‘BEETLEJUICE’: Alex Brightman & Sophia Anne Caruso. Photo: Matthew Murphy

BEETLEJUICE
Music & lyrics by Eddie Perfect
Book by Scott Brown & Anthony King
Based on the 1988 movie Beetlejuice
Directed by Alex Timbers
Winter Garden Theatre
1634 Broadway
(212-239-6200, https://beetlejuicebroadway.com/

Editor’s note: This review is from the 2019 production, starring Alex Brightman, Rob McClure and Sophia Anne Caruso.  The show has some new cast members and is now playing at the Marquis Theatre.

By Scott Harrah

Beetlejuice is a rare gem in the genre of Hollywood movie adaptations for the Broadway stage. While following the main narrative from the 1988 Tim Burton film, Beetlejuice expands on the story of Goth teen Lydia (played with panache by rising 17-year-old star Sophia Anne Caruso), making her the central female character. The musical is a theme park unto itself and a fun, offbeat roller-coaster ride from start to finish. It stands out as a superior adaptation for so many reasons, but mostly due to Scott Brown and Anthony King’s clever book and outrageously effervescent performances by Alex Brightman, Leslie Kritzer and Ms. Caruso, plus whimsical sets by David Korins and over-the-top costumes by William Ivey Long.

It’s hard to resist the incomparable Alex Brightman from the moment he enters the stage as Beetlejuice, the lovable poltergeist who is also the tale’s narrator, saying he hopes we’re ready for “a show about death” and starts into the razzle-dazzle opening number “The Whole ‘Being Dead’ Thing”.

Mr. Brightman is that rare entertainer who is so energetic, he commands the whole stage whenever he’s on it. He tosses off bon mots like “I’m powerless…like a gay Republican” with cavalier ease, in one of the season’s best performances. He’s the perfect guide through this gloriously re-imagined version of the hit film. Adam (Rob McClure) and Barbara (Kerry Butler) are the Maitlands, a happy couple in an old Victorian home (played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis in the film). When they tragically die in a freak accident, their spirits are left to haunt their house and live in its attic. Soon the obnoxious Deetz family buys the house. Charles (Adam Dannheisser) and his ditzy paramour/Lydia’s nanny Delia (Ms. Kritzer) want to totally redecorate the place and turn it into a modern art showcase, hoping to make it a model home and land a lucrative real estate development deal. Charles’ daughter Lydia (Ms. Caruso) is a black-wearing Goth and has no interest in the home, and certainly wants nothing to do with her dad and Delia. She runs into the ghosts of Adam and Barbara in the attic and strikes up an unusual friendship with them as they create a scheme to literally scare Charles and Delia out of the house.

In the movie, Lydia was portrayed by Winona Ryder as a dour, depressed teen mourning the death of her mother but there was little explanation as to why the girl was so grief-stricken and obsessed with the dark side of life. However, in Beetlejuice the musical, Lydia and all her quirks and pathos are front and center, tackling the issue of children grappling with grief in a lighthearted way, something one would never expect in a Broadway musical. Ms. Caruso’s voice is richly textured and particularly haunting when she sings the solo numbers “Dead Mom” and “Home.”

In 2014, I caught Sophia Anne Caruso in a revival of Ruthless! The Musical at an uptown cabaret. Ms. Caruso was just a child then, playing Tina Denmark, a parody of the demented girl Rhoda from The Bad Seed. She had a unique stage presence and one-of-a-kind voice I never forgot. I wrote in the review back then about her “wholesome looks, lush singing voice and over-the-top acting style,” noting that she was going to be quite famous someday. It is remarkable how far Ms. Caruso has come in just five years. With her distinctive voice and spunky performance in Beetlejuice, she’s indeed on her way to Broadway stardom.

The book has some minor flaws. A scene involving the “netherworld” and Ms. Kritzer in a secondary role as an otherworldly beauty pageant winner makes little sense. In addition, the songs by Eddie Perfect are bouncy and propel the plot wonderfully. Although the score is upbeat, it is not exactly memorable.

Regardless, director Alex Timbers holds everything together beautifully and gets noteworthy performances from the rest of the cast. Standouts include Ms. Kritzer, who is sensational as the gaudy, overbearing Delia. Rob McClure and Kerry Butler are a hilarious duo as the kooky spooks the Maitlands, and Broadway veteran Ms. Butler (last seen in Mean Girls) has never been funnier.

Musical adaptations of hit Hollywood films are standard fare on Broadway. Most are pedestrian or simply mediocre, but Beetlejuice is colorful, consistently lighthearted fun. It’s—dare I say it? —a musical “to die for.”

