The Beetlejuice Retrospective

As of recently ( on other sites at least..soon to be this one too.), I’ve been absolutely enthralled with Beetlejuice— and it got me thinking about my history with it, and similar media. When I was a kid, I grew up around fairly religious and pretty strict family, family that wasn’t fond of media that acknowledged death or dark subjects. I particularly remember my father getting quite upset and referring to me and my interests as “demented” and “demonic” numerous times, regardless of how silly or cartoonish the media turned out to be. I remember him getting quite upset when ‘9’ was released, because I wanted to see it, he was absolutely convinced that I would grow up to be some sort of demon worshipper. Which is hilarious to me being as though he masqueraded as being against the church we were originally apart of, yet was concerned about a cartoon movie turning a child into what he believed was a satanist. As if there’s anything wrong with these different religious sects anyway.

Regardless, this leads back to Beetlejuice, as you can imagine how unhappy these same family members were once I hit my pre-teen years and became obsessed with what can only be called “Hot Topic Fodder”. My mother was always surprisingly supportive through it all, but my other family to this day routinely seems a bit shocked when it comes to the things that I like. I never got the chance to watch the cartoon in full when I was a child, and I was stopped from watching the movie about halfway through- which I finally watched after over 10 years a few days ago. I could definitely see why the film would have made my father and other family members so upset, but I couldn’t help but have a laugh over it.

These days I’ve taken an immense shine to the musical, which a few of you have already seen of course…but alongside that I plan on fully rewatching the cartoon…I’d really like to write at length about it, especially after seeing the way a few friends of mine ( Kewpie!! Mei!! ) talk about media. It really is so inspiring to see someone talk at length about their interests and the things that they love with such vigor. I really do adore reading longform content about…anything. I just love taking in information about things that people love, even if I have little to no experience with what they enjoy myself.

Anyway, I think that’s it for now…I’m trying to figure out how I want to format and tag my BJ Toon posts, but I suppose I’ll figure that one out when I get to it. I’ll be headed to work soon, so maybe I’ll do a little cartoon watchin’ while I’m there.

Murmuring about the Musical

 I know most of you have seen me blabbing at length about the Beetlejuice musical, namely the version of it that's currently on tour for some time now- but I don't think I've really spoken at length about it much? Not so far at least. I of course adored the show when it was still on Broadway, and I lovvvve Alex Brightman's version of the character, but I have gained such an immense fondness of Collette's version of the character-- that I simply must yell about it!! I have to!! Mostly because it's so rare that I see discussions of him online much...maybe I'm looking in the wrong places? Who knows! Regardless...Let me flap my gums about him a bit because he is so dear to me.

I first became aware of him through his time in School of Rock of course, he made a very cute Dewey Finn, and I loved the energy he brought to the show...he is always so chaotic. Which is what I love about him in the tour version of Beetlejuice! I remember the first time I came across a clip of him in it...Namely yelling at Adam Maitland's crotch during the little meltdown scene after "Fright of Their Lives". That's when I realized: Oh this guy just kinda takes the character and runs with it. From reports of him apparently bursting out into barking and snarling, to completely changing lines in songs...such an improv king is surely after my heart because WHAT??? HUH???

From different reports from shows and videos I've seen he really does seem to do as he pleases to try to get a laugh out of the audience, and it comes across as so charming I just adore seeing him onstage. It helps that he always looks like he's having a ton of fun, and I truly hope he is! I hope the tour stays on for as long as it can, as I really want to see him onstage as The Juice for as long as possible! I see the show in a couple weeks, and I'm really hoping I'll get to talk to him for a moment if he decides to stage door, just to let him know how much I've really enjoyed seeing him onstage as BJ, and how much I'm looking forward to following the rest of his tenancy in the show! I also want to...maybe...give him a drawing that I'd done for him but...We'll see if I'm even gutsy enough to do that.

Anyway that's all from me for now.