute tour de force and does his best with the often immature dialogue.  It’s obvious that Brightman is doing a good job of balancing the voice, but it’s still a bit much when he’s singing.  His vocal talents are betrayed in this respect and some of the lyrics are hard to understand because of it.  

The Maitlands are brilliantly portrayed by green clad Rob McClure and Kerry Butler, known for Something Rotten! and Little Shop of Horrors, respectively.  “Ready, Set, Not Yet” is funny, but far too frantic to be endearing. Contrary to the writers’ belief, Adam and Barbara can be thoroughly lame and likeable simultaneously.  In the following scenes one could argue that too many pelvic thrusts are performed.  The scene progression is quite choppy, with so many reprises that one wonders if the song ever ended in the first place.  “Fright of their Lights” has a weird 1980’s sound and it has a great joke where Adam informs BJ that they can still hear him, with BJ responding “Well that was a soliloquy, so you’re the one being rude.”  BJ’s interactions with them are typically crass, but not in a clever adult way, an almost childish mentality instead.  Many of the jokes end with an unnecessary “F You,” which often feels like it’s only there to keep children out of the theatre.

The show really begins to pick up when the Deetz family begin to move in and Lydia sings “Dead Mom,” easily one of the best numbers. Sophia Anne Caruso plays the iconic goth girl in a way that doesn’t leave you cringing at all.  As the show progresses, Lydia upstages everyone.  An odd thing to note though, Lydia comes downstairs to dinner wearing a yellow dress to confuse her dad, which is exactly what Wednesday Addams does in the Addams Family Musical.  

Slapstick is the name of the game, considering BJ himself isn’t given many witty lines in the first act.  The sight gags are what work best, so you’d assume that the iconic Day-O scene would be the hit.  Instead of ascending to a new level of ridiculousness, it stays at relatively the same length.  A puppet roasted pig is added to the song which is funny by itself, but they didn’t stop there.  The pig’s male organ begins to invade Delia’s personal space.  Leslie Kritzer (a delightful scene stealer) appeared to be having troubles realistically interacting with it, awkwardly thrusting herself into the pig’s appendage for the remainder of the song.  Even though it garnered some laughs, initially it was a distraction from more clever effects such as the shrimp hand.  This is a perfect example for most jokes in the show; something clever is undermined by something vulgar.  They say a funny person can make a good joke, but a comedian can take it to the next level.

Act Two is significantly better than the first, giving the ghost with the most just the right edge.  “That Beautiful Sound” is my personal favorite, showing off the comedic prowess of Beetlejuice and Lydia as a pair, only seen before during “Say My Name.” Casting actual teenagers as the girl-scout and Lydia was a great move, considering the big concern among fans after the misfires in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

“Children We Didn’t Have” is a wonderfully somber piece, (beautifully sung I might add) but would have made a larger impact if the audience had learned to see the Maitlands in a more positive view throughout the first act. If any song is to be removed, I hope that this one survives instead.  

Otho’s lines aren’t too brilliant, but luckily for them, they’ve got Kelvin Moon Loh to deliver.  Brief as the character is in this version, Kelvin’s comedic talents make the scenes memorable.  His days on SpongeBob SquarePants especially prove that he deserves a bigger spotlight.  

“Everything is Meh” by Boy Inferno is quite brilliant considering… well… boy bands are dead.  The netherworld has a well-designed look and the characters are quite faithful to the film, including Mrs. Juno Shoggoth exhaling smoke through her neck, Miss Argentina, a shrunken headed hunter, (the effect works surprisingly well) and that one guy who appears to have been run over.  “Running Away” has a nice tune to it and its enjoyable right up until the “woah-oh’s” start off.  This trope feels almost anachronistic and quickly evokes the desire to attempt Miss Argentina’s “little accident” on yourself.  It does end up being a good moment though, with character development for Lydia and Charles.  

The ending is hilarious and pretty unexpected. Beetlejuice’s exit is somewhat delayed though; every time you think he’s done, he turns around and delivers another cheesy one-liner.  BJ being carried off into the netherworld was quite enough. Even though it doesn’t really make sense, (does Lydia somehow have a karaoke record?) it is indeed surprisingly pleasing to hear the cast sing “Jump in the Line”… and the levitation effect is flawless.    

In fact, probably the best aspect of the show is special effects and scenic design.  David Korins has done an absolutely astounding job of fulfilling Tim Burton’s vision, all while presenting his own take.  Michael Curry’s puppet design is not to be missed, with smooth movement and grand scale. Enough cannot be said about the visual aptitude of Beetlejuice.

The music by Eddie Perfect is ironically not… perfect.   Sorry.                                Rock and Roll style ballads may be a good choice for the musical, but a few things it still lacks.  Remnants of Danny Elfman’s original score are always welcome and can be heard during some cues.  After all, the music is half of what makes Beetlejuice feel like Beetlejuice. Thankfully, the keys and trumpets are pretty prominent in Perfect’s score, which helps greatly to set the tone. It’s important to mention that one thing is missing… strings.  Violins are either utilized very little or are nonexistent.  Sound design should be looked in to, most of the time the music overpowers the voices or the voices hide the music.  Even though I have no hearing problems whatsoever, the lyrics were frequently hard to understand.  (I do realize that this could entirely be the National Theatre sound system’s fault) When you come down to it, the music needs beefing up. Giving it a fuller, more orchestral sound to complement the rock instruments is the exact way to accomplish this.  (See Hans Zimmer, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Kansas, or Foreigner with the David Eggar Orchestra)

Overall, Beetlejuice is a spectacular show with immense potential.  That fact is, frankly, quite enough to satisfy considering it could have been a huge misstep, similar to the fate of Moulin Rouge.  With the fabulous cast and crew carrying it through, Beetlejuice could be an absolute Broadway hit in the making.

We’ll see at the Winter Garden Theatre on April 25th, 2019.