If you tell Alex Brightman, the star of Beetlejuice on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theater that he was born to play this exuberant, over-the-top part, he says, Oh sure! I was born to play this dead, Jewish, crazed, demon from the Netherworld! As if to say mockingly, that’s no compliment! When, in fact, it is! Brightman brings the fast-talking giddy mania that he played so well in School of Rock, as if it had been a dress rehearsal for Beetlejuice, adding of course the black & white Escher-like optics. For the opening preview this week, fans of all ages mobbed B-way and 50^th street, dressing up for the occasion. The composer of the historic “Day-O,” Irving Burgie, wouldn’t miss it. At 94, he exuded, “The song always turns them out.”

Wait till you see how they spin it in this version, with a sensational Leslie Kritzer. Alex Timbers has transformed the story, taking the movie’s original tropes: the accidental death of a young couple, the haunted house, but emphasizing the teen angst of the young Lydia (Sophia Anne Caruso) and her soulful search for her dead mother. Producer Mark Kaufman said that they’d been adding scenes since its development in Washington, so the work is evolving, but what’s there seemed to please everyone in the 1500 seat house. The buzz will surely grow.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura