Interview: Megan McGinnis of BEETLEJUICE National Tour

Megan McGinnis has played a lot of big roles on Broadway, from her first break as an understudy for Margot Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank in 1988 to her breakout role as Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and Epinine in the revival of Les Miserables. But the 44-year-old’s latest role as Barbara in the national tour of Beetlejuice takes her to places she’s never been. 

BroadwayWorld spoke with Megan about coming back to SoCal, doing an exorcism in front of her 7-year-old son, and keeping a straight face while acting alongside Justin Collette’s Beetlejuice.  

Is this still a good time to talk? 
Yes. But you’ll have to excuse me because we’re at the zoo. My 7-year-old is with me. So it might be noisy. 

I love that you’re at the zoo. 
We’re in Portland this week and the zoo is extraordinary. It just feels like we’re walking around the wilderness. 
 
Does your son tour with you? 
Not usually. He’s in first grade so he’s usually home with my husband, his dad [actor Adam Halpin], in New Jersey. But last week was spring break so I took him out for that week and I asked the school if I could keep him for an extra week and they were like, ‘Yeah!”

I hear you’re a Southern California local. Did you grow up around here? 
I grew up in South Pasadena. 

So coming to the Segerstrom is kind of like coming home for you?
Oh, it is. I joined the tour after the LA stop, so Segerstrom definitely feels like my hometown stop. I could not be more excited. My parents are finally seeing the show, my extended family. And, almost all my friends went to Orange County School of the Arts.

Did you go to OCSA, too? 
No, I went to a small all-girls school in Pasadena. 

Son, Beckett [in background]: You went to an all-girls school? 
Megan [to son]: I did go to an all-girls school, yes. [To me]: He’s like, ‘I didn’t know that!’

But I would drive to OSHA almost every weekend because all my friends were in their shows, and on weekends we would go to Disneyland, I had an annual pass. So I feel like Orange County was just as much a part of my upbringing as LA was. 

Your first big performance was at the Segerstrom. Tell me about that.
Yeah, so I did a production of Babes in Toyland with Robert Morse in 1988. It was amazing. I didn’t know who he was, but boy did my parents know, and they were so excited. 

How long had you been in theater at that point? 
I was 5 when I did my first community theater production. 

So you wanted to be an actor from a really young age?
I did. It was mostly that I was really shy, but I would sing all the time. So my mom and dad thought, ‘How can we take advantage of this to get her to be a little more social and enjoy herself?’ So they just put me on a stage.

Any local community theater companies you want to give a shoutout to?  
The Glendale Centre Theatre was where I first did Annie. 

Were you Annie? 
I was Tuesday Night Annie [laughs]. And that was very much a dream come true. Annie was one of the soundtracks I sang to growing up. That was how my parents got me in the bathtub — you know, put on the soundtrack to Annie and sing “Tomorrow” and she’ll get in the bath. 

So how does it feel to come back to the Segerstrom? Does it feel weird to know this is where you started? 
It is the coolest feeling. To find that Babes in Toyland poster backstage every time I’m at Segerstrom. And I have this visual of my dressing room there and how gigantic it was for a little 9-year-old — it was just the biggest dream I could ever imagine. And it still feels that way when I go backstage there. 

Is your son an actor? 
No [laughs]. He could be; he’s quite the little showman. We ask him if he wants to be an actor, and he says [turning to son]:

Megan: Beckett, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Beckett [in background]: Explorer. 
Megan: Explorer. 
Beckett continues[in background]: Photographer
Megan: Photographer
Beckett continues [in background]: And other things.
Megan: And other things. 

I love that. OK. I guess it will have to be space then, that’s the next big place to explore. 
Right? He’s exploring plenty with us now. He toured with me and my husband on the Come From Away tour pre-pandemic. And we were all on the road for a year together.  

What does he think of Beetlejuice? 
He loves it. He saw the show a couple of months ago. He was a little nervous: There’s an exorcism scene where I levitate, and he turned to Adam, my husband, and said, ‘What’s happening to Mama?’ But other than that he had a great time. He knows the songs, he knows everybody in the show. It’s so fun to bring him backstage and have him be a part of it. 

You’ve had a lot of really amazing roles — from Margot in Anne Frank to Eponine in Les Mis. What drew you to Barbara in Beetlejuice? 
I never did get to see the show on Broadway, but I knew that Kerry Butler originated it and I admire everything Kerry does, so as soon as this audition opportunity came up I thought, ‘I want to go in for that. If Kerry did it, I know I’ll love it.’

Not to mention the fact that I grew up on the movie and love it so much. It’s one of my absolute favorites. My mom and I would pretend to do that “Day-O” scene all the time at home. So to be able to revisit that from my childhood but in a different place is really fun. 

I have a 9-year-old and I can’t decide if she’s old enough to see it. It’s a little scary. 
It’s a little scary, but I will say the show is a little less scary than the movie. 

Isn't there some inappropriate content for kids?
It kind of goes over their heads though. It becomes a bit innocuous with the humor. But there are some curse words, for sure. 

Beckett [in background]: F-bombs!
Megan: [laughs] He just said F-bombs. 

We tell Beckett, he’s a theater kid and I want him to know people around him, theater or not, he hears those words. And I want him to know what’s appropriate and what’s not — and he’s not going to repeat it. I don’t think the show is any different than real life. 

What’s your favorite thing about playing Barbara?
The relationship with Adam. The two of them take such a journey from being afraid of life to stepping full force into life. And it’s such a great adventure every night to really make that stand because I think we all have those moments.  

I’ve heard Beetlejuice, in this case Justin Collette, does a lot of improv during the show. Is it ever hard for you to keep a straight face? 
[Laughs] I’ve gotten pretty good at it. But Justin is brilliant and he has so much fun with the audience. He does just enough every night, it’s really incredible to watch. He’s caught me once.

How so? 
There’s a scene where he sort of makes fun of me, and whatever he did, it cracked up Will, who plays Adam. So I saw Will start to smile — I’m 100 percent blaming him — then I lost it. And then all three of us just sort of laughed for 10 seconds. The audience loved it, but the key is to not let it get away from you.

There are some pretty impressive special effects and set design elements in the Broadway production. Is it the same for the tour, and is it a challenge to interact with all that? 
No, it actually feels so right for the show. It’s so brilliantly designed. Broadway was beautifully designed and so is the tour. It’s very similar; it’s built to pack up into a truck but it gives you the same impression. The effects are dynamite, and very fun to do — there’s a part where I get to have flame on stage; it’s very exciting. 

You have what?  
I have flame. In my hands. A real live flame. And there’s lots of fog. There’s one point where I have a fog machine on me and you can’t see it. It’s just a fun part of doing a show like this. I’ve never gotten to do that. 

So my last question is: If you were to go back and say something to that 9-year-old version of yourself when she stepped onto the stage at the Segerstrom, what would you tell her?
You’ll be back. I really did think, at the time, that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So the fact that I’ve been able to return several times is beyond my wildest dreams. 

Thank you! 
Thank you for understanding that we’re at the zoo! 

Production photos by Matthew Murphy

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