Beetlejuice: Musical synopsis

Beetlejuice Synopsis - Broadway musical

Beetlejuice is a musical with music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect and a book by Scott Brown and Anthony King. It is based on the 1988 film of the same name. The story concerns a deceased couple who try to haunt the new inhabitants of their former home and call for help from a devious bio-exorcist ghost named Betelgeuse (pronounced "Beetlejuice"), who is summoned by saying his name three times. One of the new inhabitants is a young girl, Lydia, who is dealing with her mother's death and her neglectful father.

Synopsis: Beetlejuice the Musical.

A gothic, hyperactive ghost story collides with campy comedy in Beetlejuice the Musical, based on Tim Burton’s 1988 cult classic. This Broadway adaptation cranks the absurdity to eleven—spirits, sandworms, and all—while exploring death, family, and finding your voice in the chaos.

The Afterlife Unleashed.

Meet Lydia Deetz. Seventeen. Morbidly poetic. Spiritually disenchanted. She’s lost her mother and is stuck with her clueless dad and his preening girlfriend in a dusty house where no one listens. But things get unhinged when she discovers a pair of recently deceased ghosts, the Maitlands, haunting the place. They want the Deetzes out. Enter Beetlejuice. Not subtle. Not polite. Loud, raunchy, and obsessed with chaos. A “bio-exorcist” ghost who feeds on fear and attention, Beetlejuice offers to help scare the Deetzes away. But he needs Lydia’s help to make himself visible—and stay in the world of the living.

A Deal With the Devil… Sort Of.

Lydia agrees to help him, hoping she’ll get a chance to speak to her mother beyond the grave. But Beetlejuice’s plan spirals wildly out of control. He hijacks a dinner party with a possessed calypso number. He raises the dead. He even tricks Lydia into marrying him in a wild wedding sequence that unravels into utter madness. But Lydia grows bolder. She reclaims her voice, her grief, her home. In the end, the living and the dead must work together to banish Beetlejuice and bring balance back. Lydia learns that the people who love you—even if they're ghosts—can help you move forward.

Key Themes.

• Grief and healing: Lydia’s journey is driven by mourning and the longing for connection.
• Identity and acceptance: Every character battles their identity—alive or dead—seeking purpose.
• Absurdity and chaos: Beetlejuice’s world is anarchic, hilarious, and bursting with theatricality.

Last Update:October, 17th 2025