If you haven’t yet heard, Tim Burton’s beloved comedy-horror film Beetlejuice has recently been made into a Broadway musical. It opened at the Winter Garden Theatre back in April and, despite initial mixed reviews, has since become a surprise hit and one of the most popular shows of the season! The production stars Alex Brightman as the mischievous spirit Beetlejuice and Sophia Anne Caruso as the young protagonist Lydia Deetz, with lyrics and music by Eddie Perfect. In spite of the show’s popularity, the producers recently announced that it will be closing this summer to make room for The Music Man. The final Broadway production will be on June 6, and there are plans to launch a national tour in 2021. But if you’re able to get to New York City within the next six months, I highly recommend you go see it before it closes! I saw the show right when it opened back in April and absolutely loved it. Read on for my thoughts: Continue reading Go See Beetlejuice the Musical Before It Closes!
Tag: musical
Review of Hadestown—A Mythic Musical
All aboard! You don’t want to miss the train to Hadestown, a Broadway musical that gives Greek mythology a modern twist. Friends have been telling me for months that I needed to see this show, especially since the tale of the spring goddess Persephone and her underworld husband Hades is one of my favorite myths and I’m a sucker for creative retellings. I finally got the chance, and let me tell you: it totally lives up to the hype. The production stars Reeve Carney (whom some of you may recognize as Dorian Gray from the show Penny Dreadful) as the poet Orpheus, Eva Noblezada as his lover Eurydice, Amber Gray as Persephone, Patrick Page as Hades, and André De Shields as Hermes. The production swept the Tony Awards this year, winning eight awards including Best Musical and Best Original Score. Hadestown is currently playing at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York. Continue reading Review of Hadestown—A Mythic Musical
Review of The Hunted: Encore–A Vampire Musical
Remember the musical episode of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer? What if you could have a whole show like that? The Hunted: Encore is an indie-made musical web series about a team of vampire hunters living in New York City. The show is one of many spin-offs from the long-running web series The Hunted, but the first to take the musical approach. Producer Ned Donovan stars as a somewhat clueless newbie hunter who teams up with a badass vampire-slaying veteran played by Megan Dorn. Together, they crush villains and make allies while singing and dancing their way through original songs with music composed by Marcus Thorne Bagala. The minute I heard the words “vampire” and “musical” in the same sentence, they had my attention. 
Continue reading Review of The Hunted: Encore–A Vampire Musical
Dorian Gray: The Musical, a NYMF Production
Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray took on new life this summer in a musical adaptation as part of the New York Musical Festival. NYMF is a three-week annual festival that seeks to shine the spotlight on new works, many of which go on to perform Off-Broadway, and some even make it to the Great White Way! Dorian Gray: The Musical began as a graduate thesis project for playwright Christopher Dayett, with music arranged by Kevin Mucchetti. Last week, the beta musical appeared in three showings at the Acorn Theater. Director Christen Mandracchia invited me to attend a performance and share my opinion on the show.
Continue reading Dorian Gray: The Musical, a NYMF Production