In the 1988 movie, Beetlejuice is a nasty demon who actually only gets 17 minutes of screentime. In the musical version of Beetlejuice, about to open its Houston stop along a national tour, the stripes-loving character is with us from the first scene and he’s not quite as unredeemable.
There are other differences says Kaitlin Feely who plays Barbara who along with her husband Adam Maitland are haunting the house that 15-year-old Lydia Deetz and her father Charles have moved into after her mother’s death.
At its core, however, it still is the story of Lydia, a goth teenager mourning the recent death of her mother, who suspects her father Charles is planning to replace her. Lydia’s life changes once she meets Barbara and Adam in the house Lydia’s family has just moved into. Beetlejuice is part of that equation as well.
Feely, who is on her first national tour, describes Barbara as “very sincere; she’s warm, kind-hearted, very resilient. She is filled with anxiety and fear and I think she shares that with her husband Adam. As we find her on this journey throughout the show, she learns how to conquers those fears and let go of those anxieties and become the best version of herself.”
In the movie the couple died in a nearby car crash. In the original Broadway play, they fall through a trap door in their house, an option that’s not always open to the touring show, Feely says. So instead: “They actually get electrocuted and that’s how they pass away in their home.”
The couple become very special to Lydia. “Especially Barbara but Adam too. I think she finds herself in them. She’s grieving her mother who passed away. Her mother was her best friend. They also listen to her. She really doesn’t have anyone in the show until she meets the Maitlands that listens to her and accepts her grief. Everyone has just been telling her to get over it.” She wants to talk about it and the Maitlands are the first people who give her the opportunity to do so.”
“[The musical has] the same characters that we know and love from the movie, but it does follow a little bit of a different plot line. It’s a little bit more developed. To me the biggest difference is the musical really focuses on the grief of Lydia losing her mother and what that does with the relationship with her father. “
Asked why Beetlejuice works as a musical, Feely says: “The story is so funny and it’s a visual spectacular. There’s so many special effects. There’s all these Tim Burton Easter eggs we find in the set design, in the costume design. The music in the show is absolutely fantastic. So is the choreography. To put that on stage leaves the audience in awe.”
Feely grew up in a northwest suburb of Chicago. She got involved in musical theater after she saw Wicked on Broadway “and it changed my life,” she says. “I’ve been performing ever since I was a kid.”
She went to Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois. “I graduated in the pandemic. It was 2020. We left for spring break and we never came back. The first two years out of college were definitely an adjustment. Theater wasn’t happening.
“I had a math minor so I relied on that a little bit,” she says. She worked full time at a math tutoring center until theater started opening up again.
Getting on a national tour, especially of Beetlejuice was an important step up from regional theater for Feely. “I love the show. The show means a lot to the fans. It’s very easy to find yourself in the show.
“This is a huge cosplay show. We see stripes everywhere. We see people dressing up as Beetlejuice, as Lydia. We see that red wedding dress that she has, that black dress.
“This show is about life and a lot about death but this show really lives on. We have seen it return to Broadway twice. And it’s now touring again and it’s because of the incredible fan base. The show is extremely special to so many people.”
Performances are scheduled for November 3-9 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Sunday at the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-315-7625 or visit thehobbycenter.org or broadwayatthehobbycenter.com. $55-$167.
