Beetlejuice Dishes on Improv and the Necessity of Caffeine

A chat with Justin Collette, the man who will play the title character during upcoming performances of "Beetlejuice" at Bass Hall.

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Like many slices of brilliant intellectual property, “Beetlejuice,” the 1988 Tim Burton-directed film starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara, was reimagined as a musical that opened on Broadway in 2019.

The film, for those few who have yet to see it, follows a recently deceased couple navigating their new-found roles as ghosts and are suddenly forced to deal with an ostentatious family, and their goth-loving daughter, that recently moved into their home. As the insufferable family makes gaudy home remodeling decisions, the couple are unable to scare them away and resort to hiring the shady Beetlejuice, a self-described bio-exorcist, to do the deed.

If the plot sounds, well, crazy, you’re not alone. One of the film’s screenwriters, Larry Wilson, recalls a Hollywood exec, upon reading the script, telling him, “This piece of weirdness, this is what you’re going to go out into the world with? You’re developing into a very good executive. Why are you going to squander all of that for this piece of shit?”

The film, of course, was a massive success, grossing $84.6 million on a $15 million budget. Its enduring popularity would lead to an animated series, video games, a recently released sequel, and a stage musical that received eight Tony Award nominations in 2019.

Coinciding with spooky season, the musical, which includes music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect and a book by Scott Brown and Anthony King, is coming to Bass Hall this week. Its first performance is slated for Tuesday, Oct. 29 and its final performance Sunday, Nov. 3.

Leading up to the performances, we caught up with the man who will be donning the famous black-and-white-striped suit and green hair for Fort Worth audiences, Justin Collette.

During our 20-minute conversation, the man performing the title character talks his introduction to "Beetlejuice," his impressive improv resume, getting fellow actors to break character, and a famous disturbance that happened during one of their performances in September of last year.

And for those wondering if the Harry Belefonte songs made the cut for the musical, fear not, attendees will still hear “Day-O” and “Jump in the Line.”

FW: So, I gotta admit, “Beetlejuice” was one of those movies that was very formative for me, so I'm pretty excited about this.

Justin Collette: Me too.

FW: You seem like a guy who's really invested in the role, which is why I wanted to know: What was your intro to Beetlejuice? I mean, do you have that same kind of fandom that a lot of people had with the film?

JC: I think my first introduction to it was the cartoon, which I loved and imitated all the time. I was in prime cartoon time for it and would watch it all the time on reruns or something. I don't know, when I first saw the movie. I'm the oldest. When you're the oldest in a family, you don't have the benefit of having the older sibling showing you cool music and fun movies.

FW: Probably showing my age, but the cartoon was my intro, as well. And then when I saw the movie as a teenager, it was simply mind-blowing.

JC: Yeah, totally. I mean, Tim Burton was so prevalent when I was growing up, but I think my access point was all of his children's stuff, like “Nightmare Before Christmas,” and I think he produced “James and the Giant Peach.” I was familiar with and loved his universe, and I don't even know when I connected the dots that he made “Beetlejuice” or when I saw it for the first time. But yeah, I was a huge fan.

FW: It’s interesting that you referenced the animated version first because I think most people will think of Michael Keaton when they think of “Beetlejuice.” But I remember the animated version being very different from the movie.

JC: Yeah, totally.

FW: Does your performance take a little from both depictions? And how do your own spin on such an iconic role?

JC: Well, the character is the same. The character is an animal no matter who is playing him or in what context that he's being played. It's just like what breed of dog are you? You know what I mean? But it's all dog, so he's all instinct. And a fun twist about Beetlejuice is that he's 12,000 years old. He’s been alive for millennia, and so he's also just kind of over it. He knows exactly what he wants and is tenacious, but not rushed, in getting it. He's got time, and he's only really battling loneliness now, which I think is relatable and fun to have a lonely, crazy dog.

FW: Absolutely. It's such a zany character that I would assume takes a lot of energy to perform. How do you get have the stamina for that every night?

JC: A medical-grade amount of caffeine — a clinical amount of coffee. No, it's so fun. It's such a blast, and the show has been so successful. It's so well written, and I love the music to it. I really love the show. It's so hard in an acting career to get stuff that you enjoy doing. I've taken on my fair share of commercials, shows, movies, and whatever just to pay the bills. But to get something that you really enjoy doing and you get to do it in front of thousands of people eight times a week — a lot of the energy comes from that.

FW: And you've been doing the role since 2022, right?

JC: Two years now. Yeah.

FW: How did you initially get into acting?

JC: I grew up on the East Coast in Canada, and my introduction into acting, I'd say, came from the improv sketch comedy world. I was obsessed with improv in high school. In my early college years, I would travel around North America trying to take workshops and classes from the people that started the art form and the gurus I was obsessed with. I’d hunt them down and learn as much as I could from them.

