Broadway and Beyond: "It's showtime" again for the musical adaptation of "Beetlejuice"
NEW YORK -- Fans spoke and Broadway listened. The musical adaptation of the 1988 film "Beetlejuice" is back.
CBS2's Lisa Rozner had a chance to step inside the "Beetle Suite," a hotel room transformed at the Marriott Marquis dozens of stories about the Marquis Theatre, which has been home to "Beetlejuice" the musical since Friday.
"It feels unbelievable. It feels validating for our show because we didn't have to come back," said actor Alex Brightman.
Brightman returns as Beetlejuice, the role he originated on Broadway in 2019 and was Tony nominated for.
The demon bio-exorcist ghost wants to be seen by the living again and haunts the home that teen Lydia Deetz moves into with her dad, Charles, and her life coach, Delia.
Newcomer Elizabeth Teeter plays Lydia.
"I like that she is so determined," Teeter said. "I think she embraces being weird and being unusual, 'strange and unusual,' as she says, which I think a lot of people can relate to."
"She is wonderfully nerdy, which it could very easy not to be. It's a dark character," Brightman said.
Adam and Barbara Maitland are haunting Lydia's home in their afterlife. The characters previously lived there but died after falling through the floor.
Returning to the roles are David Josefsberg as Adam and Kerry Butler as Barbara.
"Because we stayed home for two years, now everything is hitting me like, oh my god, I am Barbara, I am afraid to go outside and I need to live," Butler said.
"It's about seizing the day ... and basically, like, living your life and taking and experiencing things and going for it," Josefsberg said.
The actors say audience members need to come prepared for surprises even after the last act.
"There are, you know, giant sandworms and people falling through things. I don't want to give away too much, but there's a lot of magic to it and really, it's beautifully done," said actor Adam Dannheisser, who plays Charles.
"The set, it moves, it changes, it evolves, it becomes scary. I think when audiences first see this set, if you've not seen it, it is so wild," Brightman said.
They say fans walk away from the colorful comedy with a heartfelt message, too.
"It's about family and I feel like we really need that right now. I need that right now," said actress Leslie Rodriguez-Kritzer, who plays Delia.
"There are a lot of jokes, but there's a lot of serious messages that I think are very emotional," Teeter said.
Last but not least, Butler says, "Wear your costumes because we love when people dress up to see the show!"
"That gets us so jazzed. It's so exciting," Josefsberg said.
