I think the Broadway adaptation dramatically improves on the film. The ghost couple explicitly used the house as an excuse to postpone having kids, which they desperately wanted but felt unprepared to raise (“We can’t start a family in a house with creaky floorboards!”). Lydia’s consumed by angst over her mom’s death, and she summons Beetlejuice halfway through the show. There’s more room for the dynamics to breathe, and the surrogate parent/child bond between Lydia and the ghost couple is an actual emotional throughline. The musical isn’t some deep masterpiece, but it’s coherent. I was shocked to go back to the movie and realize how little it actually did with these elements.
I think the Broadway adaptation dramatically improves on the film. The ghost couple explicitly used the house as an excuse to postpone having kids, which they desperately wanted but felt unprepared to raise (“We can’t start a family in a house with creaky floorboards!”). Lydia’s consumed by angst over her mom’s death, and she summons Beetlejuice halfway through the show. There’s more room for the dynamics to breathe, and the surrogate parent/child bond between Lydia and the ghost couple is an actual emotional throughline. The musical isn’t some deep masterpiece, but it’s coherent. I was shocked to go back to the movie and realize how little it actually did with these elements.
That’s very interesting!
I just finished watching Beetlejuice, for the first time, with my family, exactly when you released the episode 😄