I met and worked with David Shepherd, who essentially started The Compass Players, which was the forerunner to Second City [a world-famous improv comedy troupe based in Chicago], and Keith Johnstone and Charna Halpern and some amazing teachers in Chicago. I moved to Chicago for a year to study improv, and then I was also in a punk band when I was in high school. So, I kind of just had the skills to do musical theater but had never done it. I never packaged the two things together until “School of Rock” came across my agent's desk in 2017. They needed somebody who could do comedy, sing tenor rock, and play guitar. And I'm like, “Well, I have all those skills, so let's see what happens.” I auditioned over five days. It was wild. Next thing I know, I got invited to go to Broadway.

I was on Broadway for two years and was on a Netflix kids show at the same time called “Cupcake and Dino,” which I really love. And now I’m here.

FW: It's such a fast-moving industry. You’re going from constantly auditioning to rehearsing to being on stage eight times a week and then you’ve got a show on the side. It sounds like the most exhausting thing in the world.

JC: You have to have a long battery and very thick skin. But the joy that you get from it … that's kind of the point of being alive, I think. You can fail at something you hate, so you might as well try your hand at something you like to do.

FW: You mentioned getting your start in improv. Does this performance, Beetlejuice, invite any kind of improv? Can you do things on a whim while on stage?

JC: Constantly. I mean, that's like a credit to the writers and our amazing director, Alex Timbers, who works with so many great comedians. He encouraged me and still does to keep playing. And I think you have to. There'd be nothing worse than seeing a paint-by-numbers Beetlejuice. It has to feel a little dangerous and exciting. I’ve done the show over 600 times, and I’ve crafted a thing that I'm really proud of, but it's like golf. You can play the course a hundred times, and then some days you find yourself in a part of the woods you've never been before. You got to figure out how to get out. And depending on the audience’s energy, I'll really feed off of how they are that night, and that'll dictate how I play him. So the crazier the people are in the crowd, the crazier the Beetlejuice you'll get.

FW: I would assume that, if you’re improvising, your fellow actors have to keep up with you.

JC: Yeah, they do. They're really good sports about it.

I think [castmates] just get upset about things when the ground rules aren't laid for them. But if you tell people, “Hey, I don't know what I'm going to do,” and you give them a heads up, it’s no longer surprising. These people have been playing with me for a while, so they've gotten used to seeing me do some weird shit.

FW: So have you ever gotten one of them to break character before?

JC: Oh, constantly. I did last night. I don't think I ever really set out to do that, but it's fun when it happens.

FW: So how is this show different from the movie? What kind of changes can the audience expect?

JC: I would say this show very closely follows the plot of the movie and then fleshes it out because the movie is just over 90 minutes, and our show is two-and-a-half hours. So, everything that you love about the movie, you'll see it in the show. And then we focus more on Beetlejuice and Lydia than the movie did. I think both of them [Lydia and Beetlejuice] only have 10 minutes of screen time together. The musical really follows their two stories. And, in that way, I think it leans a little more into the cartoon version of [Beetlejuice].

FW: Got it. So, they’re really the main characters in the musical. ‘Cause, in the movie, Beetlejuice is really more of a supporting character.

JC: Well, he's more of a nuclear weapon. The stakes, thrust of the movie is about not letting him out, right? And that's not really how they play it here.

FW: Have you seen the new movie by any chance?

JC: I have.

FW: What were your thoughts?

JC: It's so fun to see a handmade movie again. I felt like I was seeing a real movie. And Catherine O'Hara made me spit up my drink twice. I thought she was so funny in it, and I thought Michael Keaton was amazing in it, too. I think everybody did a great job.

FW: I have two more questions. I was doing a little bit of research, and I just gotta ask: Did you see [United States Rep.] Lauren Boebert vaping? [Boebert, a Republican congresswoman for Colorado’s 3rd congressional district, caused a disturbance during a performance of “Beetlejuice” in Denver on Sept. 10, 2023, which received national attention.]

JC: [Laughs] I didn't see the vaping part. No, no, no. But there was definitely a very clear disturbance — a disruption that we were all aware of. We weren't sure who it was until she was walking out — or being escorted out, I should say — and screamed who she was as, what I assume, was a threat to us.

FW: I think that’s the first time I heard the actors’ perspective. And, last question: Do you have a dream role that you might eventually like to play on Broadway or film?

JC: Yeah, I really like “Bat Boy.” I love that musical. I'd love to play the Bat Boy. I'd love to have someone just shave my whole body and stick me in a cage.

FW: Fascinating. Sounds like there’s a lot to potentially unpack there.

JC: Listen, I'm not opposed to that. I just wasn’t sure if you were that kind of newspaper.

Tickets are still available for purchase, albeit with limited availability on some dates. Click here to reserve seats.