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[0:41] Lauren Van Hemert: This is the Beltline to Broadway podcast. I'm Lauren Van Hemert, your host, and on this episode, I'm catching up with Megan McGuinness, who plays Barbara Maitland on the National Tour of Beetlejuice. I'm so excited to talk about this show. I've seen it once or twice, and I really do like it surprisingly. I avoided it for a really long time because I thought I wouldn't like it. And then I finally saw it right before it closed on Broadway and I was like, why did I wait so long?

[1:16] Megan McGinnis: Why did you think you weren't gonna like it?

[1:18] Lauren Van Hemert: I'm not a fan of the movie. So I didn't really love the movie. Yeah.

[1:25] Megan McGinnis: And so I was like, um, I don't know. There was something about this maternal thing going on with Lydia and Barbara, and I was like, I am in.

[1:36] Lauren Van Hemert: I was so surprised because I actually do love the movie. I grew up on it and watched it multiple times with my mom and loved it. But my experience watching the show is not the same as my experience watching the movie at all. There is something I think so heartwarming about the musical that I didn't find in the movie, you know, and no shade to the movie. There was just, I mean, I cried when I watched the musical, and I did not expect that.

[2:03] Megan McGinnis: Okay.

[2:04] Lauren Van Hemert: So for people listening to this, it's really funny. It's, you know, musical comedy gold, I feel like there is something really heartwarming. And I think for me, what it is is Lydia. I, you know, I feel like the focus is so much on her and on that is I think what audiences are really responding to.

[2:29] Megan McGinnis: Oh, I absolutely agree. I think it was really very smart to focus the show on her and her journey. And that doesn't make it less funny. I think it makes it more funny because then Beetlejuice can come in and be irreverent and hilarious and witty, and we still have these very real arcs for the Maitlands and for Lydia.

[2:53] Lauren Van Hemert: Yeah, which I just love. Um, I love that. But okay, before we talk all about Beetlejuice. Yes, the Triangle Community last saw you on stage in City of Angels, and then as a director of the brilliant Jane Eyre. Um so I'm curious, how is being on both sides of the table as a director and as an actor, how does that inform your performance?

[3:27] Megan McGinnis: That's a great question. Um I think the reason I started directing is because I've always felt I'm an actor who looks at the bigger picture. So it seemed like a very easy transition. Um I'm very conscious. I think as many good actors are, very conscious of the others on stage. You know, how do I serve this scene? Oh, this scene's not about me. It's about Beetlejuice. Or this scene is not, I'm not the funny person here. It's Adam. You know, how do I serve that joke? And I think that's exactly what you're doing as a director, but for every scene, not just the ones you're in. So it felt like a very natural transition. Also, I'm very lucky that I have this great relationship with Paul Gordon and John Caird, who wrote Daddy Long Legs and Jane Eyre.

And so that seemed like the ideal material to start my directing journey with. Material I understood, especially with Daddy Long Legs helped create. Uh it so that was a very easy transition. And in Daddy Long Legs, that production at Theatre Raleigh starred Max Turnan, who's on tour and parade, which you were in. So I feel like it's all kind of this small beautiful world.

[4:51] Lauren Van Hemert: Yes, I was in a very, very, very long time ago. It was my first Broadway musical. I was very young. Um, but uh I was I'm so I think it's just such perfect casting, and Max is so brilliant, and I really want to see him in it.

[5:09] Megan McGinnis: Me too, me too.

[5:11] Lauren Van Hemert: So um you said that you were a fan of the film when you were a kid. What do you remember about watching the film for the first time with your mom? What struck you about it?

[5:26] Megan McGinnis: Deo. Like it was all about that scene, you know, when the Maitlands um possess the dinner party. I mean, that scene was the one that we would recreate in our living room. So that sort of lives in my memory. The fandom around this film and around the show, I had gone to BroadwayCon, but I could not believe the fandom around Beetlejuice. And this is actually one of the reasons I went to see the show, because I was at BroadwayCon, I saw all these people in cosplay, some amazing costumes. Um, and I was like, okay, there's something here, and I have to see the show before it closes. So what is it about this property that you think resonates with people so much?

