Beetlejuice Jr: A Hilarious Guide to the Other Side
Sunday afternoon and we’re cruising down Industrial Boulevard to JaDuke. I invited my friend to this show and she sent a message. “It’s a kids’ show, you know,” she reminded me. But when this show’s cast raised their hands celebrating the last performance, it didn’t feel like a kid’s show. They were too talented for that.
Beetlejuice Jr takes a deep, DEEP dive into a topic that most 16-year-olds aren’t thinking about: Death. But they have so much fun going back and forth through the Netherworld, none of it creeped me out.
Kudos go to young star Anthony McNamara, who wore the striped suit and white face of Mr Lawrence Beetlejuice with aplomb. He radiated confidence and brashness when he took the stage. I had not seen the movie with Michael Keaton so this was my first meeting with this ‘guy from the other side.’ I liked him! He’s the ‘ghost with the most,’ and all he wants is for someone to say his name three times and turn him back to the living side. It’s complicated.
Anthony is 16 and has been performing with JaDuke Center of the Performing Arts since he was nine. He has performed various roles such as Simba, (Lion King Jr), Jem (To Kill a Mockingbird) Wonka (Willy Wonka), Marius (Les Miserables) at his local High School, Northfield Mount Hermon. He clearly is following his path and I expect to see more of this guy.
Another standout singer was Whitney Williams, as Lydia. This little dynamo belted out the tunes wearing the goth black and Doc Martens, she drove the story with the plot angle of finding her dead mom in the Netherworld. Her singing was excellent and she also showed the confidence of a star.
Whitney is 13, she’s been training at JaDuke Center for the Performing Arts since she was two! Some of her past performances include: Janis (Mean Girls Jr.), Rafiki (Lion King Jr), James (School of Rock), and many more. Like the rest of the cast her dancing showed a lot of her regular training, the cast was quick on their feet and lively.
One tiny quibble with the set: It was placed far, far back from the audience. So the actors had to walk between the set and front of stage. They did need room for the dancing but it was strange watching the actors so far back.
I liked the way David Galbraith and Nick Waynelovich imagined the Netherworld and the use of the side stage as a completely different scene. The recorded music, too, was precisely timed with the singers.
The show is a 60-minute adaptation of the original Beetlejuice, which in 2024 saw a sequel, ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ with the same original cast including Keaton and Winona Rider as Lydia.
Starrli Bell does a funny turn as the hilarious flakey pseudo-life coach dispensing wisdom like, “Success… it starts with sucks and ends with yes—SUCCESS!”
Another shout-out here is for the costumes, especially when Beetlejuice calls out for “more death,” and we get 20 kids wearing the same crazy striped suit!
Beetlejuice Jr. At the Ja Duke Performing Arts Center, Turners Falls, April 13, 2025. Directed by Kim Williams, and choreographers Eula Sagan, and Taylor LaValley.