BEETLEJUICE at the Fox Theater Review

(L-R): David Wilson (Adam), Kaitlin Feely (Barbara), Leianna Weaver (Lydia) and Ryan Stajmiger (Beetlejuice). Photo by Matthew Murphy, 2026. Courtesy of the Fabulous Fox Theater

– By Cate Marquis –

The Broadway tour of “Beetlejuice” returns to the Fabulous Fox Theater for a short run, Apr. 24-26. The musical is based on the hit movie but differs from it in some key ways, and actually, this tour’s version even differs somewhat from the last tour that played the Fox.

This time, Beetlejuice (or Betelgeuse) himself has a much bigger role than in the movie, where he was the comic villain. Now he’s more at the center, the star of the show. In the last touring version, he was also kind of the hero, which didn’t make a lot of sense, but in this iteration, that has been re-balanced, with Lydia reclaiming more of the center, so Beetlejuice can again be more his comic villain self – although with a little more charm and a bigger part in the whole story.

Ryan Stajmiger plays Beetlejuice, coming on strong and funny in the very first scene, where he interrupts a funeral with well-placed snarkiness in typical Beetlejuice style. Stajmiger makes the part his own, not just doing a Michael Keaton bit, with his own smart-mouthed, gallows-humor shtick. It kicks off the comedy nicely and in high gear.

The funeral is for the mother of goth teen Lydia Deetz. In the movie, we don’t know if Lydia’s mother is dead or if her parents are are just divorced or how long ago that change may have happened, but the play puts Lydia in a state of grief, making her more than just a morose goth girl. On top of the loss, Lydia’s father Charles Deetz (Jeff Brooks) has decided they are moving away from the city, to a small New England town, for business reasons.

We go from the funeral to the home of the Maitlands, Barbara (Kaitlin Feeley) and Adam (David Wilson), a nice, young couple living in an old house in a small New England town. But there is an accident, and both Barbara and Adam are killed, although it takes them awhile to figure out they are dead. Seeing an opportunity to get a toehold in the world of the living, Beetlejuice shows up at their house and arranges things so the Maitlands stay on as ghosts.

The Maitlands’ house is sold, to guess who – Lydia’s dad – and Lydia, her dad Charles and his assistant Delia (Bailey Frankenberg) all move in, so the haunting humor can begin.

In the movie, Delia was Lydia’s crazy artist stepmother, but this Delia is a New Age-y bubble-head who works for Charles, a sweet but dim character given to spouting shallow yoga references, who is having a secret affair with her boss. Meanwhile, the sweet, down-to-earth Maitlands of the movie are now more clueless in this stage version (although, thankfully, not as dumb and even irritating as in the last tour), but still wind up helping Lydia eventually. Other characters, like Delia’s pal Otho, turn up too but he has a smaller role and he’s not the same comic character. The comedy burden is pretty much all shifted to Beetlejuice himself.

The changes to the story mean Stajmiger’s Beetlejuice is on stage a whole lot more than he appears in the film, and Stajmiger does well keeping the comic energy high. Beetlejuice and Lydia have more of a real connection in this stage version but some changes from the last tour help the story find the right balance, a little more about Lydia instead of just Beetlejuice.

Even with the story differences from the film, the show has a lot of fun anyway, and the story-line for this tour has been tweaked and is much improved. After the excellent leads, Ryan Stajmiger and Leianna Weaver, the show’s set and effects are the other big draw, with the costumes close behind. Staging effects are nice, and there are more appearances by that big striped sand-worm monster.

We still get gags like the dinner scene with the possessed guests dancing, and visits to those afterlife bureaucrats. There are new dancing demons to help out lead demon Beetlejuice, and that shrunken head fellow gets some extra time in the spotlight.

It’s different from the movie in many ways, but this “Beetlejuice” is still a lot of fun, and this time around, even better.

“Beetlejuice” is on stage at the Fabulous Fox through Apr. 26, 2026.

© Cate Marquis