EAST LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — It’s showtime, East Lansing.
Tuesday night, Beetlejuice The Musical will be playing at the Wharton Center.
The new musical is coming to mid-Michigan and hoping to bring a few laughs while telling a story about family, love and making the most of every day.
Britney Coleman, a Michigan native and actor who plays character Barbara Maitland, said it is going to be a lot of fun.
She said she brings the same energy every night, even with her character becoming ‘recently deceased’ very early on in the show.
“Yeah it’s been a lot of fun,” Coleman said. “In the movie, Barbara is played by Geena Davis, so it’s really fun to step into those shoes. It’s just a blast,” Coleman said.
There is a twist in this particular production, as Coleman said the way her character dies is not how it’s seen in the movie or on Broadway.
In the movie, the character Coleman plays dies by driving off of a bridge, and in the Broadway version they fall through a creaky floorboard through the house.
She said they don’t have a hole in the floor available to them on tour, so the writer actually changed the scene.
”The lyrics are different, the script is different from the Broadway show,” Coleman said.
Coleman said that each performance and new city keeps her fresh and on her toes, so she hasn’t had a chance to settle in just yet, especially since the musical itself keeps evolving.
”We have various levels of improv in the show, so a lot of the stuff that I was doing in December of last year has slightly changed. Different jokes, different references for each city,” she said.
Another special addition to the tour is the fan support, as Coleman said a lot of fans coming to the show are dressing up for the occasion, and she’s seen a lot of repeat audience members that have followed them around since the beginning.
