Beetlejuice review: jam-packed musical doesn't let a little thing like death stop it from putting on one hell of a show!
Published on 29 May 2026
We’ve been waiting a lifetime for Beetlejuice the Musical to knock three times on West End's door, and just when we thought all hopes of a transfer were dead and buried, it came bursting from the netherworld (Broadway) and into the Prince Edward Theatre. Sandworms snake around the theatre's walls, plinky plonky carnival music blares, green and purple lights shine over the audience, and the iconic ‘Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse’ flashes in front of the curtain. Now that the production is finally here, it doesn’t waste a second in delighting (and disgusting) its audience. It’s showtime long before the curtains go up.
Beetlejuice has had great success on the other side (of the pond), the 8x Tony Award nominated production started its (mortal) life in Washington before transferring to Broadway and then on to multiple US tours. The cult hit has been around for a while, but, unlike Mr Juice’s breath, the production is still fresh, with nods to current affairs and popular, modern, icons. The West End adaptation has also fully immersed itself in British culture. There are nods to Matilda and Paddington, with Andrew Lloyd Webber also getting a brief cameo - though not as favourable as the one in Jamie Lloyd's Sunset Boulevard…
This isn’t a live action frame by frame of the 1988 film (“We’re straying from the source material!” David Flynn’s Beetlejuice exclaims early-on), but it’s all the better for it. For one, this Beetlejuice is featured far more than Michael Keaton's exorcist (the titular character only has 17 minutes of screentime). Unfortunately for Lydia’s mum, she’s dead in this one (as is so eloquently put in Lydia’s (Hannah Nordberg) ‘Dead Mom’ song).
Though the script has changed slightly - dodgy wiring sends the Maitland’s (Waitress co-stars David Hunter and Chelsea Halfpenny are reunited in life (and death) as the doomed couple) into Beetlejuice’s realm, and Delia is now a life coach, not a sculptor - the show has kept all of the best moments from the film. We see the dead football team, a secretary who smokes through her trachea, Bob makes a brief appearance, and we get a longer rendition of the Banana Boat Song (Day-O) and Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora). You definitely won’t feel short changed.
Ironically for a show about death, this is bursting with life. Flynn is a whirlwind of chaotic energy as he addresses the audience, throws ukuleles into the orchestra pit and causes utter mayhem for 2 hours and 30 minutes. It feels unscripted and unhinged, and is dead good fun. Hannah Nordberg is a revelation as death-obsessed Lydia Deetz. Making her West End debut in the role, she is the beating heart of the piece, and delivers haunting ballads with more fire than the depths of hell.
Aimie Atkinson plays Deetz's live-in life coach, Delia. One of the stand-out performances in the musical, Atkinson really throws herself into the role (literally) and is almost as off-the-wall as the pinstriped exorcist himself. She’s wickedly funny and really indulges in the ‘Beetlejuice bedlam’.
Packed with magical practical effects, pyro, hilarious numbers (“Creepy Old Guy” was a particular favourite), and not to mention “a giant freakin’ sandworm”, Beetlejuice is a jam-packed musical that doesn’t let a little thing like death get in the way of putting on one hell of a show.
Beetlejuice plays at the Prince Edward Theatre until 17 April 2027.
