Daylight Come and You Won't Wanna Go Home
Beetlejuice (Prince Edward Theatre) Guest Review by Dr Terror
God, this is wonderful...and it's so SLICK. Although it originated across the pond, there is a wealth of new dialogue for a UK audience: 'I'm as helpless and invisible as Keir Starmer at an orgy'. I kid you not. Just rhyming 'best friend' with 'West End' is somehow so perfect that you practically want to stand up and applaud there and then.
And who can quibble with a determinedly downbeat opening number in which bereaved girl Lydia (Hannah Nordberg), at her mother's funeral, mourns that she feels invisible and disconnected. 'What a radical departure from the source material!' shouts renegade ghost Beetlejuice (David Fynn), shattering the fourth wall. He's right, but only partially. The story is a little different - and tighter, not unlike comparing Spamalot to Monty Python and the Holy Grail - but the spirit of the original and its brilliant auteur, Tim Burton, is there in spades and never departs. Witness the sandworm and the bloke with the shrunken head, 100% faithful to the original.
The design, lighting, sound, animation, costumes, music and especially lyrics are all outstanding - and, in the latter case, prepared to take major risks. Is the song 'Creepy Old Guy' really an ironic celebration of paedophilia? It IS and it kind of...works? In the context, I mean. Other highlights: the inclusion of a sacred object, a Radio 2 tote bag (I wonder what the American equivalent was?), a roast suckling pig which comes to life to sing, dance and attack...and, of course, the two Harry Belafonte numbers, very faithful to the original film in terms of their execution. That I could warm again to Shake, Shake, Shake Senora despite it having been bled to death at every commercial break by the bloody lottery is a miracle in itself.
If there is a standout part, even more than the two superlative leads, it is Richard Frame's lifestyle guru Otto (real name Kevin), a narcissistic windbag, over the top without it grating in the least. I have been an admirer of Frame's acting since I saw him as Michael Jibson's brother in the flawless Madness musical Our House, through roles like the lead's brother in Absolute Beginners at the Lyric, Hammersmith (he stole it in that one too), after which I met him in the tube and we had a great chat about the ups and downs of an acting career. His choices of part seldom put a foot wrong
And on top of all this, the show has something profound to say about death, loss and grieving. If ever there was a musical tailor-made for Dr Terror, this is the one.