Not to butt in, but -- sorry --- butting in, because it's more than theory. I'm gonna repeat myself a bit here, so apologies to those who've heard this before.
This whole thing with the musical gets up my nose so hard I can't be quiet.
Background: I'm a professional writer and playwright who once worked with a Huge-Ass Musical Theater Producer (Les Miz, Miss Saigon, etc.) on a project, and I know a lot of actors, directors, and techies who regularly work on Broadway and the West End. None of them worked on the BJ musical, but they worked beside it, knew the cast, knew what was going on, etc., because Thea-Tah is fucking incestuous.
2018 was Beetlejuice's 30th anniversary. Warner Brothers wanted a huge celebration, but it seemed Tim Burton was never going to make a sequel. What to do?
Back when the BJ musical was in workshop -- y'know, when Abed was going to play Adam (look it up)
OK, fuck it, here's what I mean (yes, Danny Pudi can sing):
-- a Broadway friend leaked me a copy of the script because he knew I was a Beetlebabe. The script was such shit, having nothing to do with the movie, that I thought he was pranking me.
When the show moved to the Winter Garden in D.C. he sent me the newest version of the script. I was fucking livid.
Fact: Gay men dominate Broadway and the theater world in general. And a lot of gay men are fucking misogynists. Do not even get me started. I've walked into rehearsals (I'm a writer) and heard, "Do you smell fish?" more times than I can count.
The musical's creators intentionally wanted to kill off Beetlebabes. They hated it. They hated Beej's horndog heterosexuality. They hated that women are the biggest fandom for the original movie, far out-numbering males. They wanted a Beetlejuice for Broadway, their Broadway. So they made him gay. He's not bisexual; he's gay. He moves gay, he speaks gay. He is everything movie Beetlejuice and Michael Keaton are not.
If this had not been the case, the musical would have merely been a direct adaptation of the 1988 film, the way many other movies have been adapted to the stage (Back to the Future didn't make Michael J. Fox's character gay.). Everything would have been the same as the original Beetlejuice, except with songs. This is not what the musical's creators did, because they didn't want to please all those ugh females who are hot for Beej.
From the beginning Alex Brightman acted as if HE had created the character. Even so, in Playbill he knew enough to nod his head to Michael Keaton.
"I think he'll be excited to see the thing we've done without having compromised anything he did or anyone did in that movie." What absolute bullshit. Not compromised? Musical Beej is nothing like Keaton's Beej.
On Late Night with Seth Myers Brightman literally begged Keaton to see the show. Michael Keaton refused. He won't even talk about it.
At this time, there was a rise in pandering to LGBTQ+ because young people were into it (mostly Spicy Straight kids who wanted to be noticed). Warner Brothers wanted to attract them and their $$$. They thought making Beej gay would do it. And it did . . . for Theater Kids.
Not for anyone else who loves Beetlejuice.
Brighton wanted a cartoon reboot with him voicing Beej. He wanted it baaaaaaad. His goal was to be Beetlejuice for the next generation. He could taste it.
And that's when Tim Burton approached Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and asked, "You guys want to write Beetlejuice Beetlejuice?"
Burton told Warner Brothers, and Warner Brothers told him:
And abandoned the cartoon reboot idea, instead putting out a brand new digitally remastered DVD set of Beetlejuice the Animated Series.
TLDR; gay men wanted gay Juice because misogyny and $$$.
prguitarman
origamiaround
vaporwave
blakekathryn
2087
baratheonpilled
snowghoul
dededos
areudirty