[6:17] Lauren Van Hemert: I have to say, I too was very surprised by that when I first saw the show. I missed it on Broadway, but after I got the job, I went and visited the tour, and being in the audience was incredible. I was so surprised and thrilled by how much people invest in the show. And it's the reason that we are still on tour, you know. I mean, I think originally it was only gonna be a year tour. We're in year three, it's incredible. And they all so many, we get so many amazing fan gifts that are always so creative. But as far as why that's the case, I think there is this feeling of being accepted in Beetlejuice. You know, uh, Lydia says she's strange and unusual, and I think that's a really beautiful sentiment of okay, you're strange and unusual, and that's awesome.

You know, she sort of announces it as a negative, and the show is sort of this journey into no, this is not a negative, it's a positive. And I think today, especially when we can hopefully celebrate our differences, this show celebrates you.

[7:38] Lauren Van Hemert: You play Barbara Maitland. This character, this is the arc that got me for sure. You said in another interview that Barbara is a lot of you so.

[7:53] Megan McGinnis: Well, when we see her at the beginning, she has a plan, you know. Like there's this perfect way to live. And I think that resonates with me, you know, what I'm supposed to do, how I'm supposed to live. And it's not that that is how I live my life, but that's in the back of my mind, right? And so I struggle with that. I think many of us do. And as you see Barbara progress, it's seeing her come out of her shell and realizing she has to take chances. And I have been able to do that as I've aged, and I enjoy that arc so much. So I can identify with the beginning, Barbara, and I can identify with the end Barbara. And then, of course, there's the maternal aspect of Barbara that she really wants to have a baby.

We see that. She sings about it before she dies. And finding that connection with Lydia becomes really important and essential for her. And obviously, as a mom, that is very easy for me to identify with. Unlike Come From Away or Daddy Long Legs or Little Women, which really are deep dive character pieces that you've done.

[9:15] Megan McGinnis: Beetlejuice is cracked with effects. Talk about navigating the stunts and effects every night on stage and maybe even what that's taught you about comedic timing, acting timing. I mean, I feel like timing is such a big part of it. It is. I mean, stunt wise, we die differently than on Broadway. So there's that aspect. It's a little bit more, uh, it's a little safer for the road, let's just say. Um, we do have a lot of effects, and there's some that definitely used to scare me when I joined. You know, there's fire in my hand. And I learned that if I look at it, it feels like it's burning, but if I don't look at it, it doesn't burn. Um, but it is technically at a temperature that cannot burn my hand.

So there is that. But, uh, let me talk about comedy too. I think comedy is a science, right? It absolutely is a science. So the effects just become part of that timing aspect. So I think it's only helped my comedy skills because some of the effects too are about the joke. Uh, but it's just, it's so fun. You know, I always say that the movie, of course, has all these great effects, but you can do anything in a movie. We on stage are doing it in front of you, presently. And I think that is so cool. And we have this awesome LED wall that has these beautiful effects on it. It, I love watching the show. We have these put ins, right? Where if we have a new understudy join, we have them do the full show in costume with a full cast. Often I am not called for those. I sit in the audience and watch because I love watching our show.

[11:16] Lauren Van Hemert: Does it ever get old for you? Or as you're watching it, do you discover new things about it?

[11:22] Megan McGinnis: I will say that when I pop into those put ins, it's a nice reminder. You know, occasionally I do need that of, oh, how special our show is. Uh, as far as just like the day in and day out, uh, the energy of the audiences is all I need, and it's the perfect show for that. I feel very lucky that we are doing a comedy because there will be those days when I'm exhausted. I usually fly home on Monday, so Monday's our day off. The company travels on Mondays to our next city. We're usually in a city for one week. I will fly home to see my family on a Monday, and then I will fly Tuesday to join the company and open the show that night in the new city. So, yes, I can be tired. I am known to be exhausted, but I step on that stage, there's a laugh that happens four lines in for me.

