‘Beetlejuice’ Producer on the Show’s Broadway Closure and Fate of the Movie Musical (original) (raw)

After a whirlwind Broadway run, which involved getting handed a closing notice, seeing a ticket resurgence and then re-emerging at a different theater two years later, Beetlejuice is moving on to its afterlife.

The musical, based on the 1988 Warner Bros. Film, will close at Broadway’s Marriott Marquis Theatre on Jan. 8 after a nine-month run and then continue on its recently launched national tour, as well as upcoming international productions inBrazil and Japan. It’s one of many shows now contending with a different Broadway environment and one that has been testing out the changed waters for movie musicals.

The show has an unconventional Broadway trajectory: The musical began previews at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre in March 2019 and initially saw weeks of low grosses, until a creative Tony Awards performance served as a catalyst, alongside growing fan support and a robust TikTok presence, and helped lead the musical to break box office records. Still, Beetlejuice was later told it needed to leave the theater by June 2020 in order to make way for incoming tenant, The Music Man.

That run was curtailed by the closure of all Broadway theaters in March 2020, at which point the musical was still riding high with an $8 million advance. At the time, the producers — led by Mark Kaufman, executive vice president of Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, and Kevin McCormick of Langley Park Productions — had already been looking for its next Broadway home. The Marquis Theatre was offered at the end of 2021 (and importantly fit the musical’s large, technical set) and the show resumed performances at the new theater in April 2022.

This time around, its grosses appeared to be on fairly solid ground, but the show then saw a dip over the summer, which caused concern about how the musical would fare through the winter, according to Kaufman, amid other worries about tourism and high-running costs. This led the producers to announce the upcoming closure in October, in order to give the musical some runway and also play the high-grossing holiday weeks.

The show’s ending has not been without its own drama. Alex Brightman, who plays the title character, suffered a concussion after running into a piece of steel during the show’s Christmas Eve performance. He returns to the show Friday for the final three evening performances.

Though the environment is tougher, all of this does not mean movie musicals should be written off, according to Kaufman, who oversees Warner Bros. titles as well as a now expanded library including HBO titles, DC titles and more for potential theatrical adaptation. And the musical plans to keep reaching new audiences, through its national tour and stock and amateur licensed productions,while also in pursuit of reaching recoupment.

Kaufman spoke with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the closing performance about the show’s journey, the fate of its film capture and his outlook on movie musicals going forward.

How are you feeling as you approach the end of the show’s Broadway run?

Very proud. It’s a mixed bag, because obviously no one wants anything to ever end, but I feel like this has been an incredible journey. The show itself has defied a lot of odds. It’s opened doors. It has meant so many things to so many different people. You know, there’s a litany of feelings, but also we brought in a new audience to Broadway. People who had never seen a Broadway show were coming to see Beetlejuice.

Sixty-nine percent of our buyers from Telecharge were aged 19 to 54, the benchmark is usually 49 percent. And then 49 percent of these were [first-time buyers] for Telecharge, where the benchmark is usually 30 percent per show.

What made you confident that you could return to Broadway?

The fans. Our cast album has streamed over 1.6 billion streams and individual tracks 2.9 billion times. Very few cast albums take off. You have your Hamiltons, you have your Dear Evan Hansens. We reached 100 million streams in 20 weeks. Just for comparison, Hamilton reached that in 18 weeks and Evan Hansen in 37 weeks. So these were things showing us that people really liked our show and that there was an audience. The Netherlings [the name of the musical’s fans] had become ambassadors for us, and they were pushing us to come back. It felt like it didn’t have an ending. It didn’t feel like it ended properly.

When you reopened in April 2022, you had a few weeks of strong sales and then some tougher weeks over the summer months. What do you think contributed to that?

I think it’s a tougher environment. I think during the height of the summer, when our grosses were higher, we were relying on the tourists. We were relying on kids being out of school. We were a little surprised by the dip, because it came a little early for us. There’s always a [summer] dip on Broadway that everybody expects, but ours happened about one or two weeks too early, and it gave us pause, and we had to look ahead. There’s another dip that’s usual for Broadway that comes in January and February, and we were concerned that we were going to end up being in a place where we were going out with a whimper, and I needed to be fiscally responsible to both the studio and to our investors.

Was that ultimately the deciding factor, or did higher running costs play in?

The higher running costs were a factor. We only had to cancel one performance because of COVID. We did a lot of pushing and pulling to keep the show alive. But it’s an expensive show to run, and there were COVID costs. And again, we have to think about the whole process of the show. Nobody has a crystal ball about what’s going to happen in February. But it’s sad when you look at some of these shows that aren’t going to get the life they would’ve had, because of where we are in the world right now: still recovering from the pandemic.

How does that make you feel about the environment going forward for new musicals and movie-based musicals, in particular, since Almost Famous will close this Sunday as well?

It’s such a shame that did not see a bigger audience. The audience that would probably go see Beetlejuice would probably also go see Almost Famous, and that audience is what we’re concerned about. But I think, going forward, people are going to go to Broadway for things they feel confident in, like a movie title. I think people will still come to the theater, if it’s the right title.

What makes it the “right” title?

It’s funny. Movie musicals are tough, because on the one hand, if it’s too big a title, then you’re fighting with the movie. So then, let’s find a cult movie, like a Hairspray or a Kinky Boots or a Waitress. But then, is it big enough title to get people in? So it’s a fine line you have to walk here. But ultimately, I feel like these titles do give people a bit of comfort that if they’re going to come in — and brave the subway and brave the trains; wear masks, not wear masks — and be around people and feel confident in theater, that a movie title gives them a little more feeling of comfort food and that they’re going to get their money’s worth. It’s worth coming in to see it and to brave all these things. And I think a lot of people are feeling more comfortable.

Before the theatrical shutdown, you had plans to do a film capture of the musical. Did anything come of that?

We had planned to do it in April [2020]. And a lot of things happened. During the pandemic, a lot of these video captures came out, some successful, some not as successful. I think it’s a very expensive venture, and I think at this moment in time, it wasn’t the right idea for us to focus on it.

Can you talk about any other projects you have coming up?

We’ve sort of pivoted a little bit, during the pandemic, focusing on bigger titles, because of exactly what I just said to you earlier. I do think there is a comfort food sort of dynamic to some of these titles, and I’m very excited about a couple of them. It’s not just musicals, there are plays in there as well. So it’s a nice mix.

Interview edited for clarity.