Monstrous Musicals Celebrates Alex Brightman: Goosebumps The Musical: Phantom of The Auditorium

 

Alex Brightman is a name that many are probably just getting to know thanks to his wonderful and deliciously evil turn as Adam on Hazbin Hotel.

Broadway fans probably best know him for his take on Beetlejuice which is very fun and not just a Michael Keaton clone.

I feel as though he’s done enough to be celebrated in various musicals including those that are perfect for the spooky time of year.   That’s why this October, I want to celebrate him with multiple blogs and while not every musical I’ll be looking at, Brightman will not be the main star but he usually brings something special to the role.   Something interesting to note is that all but one of the musicals I’ll be looking at is an adaption.

 

This first one is an adaption of a Goosebumps book and perhaps the one that makes the most sense to turn into a musical.  As Stine wrote a book during the original Goosebumps run that was his take on Phantom of the Opera.

 

Makes sense as everyone has done their version of Phantom from Lloyd Webber to The Muppets.  This technically isn’t the first time this Goosebumps story has been adapted into visual media as it was also adapted for the Fox Kids TV show back in the day.

In the interest of fairness, I did listen to an audiobook of the book this musical is based on.   I’ve not watched the episode from the TV show.   I feel as though that would unjustly influence my bias one way or the other.  I’ve listened to the songs from this musical numerous times as they are quite catchy and I love the cast recording.  Having said all that, Brightman is only featured on one song and it is just a cameo but I still believe this is a good enough reason to look at this show.  I enjoy Alex Brightman’s work and wanted to celebrate some of his body of work.  Everything else else, we will look at in the future will feature him in a more substantial role.  My friend Marianne and I were obsessed with this musical for a while.   I believe that it understands a key component of Goosebumps, which the Disneyplus show forgot, that Goosebumps is campy.  The problem with the show is that it took itself too seriously.  Goosebumps is a series that thrives best when it allows itself to be silly.  A retelling of Phantom with middle schoolers lends itself to silliness and awkwardness as we will see with my favorite song in the show.  I hope that I can convince you to check out the cast recording after sharing my thoughts on the songs.   I won’t be going too heavily into the plot but I want to celebrate something I love.  I hope that you enjoy it.

The Songs

 

 

 

Something  I noticed as I listened to the audiobook and the cast recording simultaneously is that this is a very faithful adaption.   They’ve taken the book and brought it to life with songs and expanded upon some elements that were already in the original book.  We will see this in one of the songs that I’ll look at during this blog but with one character,  they took an element that was present in the book and made it more pronounced.  I think in part that comes from the fact that the original book is told in first person POV whereas with this musical adaption, that element has been removed and it allows other characters besides the main character to have a focus in the spotlight.  That word choice was purposeful as you will see.   I truly adore this musical as it captures the fun of Goosebumps and is so fun.   The team behind this show truly studied the book as it feels like they took various chapters and adapted them into songs.   This is always a tricky prospect when adapting a known IP for stage,  how much you bring over from the source while also at the same time infusing your creative spin on the material.   There is a fine line to walk there.  I think this musical pulls it off well and I also think that this musical could serve as a good gateway musical for young kids.

 

With this over-long introduction out of the way, let’s take a look at the songs.

 

Track 1. Goosebumps.

 

Fittingly enough,  the first track is titled Goosebumps itself and is a question to the audience, “Do you like scary stuff” If the answer is yes, then you are in the right place.  It’s a fun number that captures the creepiness of Goosebumps for kids while also for adults being able to indulge in the silliness.  Something I appreciate as a theater person is the cast recording brought in a lot of heavy hitters for the songs such as Noah Galvin whom I know from Dear Evan Hansen.   It’s a catchy number that gets the audience ready for the type of show we are about to witness.

 

 

Track 2. A Super Scary Play

 

Okay, so that is a bit of a mouthful of a title but again,  it gets the idea across as this is a show within a show.  Also, the reference to Guys and Dolls being the play the previous year was lifted directly from the book.  A couple of things have been changed from the original source for the musical is that Brooke and Zeke had already auditioned by the start of the book whereas the song opens with Brooke saying they should audition.   Also,   in the book Brooke has a younger sibling in the book that hated being scared and was cut from the musical which makes sense as that type of character isn’t needed instead, Brooke used to be a scaredy cat but is now a horror hound.

 

Track 3.  The Legend

As I mentioned this cast recording brought in some heavy hitters as the drama teacher is played by Sheryl Lee Ralph.  This is mostly an expository song to set up the story of who the Phantom was and now this play is seemingly cursed.  It has a fun beat and can seem somewhat creepy but I think in some aspects, the background music might come across too upbeat for what is a creepy legend.

