“Beetlejuice” the Musical is taking over the stage of Centennial Hall this week, with full-house shows expected to persist throughout its stay.
The musical, inspired by Tim Burton’s 1988 film, is a musical comedy that tells the story of Lydia Deetz, an unusual teenager whose life takes a strange turn when she meets a recently deceased couple and the infamous title character, Beetlejuice, according to the musical website.
The show is tracking to be one of Broadway in Tucson’s highest grossing one-week engagements, with an expected attendance of over 13,000 people, said Director of Marketing Moriah Baker-Lipin.
“It’s really, really wonderful,” Baker-Lipin said. “It’s been fabulous, only positive [feedback]. Our house looked great, the seats were filled and everybody said it was really, really fun.”
The show opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway in mid-2019, but just under a year later, the COVID-19 pandemic shut it down prematurely. The show was picked back up at Broadway’s Marriott Marquis Theatre in April 2022, and while no longer on Broadway, the show has become a national sensation since.
“It’s such a phenomenon across the country, and to see it succeed so well in New York City, and then to be so well received across the country has been really amazing,” said Associate Music Director Julia Sunay. “People get so into it, no matter where we are.”
Tony Award nominee Eddie Perfect composed new, original songs for the musical that have since taken off on platforms TikTok and Instagram, including “Dead Mom” and “Say My Name,” but the show does include some fan favorites from the original movie as well.
“It’s such a fusion of different musical styles and genres. You have pop, you have rock and hip hop, so it’s just an amalgamation of all kinds of genres,” Sunay said. “We, of course, [also] have original songs by Harry Belafonte, like ‘Day-O’ and ‘Jump in the Line.’”
Actress Madison Mosley, who plays Lydia in the show, says she joined the cast about six months ago and took over the role of the moody teen in October.
“I was originally covering Lydia, so I was originally in the ensemble playing Girl Scout, so this has really been an adjustment for me,” Mosley said. “Lydia was my dream role, really, for four years. I so wanted to play her when the show was still on Broadway, and then COVID [-19] happened.”
A spring graduate from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Mosley said it was a dream come true to land a role.
“I got this email to go audition right as I was about to be done with school. It felt like it was too good to be true […] it’s been really surreal,” Mosley said.
The first performance of “Beetlejuice” the Musical in Tucson was Tuesday, Dec. 3, and the show will stay through Sunday, Dec. 8. Tickets can still be purchased online or at the box office of Centennial Hall at 1020 E. University Blvd. Visit Broadway in Tucson’s website to learn more.
Those who aren’t able to make the performances can still dive into the world of “Beetlejuice” and Broadway at the The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures, located at 4455 E. Camp Lowell Dr., which is showcasing its newest exhibition “Stages of Imagination: The Iconic Broadway Designs of David Korins.”
Cast members visited the exhibition on Wednesday, Dec. 4 to take a deeper look at what went into creating the set they now get to travel with. “Stages of Imagination” showcases the collaborations that went into designing five stages for Broadway shows “Hamilton,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Beetlejuice,” “Here Lies Love,” and “The Who’s Tommy.” It features some of Korins’ original notes and sketches from the beginning of the design process, quotes on Korins’ work from the original casts of the five shows and intricate scale models of the stages.
Learn more about the exhibition from this Daily Wildcat story.
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