Kimzyn Campbell — Theater Critic

To my delighted surprise, I was reluctantly lulled into the oddly familiar tale of a struggling circus. The drama is compelling as true love erupts, to the disapproval of the power-wielding ringmaster. The scenography, the costumes, the circus tricks, and even the music (particularly when it strayed occasionally into folk territory), elicited vicarious nostalgia in me. And when they tossed in a handful of animal puppets and a subplot about standing up to animal cruelty, I was fully hooked.

Thirty-five years after its film debut, the classic Tim Burton Halloween comedy Beetlejuice has been reimagined, first set loose like a demon as a 2019 Broadway musical (score by Eddie Perfect, book by Scott Brown and Anthony King, and directed by Alex Timbers), and now playing at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre. My inner goth jumped at the chance to see how it would hold up to audiences today. Not surprisingly, the cult favorite brought out the cosplay fans. Children, drag queens, and would-be demons arrived in their signature black-and-white garb with matching green hair. One child seated next to us proudly displayed her Handbook for the Recently Deceased bag. Yet the play isn’t entirely child-friendly, so think twice before bringing anyone under tween age.