Beetlejuice Musical Sets Full Broadway Cast; Star Sophia Anne Caruso Reacts

Complete casting has been announced for Beetlejuice, opening April 25 at Broadway's Winter Garden Theatre.

As we learned yesterday, the principle cast members (reprising their performances from the world premiere at Washington, DC's National Theatre) are Sophia Anne Caruso (Lazarus) as Lydia, Alex Brightman (School of Rock) as Beetlejuice, Kerry Butler (Mean Girls) as Barbara, Rob McClure (Avenue Q) as Adam, Adam Dannheisser (Oslo) as Charles, and Leslie Kritzer (Something Rotten!) as Delia.

The cast will also feature Jill Abramovitz (Fiddler on the Roof) as Maxine Dean/Juno, Kelvin Moon Loh (SpongeBob SquarePants) as Otho, Danny Rutigliano (Holiday Inn) as Maxie Dean, and Dana Steingold (25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) as the Girl Scout. Rounding out the ensemble are Tessa Alves, Gilbert L. Bailey II, Will Blum, Johnny Brantley III, Ryan Breslin, Natalie Charle Ellis, Brooke Engen, Abe Goldfarb, Eric Anthony Johnson, Elliott Mattox, Mateo Melendez, Sean Montgomery, Ramone Owens, Presley Ryan, and Kim Sava.

Seventeen-year-old Caruso, who takes on her first leading Broadway role with Beetlejuice, spoke with TheaterMania this morning about the announcement: "It's honestly a dream come true. And I know that sounds cheesey but when I first moved to New York that was my dream. I wanted to be a leading lady on Broadway. I'm a little scared but that's OK. I'm mostly very excited."

"We're telling a really amazing story," she added. "We're making people laugh and making people cry and making people feel things and that's the most important part of theater. Under all of the comedy there's definitely a really beautiful message."

Caruso also commented on her costar, Alex Brightman, who returns to Broadway following his Tony-nominated performance in School of Rock: "Alex Brightman is a funny, funny guy. He just makes me laugh all the time, and it's really difficult to make me laugh. He definitely has the energy that I need to be around. And he is so talented. What he's done with Beetlejuice — he has really made this character his own. He's just incredible."

Beetlejuice is directed by two-time Tony nominee Alex Timbers (Moulin Rouge! The Musical), with an original score by Eddie Perfect (King Kong), a book by Scott Brown and Emmy nominee Anthony King (Broad City), choreography by Connor Gallagher (The Robber Bridegroom), and music supervision, orchestrations, and incidental music by Kris Kukul (Joan of Arc: Into the Fire).