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 25, 2019
Reviewed at April 20, 2019 press performance.

‘BEETLEJUICE’: (left to right) Sophia Anne Caruso, Rob McClure & Kerry Butler. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘BEETLEJUICE’: (left to right) Rob McClure, Kerry Butler, Sophia Anne Caruso & Alex Brightman. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘BEETLEJUICE’: Alex Brightman. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘BEETLEJUICE’: Leslie Kritzer & Adam Dannheisser. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘BEETLEJUICE’: Alex Brightman & Sophia Anne Caruso. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘BEETLEJUICE’: Alex Brightman. Photo; Matthew Murphy

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‘MEAN GIRLS’: (left to right) Erika Henningsen, Ashley Park, Taylor Louderman & Kate Rockwell. Photo: Joan Marcus

MEAN GIRLS
Book by Tina Fey
Music by Jeff Richmond
Lyrics by Nell Benjamin
Directed & choreographed by Casey Nicholaw
August Wilson Theatre
245 West 52nd Street
(877-250-2929), meangirlsonbroadway.com/

By David NouNou

Regardless of whether you’ve seen or know anything about Tina Fey’s 2004 movie Mean Girls, it has now been adapted as Broadway musical by Ms. Fey. The one thing you have to know is the title tells the whole story in an extremely entertaining way. Thanks to Ms. Fey’s clever and funny book and especially under the creative control of director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw, the fun never stops.

The story is one we’ve all experienced in high school; whether you were with the “in”crowd or out, athlete or dweeb, cool or a nerd, pretty or plain, smart or borderline D-. It is all here. Depending upon which category you fell in, it could conjure either good memories or nightmares. Thank God, I attended a private school back in the day full of primarily Jewish students, so there was minimal bullying and the school wasn’t strong in the athletic department. The school excelled then and still does in the brain department. Of course, I was in the drama department; no bullying there.

Similar to Clueless and Heathers, where the beautiful girls torment the rest of the student body, this story has the comeuppance of the gorgeous mean girl, Regina George (Taylor Louderman) and the outsider who just enrolled in a new school, Cady Heron ( Erika Henningsen) and the conflict she faces to fit in at this peer-pressure-filled environment.

Since the story is an obvious one, I would like to showcase it from the standpoint of its components. Ms. Fey’s book constantly moves, she gives everyone an equal opportunity to the point that some of it seems like filler. The music by Ms. Fey’s husband, Jeff Richmond, and lyrics by Nell Benjamin, are catchy and memorable. They encapsulate each person and cliques, which at times also feels like filler. However, it is the great Casey Nicholaw who injects his usual flair for the production numbers that always keeps the musical and numbers moving.

By describing the players, you can piece together the plotline. For starters, as an ensemble, the cast members all work together perfectly. They can sing, dance, and are full of energy. Erika Henningsen, the home-schooled math genius and the new kid in school, is a delight. Her transformation from the spunky outsider to the leader of the pack is gradual and delightful and brings the proper pathos when she finds out it’s not what it’s all cracked up to be. On the other hand, Taylor Louderman as the two-faced Regina George, is sensational. She has come a long way from her Broadway debut as the innocent Campbell in Bring It On.

The supporting cast are remarkable and unforgettable. Ashley Park as the fragile mean girl Gretchen Wieners has a powerhouse voice and is a constant delight. Kate Rockwell as Karen Smith, the gorgeous but dumb blonde, is hysterical. Barrett Wilbert Weed as Janis Sarkisian and Grey Henson as Damien, the outsiders as well as the narrators of the show, are divine, their working off each other is terrific. Naturally there is the jock, Kyle Selig as Aaron Samuels brings not only his good looks but sincerity to his role. Kerry Butler, a Broadway favorite playing multiple female adult roles (from a mom to a teacher), is her usual expert self and can still pass for a mean girl.

In conclusion, the show has bounce and verve, it’s joyful and has a healing message; it’s colorful and a delight. Skip the usual tedious musical revivals and go enjoy the fresh new musical Mean Girls and maybe you’ll see yourself on that stage and have a chuckle and ask yourself,  “Was I really like that?”

