San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
ALEX BRIGHTMAN FINALLY LAYS ‘BEETLEJUICE’ TO REST
Broadway actor, who has played the demon off and on for nearly four years, gets two-minute midshow standing ovation on closing night
As Alex Brightman disappeared through the doorway to the Netherworld one last time at the Marquis Theatre last Sunday night, his black-andwhite-striped Beetlejuice suit enveloped by a cloud of smoke, he uttered a few special parting words:
“Goooodbye, Broadway!”
And he meant it. “I’m very aware that it really could be the last time I am on Broadway,” said Brightman, 35, who for parts of the past four years has played the ghostly guide to the other side in “Beetlejuice,” the Broadway musical based on the 1988 Tim Burton film about a face-off between a Goth girl and a devious demon. “So it’s a humbling experience to be up there and to be able to share and be vulnerable.”
The show’s final performance was Jan. 8.
Brightman’s farewell wasn’t quite the one he had anticipated. At a Christmas Eve performance, Brightman slammed into the show’s giant sandworm backstage at a full sprint, leaving him with a concussion.
“I thought I wasn’t going to recover,” said Brightman.
But things improved and he got the all-clear to return for the show’s final three evening performances.
The 1,602 audience members at the sold-out final performance, many of whom sported black-andwhite-striped suits and green wigs, showered Brightman with appreciation. His first entrance on closing night earned him two minutes of applause and a standing ovation.
“I’ve never had that happen before,” said Brightman, who has been in six Broadway shows, earning Tony Award nominations for his role in “Beetlejuice” and as Dewey Finn in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical adaptation of “School of Rock.”
After the final performance, Brightman reflected on parting ways with the ghost with the most. Here are excerpts from that conversation.
Q:
You first read the part in 2017. How are you feeling after tonight’s performance?
A:
Exhausted. It was very cathartic. I’m thrilled I got to close it after six years.
Q:
What has it been like starring in a show with such a devoted fan base?
A:
It never, ever gets old. The “Beetlejuice” fans are the warmest fans that I’ve ever encountered in the six Broadway shows I’ve done. It’s a lot of me in there, so for 1,500 people to accept my character in the show and my style of absurdity and comedy and improv is extremely cathartic and emotional.
Q:
What is it like to spend so long with the same character?
A:
The last thing I want to do is be bored with anything I do, and anything this long has that danger, but this part allows me to discover new things not every night, but every minute. I have the ability to be a bit topical, a bit loose — it doesn’t feel like I’m on a track. That’s made it easy to do for six years.
Q:
What did your first attempts at the Beetlejuice voice sound like?
A:
At my first audition, I was like, “I don’t know how to do a Michael Keaton impression, so let me just try something.” And it went fine, but I paid for it for two days. My voice was on fire.
Q:
How do you do it now for eight shows a week without damaging your vocal cords?
A:
It’s called ventricular fold phonation, and it means you vibrate the cartilage in your throat alongside your vocal cords. I was able to figure out through trial and error that it’s the same muscles I use to clear my throat ... vocal cords get tired. Cartilage doesn’t get tired.
Q:
What’s next for you?
A:
I sold a cartoon series to Warner Bros., “Cleaners,” which is a raunchy, slightly musical comedy about a crew from Boston that does biohazard cleanups: crime scenes, meth labs, hoarders. And I wrote a play called “Everything Is Fine,” about the one-year aftermath of a mall shooting from the perspective of the family of the perpetrator, who is no longer with us. Cynthia Nixon directed a number of the readings, and we’re hoping to continue getting that somewhere in New York. And I’m working on a musical with Universal Theatrical with my writing partner, which is an adaptation of the film “It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” about a kid who checks himself into a psychiatric ward.
Q:
So, a lot of writing.
A:
I’ve been onstage for 15 years now, kind of consistently, and I’m a little Broadway-ed and musicaled out, which I know is a very privileged thing to say. But what comes with doing this is scrutiny. People look at you and judge you every night. I want to do my own thing for a second, to just let my work speak for itself and not have to defend it with a musical number.