Beetlejuice review Tim Burton's super creep reanimated as a shock jock in ghoulish musical

A West End theatre is transformed into a haunted, art deco spectacle with purple and green lighting, a sandworm moving through the auditorium, and an opening burst of eerie laughter. Tim Burton’s 1988 fright-night film is reanimated as Beetlejuice: The Musical, with rapid gatecrashing, song-and-dance momentum, and a skeletal chorus line. The production adds panto-style randomness, topical references, direct audience address, and irreverent jokes, including attacks on musical-theatre royalty and the West End’s new arrival, Paddington Bear. Michael Keaton’s brief original screen presence is expanded into a more constant stage presence. The lead performance is energetic and toxic-sparkly, but scattershot dialogue and frequent plot detours can become tiring.

"Halloween has arrived early as yet another movie turned musical hits the West End. This art deco theatre is now a haunted house festooned with purple and green lights. A sandworm slithers around the auditorium and it all kicks off with an evil cackle. Tim Burton's 1988 fright-night favourite is reanimated with song and dance as, to give it the full name, Beetlejuice: The Musical. The Musical. The Musical. Bring on the skeletal chorus line!"

"There are jokes about hipster vapes, six-seven (groan), James Corden and plenty of heresy against musical-theatre royalty, from a quip about Andrew Lloyd Webber's decapitated head to two foul-mouthed tirades against the West End's adored new arrival, Paddington Bear. All distract from the carefully designed worlds of the story."

"The musical, staged on Broadway in 2019, foregoes the less-is-more approach. It has barely begun before Beetlejuice gatecrashes to mock the heartfelt prologue (Holy crap, a ballad already?), coke-snorting and crooning in his signature striped suit. With shades of the anarchic teacher he played brilliantly in School of Rock, David Fynn certainly isn't short of juice in the lead role."

"At one point Fynn gives a Scooby Doo-style ruh roh and there is an appealing puppyishness beneath his bio-exorcist but his scattershot dialogue as the plot ventures in and out of the Netherworld quickly becomes tiresome. It's like watching a certain type of Netflix megastar standup desperate to cause outrage. The show is at pains to tell you how wild it is, the host more boorish than creepily grotesque."

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