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 13, 2018
Reviewed at press performance on April 12, 2018

‘MEAN GIRLS’: Barrett Wilbert Weed & company. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘MEAN GIRLS’: (left to right) Ben Cook, Nikhil Saboo, Cheech Manohar, Erika Henningsen & Kerry Butler. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘MEAN GIRLS’: Taylor Louderman. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘MEAN GIRLS’: Grey Henson, Barrett Wilbert Weed & Erika Henningsen. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘MEAN GIRLS’: (left to right) Ashley Park, Taylor Louderman, Kate Rockwell & Erika Henningsen. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘MEAN GIRLS’: Kyle Selig & Erika Henningsen. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘MEAN GIRLS’: Barrett Wilbert Weed & Grey Henson. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘MEAN GIRLS’: Kerry Butler & Erika Henningsen. Photo: Joan Marcus

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‘DISASTER!’: Roger Bart & Kerry Butler. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

DISASTER!
By Seth Rudetsky & Jack Plotnick
Choreographed by JoAnn M. Hunter
Directed by Jack Plotnick
Nederlander Theatre
208 West 41st Street
(877) 250-2929, http://www.disastermusical.com/

By Scott Harrah

The 1970s disaster movie genre could easily be mined for a spoof. From The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, created by the “Master of Disaster” Irwin Allen to Earthquake and the many Airport films, the movies were so over-the-top with their special effects, soapy subplots and all-star casts and cameos that they sometimes seemed like parodies themselves. So it is puzzling why Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick took such a great topic for a satire and did so little with it in Disaster!

Back in 1980, Airplane! hilariously roasted the Airport franchise with slapstick humor that skewered everything about the movies, with visual and sight gags and raunchy jokes. The movie was a mega-hit because it was silly and clever while sending up the plots of not only Airport and Airport 1975 but also the 1957 film Zero Hour. Here, Mr. Rudetsky and Mr. Plotnick have taken plot elements from Earthquake, The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure and set the scene in 1979 on Barracuda, a floating disco/casino on the Hudson River, with characters loosely based on those in the movies it mocks, but with no quick-witted humor or anything truly ingenious. Instead, the creators insert snippets of old 1970s pop radio standards like “Knock on Wood,” “Sky High,” “I Am Woman,” “Hot Stuff,” “Torn Between Two Lovers” and more ad nauseam, for no apparent reason other than to pad out an already overlong show. The result is many strained laughs in a jukebox musical without much context, like watching one of those kitschy old K-Tel pop music compilations come to life on the stage. Instead of giving us a solid plot and exquisitely jabbing the satirical needle into the genre, Mr. Rudetsky and director Jack Plotnick give us a lazy series of lame, half-baked skits that aren’t funny and serve no purpose.

We have many of the characters from a pastiche of 1970s disaster films, but few are well-developed composites of the people from the wonderfully tacky epics of yesteryear.

There are many Tony-nominated and Tony-winning stage veterans in the show, but their talents are mostly wasted on the thin material. Roger Bart annoyingly hams it up as Tony, the sleazy owner of the casino. Faith Prince and Kevin Chamberlin portray Shirley and Maury, a wisecracking New York Jewish couple obviously modeled after Shelley Winters and Jack Albertson in The Poseidon Adventure. Kerry Butler is Marianne, a reporter and the ex-fiancee of waiter Chad (Adam Pascal). Rachel York plays Jackie, a sexy lounge singer that’s obviously a cross between Carole Lynley’s Nonnie and Stella Stevens’ Linda Rogo in Poseidon. .

Max Crumm (best known for the 2007 Grease revival with Laura Osnes) plays Scott, a waiter, a nod to Roddy McDowell’s character Acres in Poseidon. Newcomer Lacretta Nicole is Levora, the spandex-clad, African-American disco diva who hasn’t had a hit in a while, and her main purpose here seems to be to belt out disco golden oldies like “Never Can Say Goodbye.” Mr. Rudetsky himself plays Professor Ted Schneider, the “disaster expert” who is hell bent on warning everyone about the doom that awaits them because the casino’s structure was built on a fault line (a Manhattan pier).

The true standout performances in the show, however, are given by lesser-known actors. Young Baylee Littrell is outstanding in the dual role of Ben and Lisa, singer Jackie’s identical twins. Jennifer Simard is a total scene stealer as Sister Mary Downy, a nun with a gambling addiction who loves to strum her guitar and screech out an atonal version of Sister Janet Mead’s infamous 1974 rock rendition of “The Lord’s Prayer.” The first-rate Ms. Simard displays the perfect mix of piety and spunk—a glorious homage to Helen Reddy’s singing nun in Airport 1975—and she gets the show’s most sincere and well-deserved laughs.

