A Dancer Will Play Lydia in the "Beetlejuice" Musical
It’s showtime, folks! On Thursday,
the first two principal
cast members were announced for th
is fall’s pre-Broadway
engagement at the National Theatre in Washington, DC, before the show transfers to Broadway next year.
School of Rock‘s Alex Brightman will play the (deliciously wacky) title role. But—drum roll, please—Sophia Anne Caruso will play Lydia Deetz, the death-obsessed teen originally brought to life (*evil laughter*) by Winona Ryder!
If you’re a longtime DS reader, you’ll recall that we featured Sophia in the May/June 2014 issue as a rising triple threat who “You Should Know.” The then-12-year-old Sophia was already headed for a seriously impressive resumé. She’d just finished playing Brigitta Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music Live!,” and would later that year portray the little sister of Tiler Peck’s Marie Van Goethem in Susan Stroman’s musical Little Dancer. Now Sophia is poised for her first starring role in a Broadway musical—and she hasn’t even turned 18 yet!
Here’s what audiences are in for, according to the press release: “Beetlejuice tells the story of Lydia Deetz, a strange and unusual teenager obsessed with the whole “being dead thing.” Lucky for Lydia, her new house is haunted by a recently deceased couple and a degenerate demon who happens to have a thing for stripes. When Lydia calls on this ghost-with-the-most to scare away her insufferable parents, Beetlejuice comes up with the perfect plan, which involves exorcism, arranged marriages and an adorable girl scout who gets scared out of her wits.”
We’re maybe most excited to see how the Broadway version of Lydia might move, especially because the show’s choreographer is the innovative Connor Gallagher, who won an Astaire Award in 2016 for his work on the Western musical comedy The Robber Bridegroom. You can buy tickets now for the show’s DC engagement October 14 through November 18. If you need us until then, we’ll be trying to imagine how Sophia might interpret these ghoulishly goofy grooves.
