#now I've got to keep the playbill safe

[ragdollrain]

On Saturday, I had the fortune of seeing Beetlejuice the Musical live at the Marquis theater running on nothing but a few hours of sleep, black tea, borrowed french fries and a vegan brownie. All of the main cast was the same except for Adam, who was played by the very talented Graham Stevens. A few things stuck out to me in this performance, so here they are!

I’ll start by saying the audience had a great time and the cast absolutely killed it (as usual). People seemed to go especially wild for “No Reason” -- almost every one of Delia’s lines throughout the show got a laugh from the audience. There was a standing ovation at the curtain call, it was amazing. 

- Alex flipped the bird at the audience at least 3 times throughout the show. It was hilarious and very quick and subtle each time.

- Sad puppet show: “Noooooo! I’m only 11 years old! There’s so much I wanted to do!”

- During Fright of Their Lives, he jumped at Barbara’s first “primal scream” before settling down and looking disappointed. 

- “Or dress like a baby!” “What the shit, Adam?”

- The line “nobody’s like me,” after Fright of Their Lives was delivered in the saddest way possible. The man sounded like he was crying -- he stepped away and said “sorry” in the smallest voice. The audience literally “awwed” at him, it was such an experience. The “fuck you guys” after that was also delivered quietly through tears. This made his invisible reprise on the roof so much more depressing, you could almost feel it in the room. 

- I can’t remember exactly which other lines were delivered this way, but there were a few moments before Fright of Their Lives that matched up. Overall he really played up that aspect of Beetlejuice.

- After That Beautiful Sound, two of the clones ran off the stage through the staircase on the aisle (I was right at the edge), and one of them was SCREAMING laughing and it was the funniest fucking thing.

- When Beetlejuice announced he was going to marry Lydia, before saying it was a green card thing, the skeletons and the clones made the confused Scooby Doo sound. “Ruuh?” I have no idea if this is the norm but it made everyone laugh and it was great. 

- During Creepy Old Guy, as Lydia’s veil was being unraveled and Adam was pulling him to the side, he leaned over and tried to kiss him. Twice. He was rejected both times and stumbled away. 

- Are you familiar with that post about the audience reacting to Beetlejuice’s death as though a real person was stabbed live on stage? Yeah.

- When Juno appeared, rather than freezing in fear he appeared to be possessed by her. She pointed in his direction and his arms went up, and he moved to try and tug them out of place. 

- The audience responded to “Look, Lydia! Now we both have dead moms!” in many different ways. They were silent for a moment, then a quarter of them booed, another quarter laughed, and I think a few people cheered and clapped. 

Side notes

- After the line “the sound of clean white shorts going brown!” a guy behind me said loudly to his friend that he didn’t get it. 

- Someone yelled “gross” in an angry way at Charles and Delia making out with each other.

- My friend referred to Lydia as “Linda” after the play. This isn’t about the performance but people need to know. 

Overall, everyone was incredible! I’m so happy I got to see it -- I didn’t think I would be able to but I did. I’m glad I saw it exactly as I did too -- being very familiar with it already and having this build-up beforehand because you already love it. And you don’t miss any lines, so there’s no potential for you to get lost or confused with the plot. I didn’t think I could get *more* into it, but somehow I did. Seeing this More Baby Than Bastard Beej will probably affect how I write him, too.