Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue is a stage show located at Universal Studios Japan and formerly at the Universal Studios parks in Florida and Hollywood. The show depicts a crossover between Beetlejuice and the Universal Classic Monsters franchise, the plot being that Beetlejuice reinvents the Universal Monsters (which includes Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, and originally the Phantom of the Opera) into his own rock band and has them perform various songs.
It first opened at the Florida and Hollywood parks in 1992, in response to the positive reactions the parks' walkaround Beetlejuice character had gotten from guests. In Hollywood, the show continued to operate until 1999, when it was quietly closed down. The show lasted far longer in Florida, where it also went through several different revisions. The first revision occurred in 2002, which saw some of the show's songs being changed and the Phantom of the Opera replaced with Hip and Hop, two characters that serve as backup dancers for the band. The show received minor revisions again in 2006, and later bigger ones in 2014, which included replacing Hip and Hop with Cleopatra and Phantasia, the daughter of the Phantom of the Opera. This would end up being the final version of the show, as it was closed on January 5, 2016 to make room for Fast & Furious: Supercharged, which opened two years later in 2018.
The show continues to operate at the Japan park, under the name, Universal Monsters Live Rock and Roll Show.
Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue provides examples of:
- Adaptation Name Change: To match the title, the show changes Betelgeuse's name to Beetlejuice.
- Adapted Out: The Phantom of the Opera was present in the first iteration of the show, but was removed in later updates. The final version of the show introduced Phantasia, a character that’s supposed to be his daughter.
- Anachronism Stew: The show has Beetlejuice crossing paths with the Universal Monsters despite his own movie taking place decades after theirs.
- Ascended Extra: Beetlejuice started off as a walkaround character at the park, but due to his popularity, it was eventually decided to give him his own show. Since the closing of the Florida show, he has returned to being a walkaround character.
- Audience Participation: At the beginning, Beetlejuice has the audience say his name three times to make him appear on stage, and later to turn the Universal Monsters into a rock band.
- Canon Foreigner: Hip, Hop, and Phantasia were created exclusively for the show.
- Chirping Crickets: Beetlejuice gets this in the third iteration of the show when he makes a joke about Cutting Corners. He responds by killing the cricket via Finger Gun.
- Content Warnings: When the show was revamped at Florida's park in 2006, it was given a "PG-13" rating, due to the adult themes the update added to the show.
- Continuity Nod:
- In the first iteration of the show, Beetlejuice had the monsters sing the songs "Day-O" and "Jump in the Line" from the movie.
- In some versions of the show, Beetlejuice would reprise his "Attention K-Mart shoppers" line from the film.
- Daddy's Little Villain: Though not overly evil, Phantasia takes heavy inspiration from her father, particularly due to the fact that she wears the same kind of mask he does.
- Daywalking Vampire: Despite having a not so good history with sunlight, Dracula was shown no problems being out and about in the outdoor theater where the Florida version of the show was located.
- Go Fetch: In the third version of the show, Beetlejuice at one point plays fetch with the Wolfman.
- In-Universe Nickname: In many versions of the show, Beetlejuice is occasionally referred to as "BJ".
- Intercontinuity Crossover: The show is a crossover between Beetlejuice and the Universal Monsters.
- The Makeover: Beetlejuice gives the Universal Monsters one, transforming them into his own rock band.
- Meaningful Name: In the second and third iterations of the show, Beetlejuice’s backup singers/dancers were named "Hip" and "Hop".
- Monster Mash: It's a show that has the most iconic Universal Monsters coming together to sing songs.
- Mummy: At the beginning of the first version of the show, Beetlejuice appears in the form of a mummy, and is freed from the bandages when the audience says his name three times.
- Musical Episode: The show serves as one for both Beetlejuice and the Universal Monsters series.
- Nose Nuggets: In-between songs in the second iteration of the show, Beetlejuice picks his own nose and eats what he finds. He remarks that it Tastes Like Chicken.
- Ominous Opera Cape: Averted with Phantasia. Unlike her father, she wears a very short pink cape.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Hip in the third incarnation of the show has black hair and pasty pale skin.
- Sequel Goes Foreign: If you view this as a sequel to Beetlejuice, then the show depicts the title character going to somewhere in Eastern European to make a band out of the Universal Monsters.
- Shout-Out: Beetlejuice drops at least one pop culture reference in all versions of the show.
- In the original version, Beetlejuice says that he’s going to get Madonna to be on the show, only to be disappointed when he’s told that she’s not available. In later versions of the show, the line was changed to refer to Paris Hilton.
- Beetlejuice refers to Frankenstein's Monster as the "Jolly Green Giant"
- Überwald: As mentioned above, the show's sets seem to imply that it takes place in some sort of Eastern European country.
