Ready, Set, Not Yet Lyrics - Beetlejuice

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

1. Act 1 character duet-plus-interjections that frames Adam and Barbara Maitland as careful, anxious would-be parents in their pre-haunting life.
2. Music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect; performed on the album by Rob McClure, Kerry Butler, with Alex Brightman’s onstage interruptions as the title ghoul.
3. First released digitally June 7, 2019 on Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight as part of the Original Broadway Cast Recording.
4. Snappy patter, bright groove, and a comic cutaway that tees up the accident that ends the couple’s living chapter.
5. The track later feeds a brief reprise that punches the show’s running gag about hesitation.

Creation History

Eddie Perfect wrote the score for Beetlejuice, which opened on Broadway in spring 2019. Ghostlight Records announced and recorded the cast album in May, rolling it out digitally in early June with physical formats following in the fall. The recording preserves the original company’s crisp delivery and the show’s brisk comic rhythm. According to Playbill’s release notes, the album was available to stream by May 31, 2019, with store listings pegging the full digital release to June 7, 2019.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

We meet the Maitlands mid-project bliss. Adam restores a vintage crib; Barbara unveils pottery. Both are channeling parental energy into safe, breakable stand-ins. They sing themselves toward a decision to try for a child, then balk at the brink. As they debate and deflect, Betelgeuse breaks the fourth wall and, seconds later, the house breaks beneath them. Curtain drop. Lives change.

Song Meaning

The number is a portrait of deferral. Perfectionism stands in for courage, hobbies stand in for family, and a tidy house stands in for a messy life. The music floats between upbeat theatre-pop and patter, mirroring the way their optimism keeps dodging hard truths. The joke lands because the audience already knows the punchline: time will make the choice for them.

Annotations

"Look at this crib - In all of its glorious antiquary"

The crib is a proxy baby. The lyric seeds the twin themes: would-be parenthood and middle-class restoration hobbies. It signals that Adam’s care has drifted from people to objects (Annotation #1).

"Saying pamper and spoil me - Sand me and oil me"

Parental verbs recast as maintenance verbs. He is fathering furniture, which tells on him more than he intends (Annotation #2).

"I know to the untrained eye it’s boring"

They are called dull more than once in the show, and the line joins the running bit that their hobbies are comfort blankets, not passions (Annotation #3).

"Apart from frustration, pain, and financial drain - It’s fun!"

Cheery denial as coping. The couple sells themselves on the diversion rather than naming the fear underneath it (Annotation #4).

"Why do you polish your crib when you don’t have a kid?"

Even the imaginary chorus in Adam’s head notices the substitution. Barbara mirrors the same pattern moments later (Annotations #5 and #8).

"Here we stand - At the end of a ten year plan"

They tick the boxes - house, yard, minivan - then freeze at the cliff edge. The plan forgot to account for feeling, or for fate (Annotation #12).

"Together let’s leap off the cliff - Fall forever, then smash to bits"

Dark little wink at the film’s car plunge. The musical keeps that fatalism, just routes it through a different staging gag (Annotations #13 and #26).

"We should learn Mandarin... Or Spanish at least"

Another stall. Even their joke Spanish underlines tourist-level prep in place of a real next step (Annotations #21 and #22).

"Soon enough, our hopes and our dreams will be crushed"

Dramatic irony doing push-ups. The audience already knows what is coming, and the number cashes that check a few bars later (Annotations #16 and #27).

Style, meter, and engine

It moves with a bright, lightly syncopated march that favors quick diction and clean subdivisions. Fans often point to a sly metric hiccup on the word “seventy-eight” - a little composerly wink that mirrors the couple’s stutter step. Woodwinds and rhythm keep the pep; Betelgeuse’s interjections break the fourth wall and the flow. The emotional arc goes from tidy domestic pride to high-speed denial to a literal drop.

Key Facts

• Artist: Rob McClure, Kerry Butler, Alex Brightman, Kurt Deutsch, Eddie Perfect
• Featured: The Original Broadway Cast of Beetlejuice
• Composer & Lyricist: Eddie Perfect
• Producers: Kurt Deutsch, Eddie Perfect, Alex Timbers, Matt Stine
• Release Date: June 7, 2019
• Genre: Musicals, Broadway, Pop theatre
• Instruments: Rhythm section, brass, woodwinds, strings, small chorus
• Label: Sh-K-Boom Records / Ghostlight Records
• Mood: Buoyant, anxious, domestic-comic
• Length: approx. 3:42
• Track #: 3 on the Original Broadway Cast Recording
• Language: English
• Album: Beetlejuice (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Music style: Show-tune patter with pop bounce
• Poetic meter: Conversational rhymes with patter spurts

Canonical Entities & Relations

Questions and Answers

Where does the song sit in Act 1?

It is track 3 on the album and arrives right after the opening number, sketching the Maitlands before the fall.

What problem does it dramatize?

Fear of starting a family. The couple’s need for control manifests as home projects and tasteful objects.

Why the sudden Betelgeuse interjections?

He is the meta-narrator. His pop-ins puncture their bubble and shove the plot toward the accident.

Is there a reprise?

Yes. A short reprise echoes the joke about hesitating, underscoring the show’s theme of doing the scary thing anyway.

Any language versions?

Brazil’s staging used a Portuguese take, popularly circulated as “Sim ou Nao,” aligned with this duet’s spot in the story.

Album context worth knowing?

The cast recording was part of a breakout streaming year for the show and later arrived on picture-disc vinyl.

What makes the writing click?

Domestic specifics, patter that scans like a to-do list, and a clean gearshift from comic fuss to physical danger.

Awards and Chart Positions

Production accolades: The Broadway production earned multiple Tony Award nominations in 2019. While the individual track did not chart as a single, the cast recording surged in streaming and later saw deluxe vinyl issues. Playbill also counted the album among the most streamed cast recordings of 2019.

How to Sing Ready Set, Not Yet

At a glance: Published and fan-transcribed charts put the track in a bright mid-to-fast feel around 146-148 BPM, typically notated in a G-major center. It is patter-forward with quick cutoffs and a clean duet weave.

1. Tempo & count-in: Set a steady internal subdivision so patter lines lock without rushing. Conductor should cue every sectional entrance.
2. Key & tessitura: G-major center for common charts. Expect mid-voice writing for both parts with brief spikes on joke buttons.
3. Diction: Prioritize clarity on the household list-lyrics. Keep “Ready, set” pickups light so the punchline “Not yet” lands dry.
4. Breath plan: Map silent sniffs before the longer patter chains. Maintain legato through the joke Spanish to avoid chopping the line.
5. Rhythm & meter: Keep the groove buoyant. There is a playful metric hiccup around “seventy-eight” that benefits from a conductor cue and ensemble awareness.
6. Blend & balance