Beetlejuice brings Broadway tour to SKyPAC

52 minutes ago

Derek Gregory,

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WNKY) — The touring production of “Beetlejuice” will take the stage at SKyPAC Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., bringing the Broadway musical’s mix of comedy, special effects and familiar characters to Bowling Green.

The musical is based on the 1988 film and was nominated for eight Tony Awards in 2019, including Best Musical.

Bringing the movie to the stage

The stage production keeps many of the characters and visual elements audiences may recognize from the film while adding new music and storylines.

Kaitlin Feely, who plays Barbara, said the production also includes several references to the style of filmmaker Tim Burton.

“We get a lot of these Tim Burton Easter eggs still in the musical,” Feely said. “I think the musical does a great job of preserving the style of the story and the show. So we see it in the costume design, we see it in the set design, and the special effects.”

The production features pyrotechnics, puppets, illusions, mechanical effects and other stage effects.

A different side of the story

Feely said the musical also spends more time developing some of the emotional parts of the story.

“What I think is a little bit different and unique about the musical that we don’t see in the movie as much — the comedy is there, but we have these moments of heart that are so lovely that we don’t get as much in the movie,” she said.

She pointed to Lydia’s grief and her relationship with her father as one example.

Feely said those moments give audiences something to connect with beyond the comedy.

“It’s great to be silly and be transported to this crazy world,” she said. “But then there’s that moment of connection and there’s those moments that we can all relate to.”