Review: BEETLEJUICE at Des Moines Performing Arts

All you gotta do is say his name three times, and he will appear on the Civic Center stage. "Beetlejuice: The Musical" has been summoned to Des Moines Performing Arts as the finale of the 2022-2023 Willis Broadway Series. You may be asking if "Beetlejuice" is the perfect start to your spooky season. This show is one of the hottest tickets in the area, with limited seating still available. I attended opening night on October 3, and the audience was cheering from the show's start to the end.  

For those familiar with the movie, many of your favorite moments appear in the show, but there are a few differences. For the musical, the story starts at the funeral of Emily Deetz. We are quickly introduced to her daughter Lydia, who feels invisible with the loss of her mother. The fourth wall is soon broken as Beetlejuice begins to set up and narrates the start of the story. He introduces us to the Maitlands, a couple about to die in their house. He hopes to use them to get a living person to say his name. He soon finds out that the Maitlands don't have what it takes to scare the new residents of their house, the Deetz family. His luck changes when he finds out that Lydia, the daughter we were introduced to at the beginning of the show, can see him. He tries to convince her to say his name, but when she realizes the Maitlands can do some of the things he can, she decides to use them instead. This leads to a hilarious failed attempt at haunting the Deetz family, leading Lydia to say his name three times. What will happen next? You'll have to go to the show to find out.

Part of the fun of seeing "Beetlejuice" are the show's visual elements. From the moment you walk into the theatre, you are greeted by Kenneth Posner's dazzling lighting. The purple and green lights shining through the theatre set the mood for the strange and unusual show we about to see. Another fun element that draws the audience in is Peter Nigrini's projections. Some of my favorite moments with projections come at the end of Act One. These elements, along with the set design of David Korins and costumes by William Ivy Long, had the audiences screaming with delight.

One of the things that the pandemic taught us wer to appreciate the understudies. Opening night here in Des Moines featured understudies Matthew Michael Janisse as Beetlejuice and Jackera Davis as Lydia. Both did a fantastic job. Jackera Davis was the highlight of the evening for me. She brought such heart to Lydia and let the audience feel her yearning for the life before her mother's death. It brought a new layer to the story of her needing Beetlejuice to embrace her strange and unusual life instead of Beetlejuice needing her.  

The cast is full of other excellent performances. Kate Marilley brought a fun new take to the character of Delia that gives homage to those who ordinated the role in the movie and on Broadway while also finding some fun ways of making the character truly her own. Megan McGinnis and Will Burton keep the show grounded with their down-to-earth Barbara and Adam Maitland. The evening I went also featured Juliane Godfrey filling in for the role of Miss Argentina and Morgan Harrison filling in as Girl Scout, with swing Eric Anthony Johnson joining the ensemble.

If you are ready for a show about death, you don't have to say Beetlejuice's name three times. You need to head to the Civic Center stage with Des Moines Performing Arts to see Beetlejuice the musical. The show plays through 8 but must leave before it attracts a giant sandworm to Des Moines. To find out more about the show or to purchase tickets, visit https://desmoinesperformingarts.org/events/beetlejuice/

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