NewsThe Beetlejuice Musical Finds Its Writing TeamA staged reading will take place in May.
By
Ryan McPhee
March 29, 2017
Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder
Tribeca Film Festival
The creative team is now set for the musical adaptation of Beetlejuice, which is currently in development through Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures.
According to an Actors’ Equity casting notice for an upcoming staged reading, the musical will feature a score by Australian comedian Eddie Perfect and a book by writing team Scott Brown and Anthony King. As previously reported, Alex Timbers is attached as director.
The casting notice is seeking talent for two available roles: the title bio-exorcist, described as “the life of the party and the deadest guy in the room,” and Lydia Deetz—the gloomy daughter of the family that moves into a home inhabited by the ghosts of its previous tenants—who must have a “great rock belt/mix voice.” A previous reading starred three-time Tony Award nominee Christopher Fitzgerald as Beetlejuice.
The reading, featuring music direction by Kris Kukul (Joan of Arc: Into the Fire), will take place in May.
Perfect is most known on the Australian small screen for his role as Mick Holland on Offspring. His solo shows, which combine satire and musical comedy, include Misanthropology, Songs from the Middle, and Shane Warne: The Musical. Brown and King previously collaborated on Off-Broadway’s Gutenberg! The Musical!
Warner Bros. is currently represented on Broadway with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which opens officially at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre April 23. The group also has stage adaptations planned for the films Night Shift and Dog Day Afternoon.
A spokesperson for Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures declined to comment at this time.
