Beetlejuice (Touring)

Beetlejuice follows Lydia Deetz, a grieving teenager who moves into a haunted house and strikes a risky deal with a wisecracking demon to help its ghostly former owners. It is a gleefully morbid musical comedy about death, family and finding somewhere to belong.

Still reeling from the loss of her mother and ignored by her distracted father, Lydia arrives at a country house already occupied by Adam and Barbara Maitland, a mild-mannered couple who have only just discovered they are dead. Hopeless at haunting, the Maitlands turn for help to Beetlejuice, a manic, fourth-wall-smashing spirit who wants one thing above all: to be seen by the living. Lydia can see all of them, and that makes her the key to his plan.

The show adapts Tim Burton's cult film comedy, with a book by Scott Brown and Anthony King and music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect. The writers widened the story around Lydia, giving her grief a central place alongside the anarchic comedy. The musical received eight Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, Best Book and Best Original Score, and built a devoted, enthusiastic fan following.

The tone swings between rude, rapid-fire gags and moments of real tenderness. Songs such as "Dead Mom" and "Say My Name" carry Lydia's longing and Beetlejuice's showboating, while sandworms, possessed dinner guests and an afterlife waiting room fill the stage with macabre spectacle. Beneath the jokes sits a sincere story about a family learning to live with loss.

It suits fans of the film, lovers of dark comedy and anyone who enjoys a musical that refuses to behave. Beetlejuice thrives on direct address and audience energy, so the chaos feels sharper and funnier in a packed room.