Alex Brightman on Practicing the Beetlejuice Voice While Walking with His Dog & More

When it was announced that Broadway would shut down due to the ongoing coronoavirus crisis, it didn't take long for Beetlejuice star Alex Brightman to head out of the city with his wife and dog. "We've been in Oklahoma for about two and a half weeks now living with my in-laws," the two-time Tony nominee said to Paul Wontorek on #LiveatFive: Home Edition. "We are very thankful that we got out of the city when we did. I don't know how my nerves would handle all of what's going on. There's certainly less frenzy going on here and lots of space. You're 60 feet away from anybody here, so it's very easy to social distance."

While Brightman said the break has been "good for vocal rest," he's realizing just how much of a space Beetlejuice has taken up in his heart. "I just turned a corner of really missing [Beetlejuice]," he said. "I sort of had a moment where I was like, I understand that we have to do this and went through that acceptance phase pretty easily. Now I'm kinda turning into that weird stage of grief or anger. I really, really, really miss doing the show a lot. You forget how many times you see the same people over and over again, and you take that for granted. That's become difficult."

Other than trying his hand at cooking and frequenting the local Sonic, Brightman is still hard at work on several projects, some of which are being kept secret for now. "I'm working on a show with Drew Gasparini; we're doing an adaptation of the movie and the novel It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini," he said. "We just had our first big workshop, which went incredibly well. I finished two drafts of plays that I'm writing—two very dark and dramatic plays that go against all the things I do on stage as a comedian. And then, some television stuff that I can't necessarily dive into. I will, eventually, be able to announce another acting thing that I'm doing. I don't know when I'll be able to announce it, but it's very fun and it's new. It's something I've never done before."

Fear not, Netherworldlings! Brightman is still making sure that he can bring that beautiful sound back to Broadway. "I have been trying out the Beetlejuice voice because I know for fact if I don't do it consistently, it does go away and it takes a lot of work to get it back without hurting," he said. "On walks [with my dog] I'll practice because there's no one around like, [in Beetlejuice voice], 'Good boy, Kevin. All right, good boy.'"

Before Broadway went dark, Beetlejuice was already preparing to play its final performance on June 6. With so much uncertainty surrounding when Broadway will open again, Brightman offered his thoughts on the future of the Tony-nominated new musical. "The reality of the situation is exactly what you think it is," he said. "It's going to be very difficult to see us getting back near June. It would be awesome to reopen the show at another theater and have this resurgence of the show. But until then, and I think I'm speaking for everybody in our show by saying that we much prefer to be doing this right now. We don't want to force 1500 people into a theater if we're not 100 percent sure it's not going to make things worse."

As a final note, Brightman gave a word of advice. "If anybody's a fan of mine and wants to listen to me: Don't be a dummy," he said. "Stay inside and don't think this is a joke. If you feel like this is joke, then I wouldn't want to be friends with you if that's the kind of person you are. So, if you have any sort of feelings towards me that are positive, just stay inside. For my sake, if not for yours."

Watch the full episode and hear Brightman talk about his favorite Beetlejuice moments and more below!