Colin Fleming-Stumpf — Theater Critic

“Mrs. Doubtfire” is truly one of cinema’s most emotional roller coasters, overflowing with comedy but also a lot of intensity and familial strife (for my money, it’s the best film about divorce that’s ever been made). The stage adaptation captures all of these dynamics, delivered with even more poignancy when seen live and not on a TV screen.

The real star of 'Beetlejuice', however, is its production design. The design team pulled out all the steps crafting a show featuring a haunting Tim Burton-esque rotating set, lights, and pyrotechnics; combine that with the kicklines and big dance numbers of Broadway's Golden Era, and you've got a truly unique theatrical experience. To be sure, 'Beetlejuice' does have its blemishes, mostly of the writing variety. The changes to the storyline that allowed the movie to be more easily adapted for the stage made an already-chaotic plot even more chaotic, and left me saying 'what now?' and 'hang on a minute' to myself more than once, especially in act II, which drags significantly more than act I.