Ready Set, Not Yet (reprise) Lyrics
Barbara and AdamReady Set, Not Yet (reprise)
[BARBARA, spoken:]That needy pervert was right
If we want our house back, we have to fight for it
[ADAM, spoken:]
Well, how?
No one can see us!
[BARBARA, spoken:]
We're ghosts, damn it!
Let's...
Haunt this bitch!
[ADAM, spoken:]
Barbara!
[BARBARA, sung:]
Oblivion calls
So we might as well walk through some walls
I'm sure we can haunt our own halls
'Cause Adam we're ready as we'll ever get
[ADAM:]
If we wanna win back our home
I gotta get right outside my comfort zone
[BARBARA:]
We'll rattle chains and
I don't know
Just wail and moan until they go
Are you willing to take the next step?
[ADAM:]
Yes!
Ready, set
[BARBARA:]
Ready, set
[BOTH:]
Ready, set, let's...
[*ghost noises*]
Song Overview
A quick pivot from panic to purpose, “Ready, Set (Reprise)” is the Maitlands’ first real bite at haunting. It’s a comic snap-back to their Act I duet - shorter, nervier, and finally decisive. The track plays like a springboard: Barbara flips the switch, Adam finds a backbone, and the show sprints into “No Reason.”
Review and Highlights
Quick summary
- Mini-reprise for Barbara and Adam that tees up the attic haunting.
- Music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect; recorded by Rob McClure and Kerry Butler.
- Appears as Track 7 on the 2019 Original Broadway Cast Recording.
- Digital release landed June 7, 2019, with later physical editions.
- Runs under a minute - more scene-fuel than standalone ballad.
The band punches in with a brisk, cartoony stomp - light snare, quick winds, just enough low brass to sell bravado. Butler’s Barbara leads with a new edge, flipping from polite to feral and back, while McClure’s Adam finds the courage to say “yes.” Structurally, it’s a three-beat chant - ready, set, let’s - that cuts out on a gag and hurls you into the next cue. According to the official album rollout, sequencing keeps the reprise glued to “No Reason,” exactly how it plays in the theatre.
Creation History
Eddie Perfect threads this reprise as a character checkpoint: same melodic DNA as “Ready, Set, Not Yet,” very different posture. The album session captured the show’s modular pacing - micro-songs that function like edits. Press materials flagged the digital drop first, with vinyl and CD following after the show found its audience.
Song Meaning and Annotations
Plot
Fresh off Beetlejuice’s awful advice, the Maitlands decide to own their afterlife. Barbara sets the tone, Adam signs on, and their “ghost noises” button the scene. Smash-cut: the plan begins.
Song Meaning
It’s a confidence install. The joke is that they still have no idea how to haunt, but the choice has been made. In a show obsessed with permission, this is the moment they give it to themselves.
Annotations
“That needy pervert was right”
Barbara reframes the problem with gallows wit. It marks her shift from apologetic to assertive.
“We’re ghosts, damn it! Let’s haunt this bitch!”
Language as transformation: the formerly careful Barbara drops the training wheels and grabs the wheel.
“’Cause Adam, we’re ready as we’ll ever get”
Callback to their earlier duet - now with teeth. The reprise title becomes an action cue, not an excuse.
“Ready, set— Ready, set— Ready, set, let’s—”
The cutoff gag holds the laugh and rockets the story forward. It’s a comedy edit you can hear.
Style and craft
Patter-sketch over a pep-march groove. Emotional arc: disgust - decision - do it. Little tune, big shove.
Key Facts
- Artist: Rob McClure, Kerry Butler, Kurt Deutsch, Alex Timbers
- Composer & Lyricist: Eddie Perfect
- Producer team (album): Kurt Deutsch, Alex Timbers, Eddie Perfect, Matt Stine
- Release Date: June 7, 2019
- Genre: Broadway - Pop comedy
- Instruments: Rhythm section, woodwinds, brass; tight ensemble interjections
- Label: Ghostlight Records with Warner Records
- Mood: cheeky, urgent, can-do
- Length: about 0:58
- Track #: 7
- Language: English
- Album: Beetlejuice (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
- Music style: reprise patter into comic button
- Poetic meter: mixed accentual lines with clipped cadences
Canonical Entities & Relations
- Eddie Perfect - wrote music and lyrics for the show.
- Rob McClure - performs Adam Maitland on the cast album.
- Kerry Butler - performs Barbara Maitland on the cast album.
- Ghostlight Records & Warner Records - issued the recording in multiple formats.
- Winter Garden Theatre - original Broadway home referenced in the production’s venue gags.
Questions and Answers
- Why reprise “Ready, Set, Not Yet” here?
- To show growth fast. Same musical chassis, opposite engine: hesitation becomes commitment.
- Does it work outside the album flow?
- It’s built as connective tissue, but the character jolt lands even on its own.
- What flips Barbara’s tone?
- She finally names what she wants - her house back - and the language follows suit.
- Why cut off the phrase “Ready, set, let’s—”?
- Comic propulsion. The missing “go” becomes the next track.
- Is this the moment Adam stops stalling?
- Yes. His “Yes!” is the cleanest beat he gets until later breakthroughs.
- How does the orchestration help?
- Short hits, quick rests, no fat. The arrangement leaves room for punchlines.
- Where does it sit in the show order?
- Track 7, leading directly into “No Reason” on the cast album - the attic plan rolls out.
Awards and Chart Positions
Show-level notes: the Broadway production earned multiple Tony Award nominations in 2019 (including Best Musical and Best Actor), and design wins on the critics’ circuit helped spotlight the album. Format expansions followed - CD in summer 2019 and picture-disc vinyl that November.
Sources: Ghostlight Records; Warner Records; BroadwayWorld; TheaterMania; Rolling Stone; Apple Music; Spotify.