Presley Ryan’s TikToks Have Made Beetlejuice Broadway’s Hottest Ticket

But the production is being booted out of its current home on June 6. What gives?

Chris Stokel-Walker
FFWD

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Image: Matthew Murphy

When Presley Ryan was in middle school, she and her friends spent hours making videos on Musical.ly. And around a year ago, some of those friends kept talking about “the new Musical.ly” — TikTok. The star of Broadway show Beetlejuice The Musical downloaded the app and started playing around with it.

At 16 the youngest cast member in the musical, Ryan’s older colleagues often ask her about high school trends and what kids are into these days — a way to help them connect with younger relatives. Such a conversation happened in June after the prestigious Tony Awards, where the production was nominated for eight awards. “A few of us were hanging out in the vocal booth during the show and the conversation turned, as it often does, to the latest trends,” explains Presley. “Alex Brightman asked me to explain and teach them about TikTok.”

So Ryan showed her castmates the ins and outs of the app. They liked what they saw, and wanted to try it themselves. So using Ryan’s TikTok account, they started small, recording a simple video with Dana Steingold and Jill Abramovitz dancing along to ‘Bad Guy’ by Bllie Eilish.

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Chris Stokel-Walker
FFWD
Editor for

UK-based freelancer for The Guardian, The Economist, BuzzFeed News, the BBC and more. Tell me your story, or get me to write for you: stokel@gmail.com