 

Track 4. Watch Your Step.

 

 

We have now hit Alex’s song from the cast recording and his character is creepy.  He plays the night janitor, Emile.  His song can best be described as those old men at gas stations warning the teens to not go where they plan to but in song.  Our leads, Brooke and Zeke found a trap door underneath the stage during auditions and ended up stuck there and this is where they found Emile and he is trying to scare them to leave.  It’s fun and captures the creepy and disturbing in a way that The Legend just wasn’t.

 

 

Track 5. Babbling Brooke

 

Ah here, we are the song that made me fall in love with this musical.  Who would’ve thought that a Goosebumps musical would have such a cute song? This song is soooo adorable,  I never expected to have an adorable meet cute in this show.  This goes back to the awkwardness of teens not knowing how to react around people they are crushing on.   It’s awkward: the song, for multiple reasons that will come up later but I adore it. This is an example of the show taking something from the book and making it work in the musical theater format.  In the book, we only get Brooke’s POV but here we see that both Brooke and Brian are giant dorks around each other.  I love this song so much and it is one that I turn to whenever I need a pick-me-up.

 

 

Track 6.  The Story of The Phantom

 

This song does in my opinion what The Legend was trying to do but better. It has a creepy and macabre nature you’d want from a song about a Phantom. It’s chilling and spooky in a way that fits for a Goosebumps musical.  This also ties back into the show within a show aspect as Brooke explains the story of the Phantom to Zeke.  Whose interjections range from funny to annoying but not enough to take away from the spooky nature of Brooke’s singing. It’s spine-chilling in a way that is just perfect for a kids’ musical.

 

 

Track 7. Stay Away/Entr’acte

 

Not a lot to say on this one, it’s short and just a warning from the Phantom to our characters that he wants to be left alone.  That’s why I’ve also paired the second number up with it as I’m pretty sure these are the songs that lead to intermission which you need and they’re good numbers but doesn’t give me a lot to say about them.

 

Track 8. Is Somebody Down There?

Again, not a whole lot going on with this one as it’s just another warning from The Phantom

 

Track 9. Understudy Buddy

 

This song is so silly and fun, I love it. It also goes back to how the show is able to expand upon elements that were only mentioned in the book. In the book, Brooke’s first person POV only mentioned how Tina was jealous. With Tina’s solo here, we get to see her jealously on display as she’ll do anything to take the role from Brooke. It’s very Sharpay-esque in how desperate Tina is to be the lead.  It pushes her close to secondary antagonist territory and it is so much fun.

 

Track 10. Whodunit

 

Hi R.L. Stine, yep he gets a cameo as the principal here in this number. This is another element pulled directly pulled from the book as The Phantom wanted to get Zeke out of the way for something  important. This does change how our three kids go about searching for The Phantom though but it’s still true to the spirit of the story.

 

Track 11. The Trapdoor

 

Not a whole lot to say on this on one either as it’s just the kids going back down the trapdoor to prove Zeke’s innocence.

Track 12. My Home Sweet Home

 

We get our next Alex song and it’s both terrifying and tragic as we learn Emile is a homeless person who has been living under the school. This sells a different side of Alex that I’m not used to as I’m more used to him being funny but here he has to sell a menacing performance while also making you feel bad for him and he pulls it off.

Track 13. Opening Night/One Last Goal

This is just buildup to the climax of the show as we hear melodies of the previous songs to build up to what comes next.

 

Track 14. The Performance

We’ve now arrived at The Performance and I feel as though is trying to get you to feel the jitters of the kids before they take the stage. It sounds like butterflies in your stomach in audio form

 

Track 15. My Story

 

Now, we finally get to why The Phantom was trying to get Zeke out of the picture. Performing in the play was his unfinished business and yes, The Phantom is the boy that Brooke was crushing on. This song feels very wistful and hopeful at the same time as The Phantom had been  waiting seventy years to perform and he finally got the chance to.

 

Track 16. The Phantom Unmasked

This barely counts as a track but I do appreciate the dialogue being included as it gives the trio closure they’d need after everything they’ve been through.

 

Track 17. Goosebumps (Reprise)

 

We end this show how we started with Goosebumps, it’s a fun closer as audiences leave. Not much else to say about it.

 

 

This is a very fun musical and very faithful to the book it’s adapting. It’s my favorite piece of Goosebumps media but of course I’m partial to musicals to begin with. It’s a fun gateway musical that could help lead kids to more classic shows. Join me next time as we look at a musical episode of a short lived Netflix series that Alex starred in.

 

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