Disaster! is disappointing because of what it could have been. It started out Off Broadway at the St. Luke’s Theatre three years ago, but the Broadway production should have been more polished. Co-author Jack Plotnick also directs the show, and that is a problem here because an objective party was desperately needed to fine-tune things. In many cases, there should be a law on Broadway that writers of shows should not be allowed to also direct their works, because a more focused director and script doctor might have been able to save this Disaster! from sinking by cutting out the many pointless song snippets, tightening the narrative, and keeping the jokes on-target.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 15, 2016
Reviewed at press performance on March 14, 2016

DISASTER!: (left to right) Faith Prince, Kevin Chamberlin & Kerry Butler. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘DISASTER!’ Jennifer Simard as nun Sister Mary Downy. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

DISASTER!: Adam Pascal & Kerry Butler. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

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OVAL OFFICE PARTY: The cast of ‘Clinton The Musical.’ Photo: Russ Rowland

CLINTON THE MUSICAL
Book by Paul Hodge & Michael Hodge
Music & lyrics by Paul Hodge
Directed & choreographed by Dan Knechtges
New World Stages
340 West 50th Street
212-239-6200
http://clintonthemusical.com/

By Scott Harrah

Some would say former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton are long overdue for an Off-Broadway political satire, and it’s certainly the right time for this scathingly funny show by Australian brothers Paul and Michael Hodge. In roughly 95 minutes, the musical tells the entire Bill and Hillary Clinton saga. There is plenty of material that will get laughs from Republicans, Democrats and people of all political parties.

What’s most remarkable about Clinton the Musical is its objectivity (well, sort of) because audiences never know which side the show is on, but we know most of what we’re seeing is sophomoric and hysterical simultaneously. The simple fact that the play’s creators aren’t Americans gives the narrative an unbiased, incisive edge as we see the people from both political parties that made the Clinton Administration and Republicans in Congress in the 1990s so infamous.

The former president from Arkansas is portrayed, literally and figuratively, as two different men: There is WJ Clinton (Tom Galantich), the serious, charismatic leader of the free world; and Billy Clinton (Duke Lafoon), the sex-crazed, fast-food-eating bad boy (often nibbling on McDonald’s fries). Watching President Clinton and his misbehaving alter ego is fun indeed. Mr. Galantich and Mr. Lafoon’s give solid performances as Bill Clinton and his sleazy doppelganger, but both could have been more over-the-top because there is so much to parody about “Bubba.”.

All the key players, from Hillary Clinton (Broadway veteran Kerry Butler) to Monica Lewisnky (Veronica J. Kuehn) to Newt Gingrich (John Treacy Egan) to Linda Tripp (Judy Gold) and Kenneth Starr (Kevin Zak), are here. Al Gore is portrayed by a cardboard cutout. Ms. Butler has all of Hillary’s mannerisms down well and has a pleasant singing voice, and she’s especially potent when delivering timely bon mots about Hillary’s e-mail, but a few of the supporting performances are actually more satisfying.

The songs, ranging from “Lie to You” to “That Woman Miss Lewinsky,” have their moments (and the lyrics are too raunchy to quote). Although the obvious jokes wear thin quickly, it’s all in good fun.

Mr. Zak, as “special prosecutor” Kenneth Starr, is depicted here as a bitchy gay man. Just try to keep from laughing as he jumps across the stage, clad in a leather harness and see-through undies, making Bob Fosse-style Chicago moves in his rousing, ultra-campy solo number “A Starr is Born.” Mr. Egan’s Newt Gingrich is a whiny, ineffectual buffoon who, like Billy Clinton, always craves junk food. Both Mr. Zak and Mr. Egan portray gleefully grotesque caricatures of two villains in the Clinton Administration soap opera.

Comedienne Judy Gold is a delight when playing Monica’s “friend” Linda Tripp, the conniving, devious woman who helped uncover the whole Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. However, she’s less effective in numerous scenes as Eleanor Roosevelt (Hillary’s idol), delivering epigrams about women, power and duty to one’s country that become rather hit and miss by the second act.

All the iconic highlights of the Clinton presidency—from Paula Jones and the Whitewater scandal to the failed attempt to impeach him, and the rabid manner in which things were chronicled by the news media—breeze by with cheeky zeal under Dan Knechtges’ fluid direction.

Hillary Clinton had not officially announced her candidacy for the 2016 presidential race as of press time, and this show won’t win her any points from undecided “swing” voters. So, is the show simply capitalizing on the Republicans who want to dig up every bit of old dirt about Bill and Hillary? Not really. Political satire can be many things, but it is never supposed to be nice. Both Democrats and Republicans are given “equal time” in terms of mockery. No matter which side you’re on, Clinton The Musical will get your vote as one of the spring’s best spoofs of Washington politics.

LINDA TRIPP & MONICA LEWINSKY: Judy Gold & Veronica J. Kuehn. Photo: Russ Rowland

NEWT GINGRICH & KENNETH STARR: John Treachy Egan & Kevin Zak. Photo: Russ Rowland

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 9, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on April 5, 2015

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