“Beetlejuice” isn’t dead quite yet.
The national tour production of the fan-favorite musical comedy, which has had two previous Broadway runs in 2019-20 and 2022-23, will head to the New York stage this fall, producers announced Tuesday.
The show, which is adapted from Tim Burton’s 1988 film and tells the story of a Goth girl and a pushy poltergeist, is set to play the Palace Theater for 13 weeks, beginning Oct. 8 and running through Jan. 3, 2026. Casting will be announced at a later date.
In his review of the original Broadway production, which starred Alex Brightman as the titular ghoul in a striped suit, The New York Times’ Ben Brantley praised Brightman’s performance and the “jaw-droppingly well-appointed gothic funhouse set” by set designer David Korins (“Hamilton”), though he lamented that the show “so overstuffs itself with gags, one-liners and visual diversions that you shut down from sensory overload.”
No matter: The musical became a fan favorite, with people dressing in costume, lip-syncing to the cast recording on TikTok and showering the show’s cast with fan art.
With a book by Scott Brown and Anthony King, music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect, and direction by Alex Timbers (who won a Tony Award for directing “Moulin Rouge!”), the stage production was nominated for eight Tony Awards, but won none.
“Beetlejuice” is having a bit of a cultural moment: A popular sequel film, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” also directed by Burton, was released last year, more than three decades after the original, which starred Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice), Alec Baldwin (Adam Maitland), Catherine O’Hara (Delia Deetz) and a young Winona Ryder (Lydia Deetz).
The national tour production, which began performances in 2022, has played 88 cities over the past 2 1/2 years. The musical has also had productions in Tokyo; Seoul, South Korea; and Melbourne, Australia; and is heading soon to Sydney. —NYT
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