It's actually Beetlejuice's laugh, but I'm a part of it. And it's instantaneous where I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, I want to do this, you know. So even if I'm tired or tired of it, the energy from the audience is infectious.

[12:30] Megan McGinnis: And I do have to talk about Justin, who's playing Beetlejuice, probably unlike other shows you've been in, there's a little bit of an improv element. So does he try to get you?

[12:40] Lauren Van Hemert: It's so fun because Justin is an improv genius.

[12:48] Megan McGinnis: He knows when to take it too far. You know, it's not constant. He really can judge an audience, and he can judge us, and he serves the show. It's always about serving the show. And it's incredible to watch that every night. And I feel like I learn a lot from him. And I enjoy it. What has surprised you most about this tour time around?

[13:17] Megan McGinnis: Every tour has been very different. My first tour, I was 20 years old. My second tour, I toured with my entire family. My husband was in the show. Our son was two years old. And now my third tour, I'm alone and my family's at home. So they've been very different journeys. I remember when I was 20 and I finished that tour, and I said, I will never tour again. And here I am. Touring is hard. There is no other way to say it. It is very hard. But when you're doing a show you love, which I have done, these three shows that I've toured with, I've loved all of them. It's good work, it's great craft, and I do get to see a lot of great cities that I normally would not visit. And a week is not a long time, especially because I'm coming in usually on a Tuesday and then Wednesday have to recuperate.

But I've got my Thursday, Friday, and I love finding the local coffee shop, the local bookstore, staying with friends, seeing friends. I'm so excited about going to Durham because of course I feel like I have this community in Raleigh. So to get that, you know, that's when would I be able to do that? I'm not gonna pick up and just be like, okay, bye, Beckett and Adam going to Raleigh for a week, you know? But this is my job.

[14:45] Lauren Van Hemert: Well, and I don't want to say that you have a favorite city, but we know, we know here in Raleigh Durham, it's kind of home for you.

[14:45] Megan McGinnis: Because I say it's not even about it being my favorite city, it's like being another home for me. Yes, and I feel so lucky to call Durham Raleigh, the Triangle Area a second home creatively and with people I love. I lost my dad in October. He had such a full life. He just did. And I think his passing really taught me a lot about living and the life I want to live.

[15:33] Lauren Van Hemert: Yeah. So what does Barbara's journey, Barbara and Adam? But I'll talk to you about Barbara. What does Barbara's journey on stage or even the show in its kookiness, which it is a little kooky and silly and funny, but what can it teach us truly about living?

[15:58] Megan McGinnis: I mean, I think you very much said it, right? Which is that you can discover who however old you are at a certain point in your life that oh, this is it. This is my chance. This is when I have to live, when I'm still alive. And unfortunately for Barbara, she doesn't discover that until she's dead. You know, she discovers how to live life in death. We get to see her as a ghost, so we get to see that journey, and I get to feel it every night. Um, and I think as I mentioned before, like that is such a good reminder. And I feel like that is even one of the reasons that I'm still doing the show, because I'm saying, I'm sharing with my husband and my son, I'm happy doing this great job. I feel so lucky.

I get to share it with the two of you. We're making it work. I'm flying home even though I'm tired, because this is what I want. I want to create, I want to love my family. You know, this is our chance. And I'm so glad that Barbara gets to remind me of that every night.

[17:11] Megan McGinnis: I'm kind of excited. I'm excited to see it and truly take the journey again and to laugh. That I mean, and let's come back to that because I know we've talked a lot about how special the show is, but oh, the jokes, the humor, the witty lyrics. I mean, it is a non-stop laugh fest, and I do think we all really need that. Beetlejuice is on tour through July for a complete schedule of tour dates. Visit Beetlejuicebroadway.com. If you like what you've heard on this episode, please consider subscribing to this podcast. Follow us on social media on Blue Sky, Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram with Beltline to Broadway, or visit us online at www.beltlinetobroadway.org. Until next time, I'll see you at the theater.