Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

On my first trip to New York City, my wife and her oldest son and I headed to see Beetlejuice, the Musical at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. It was a great show with lavish sets and costumes and two main characters who activated just about every emotional response that can be drummed up by the human mind. The show itself departed greatly from the original movie (starring Michael Keeton and Wynona Rider) while retaining enough of the original source material to delight the audience.

That original material allowed us to access positive memories and make (re-establish, really) connections made back in the 1980s when the striped-suited Beetlejuice first announced, “it’s showtime!”

So, what does this have with sharing my school’s story? Two things: 1) who will tell your story in your absence? and 2) everyone needs connections to feel whole.

Twice when characters (albeit one an anthropomorphic book) leave the stage “for the last time,” their closing line is “tell my story!” Funny, in context, but rich in meaning. We all want our story to be told, even if we’re a green-haired ghost trying to upset the balance between the living and the dead.

What is really interesting to me is that Beetlejuice is trying to upset said balance because his world is one of loneliness. He is desperate for a connection as is our protagonist, Lydia, the “Goth” teenager Beetlejuice seeks to manipulate on his journey to make himself whole.

For all his power and caprice, Beetlejuice can do nothing alone. He needs someone else with whom to connect, with whom to form a relationship.

Without spoiling the play (I highly recommend it, by the way, I laughed while also feeling tugs on my heartstrings), I can tell you that one more lesson we learn in the play is that relationships have to be nurtured and protected or they’ll fall apart. And, as a learning moment is what makes or breaks any dramatic performance, characters aplenty learned lessons about themselves and their need for lasting relationships.

It’s funny, some of the audience was also seeking a connection with the characters on the stage. Even though the play is a relatively new one, people came dressed as Beetlejuice or as Lydia in an attempt to feel more connected to the performance. Just coming to the show wasn’t enough, they needed a connection.

I‘m sure that there are people who will find me guilty of overthinking the musical, but I’ve learned that what you take away from a play (or almost anything) depends heavily on the lenses through which you’re watching.

My first lens was one of someone sitting next to his wife and best friend (and her son) watching his first Broadway musical. My second was as the lead learner at #DMSGens, a school where relationships and connections are valued above all else.

That’s the story I want to tell, one in which our school is committed to forming the relationships and connections that will allow us to cause learning, not just cover content.