Isabella Esler thought she knew exactly what she was going to do after graduating from Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose in May.
“In my head, I was convinced I was going to college,” says the 18-year-old San Jose resident, who planned to move to New York City to attend Pace University. “Then this whole thing happened.”
This “whole thing” would be the kind of big break most aspiring young actors can only dream of: landing a starring role in a touring Broadway hit musical. So Pace will have to wait, as Esler spends at least a year starring in “Beetlejuice” as it travels to more than twenty cities across America.
In fact, the tour begins, so to speak, during the holiday season in Esler’s own backyard. She is making her professional acting debut at the historic Golden Gate Theater in San Francisco.
“It’s so weird how it turned out like this,” says Esler, whose friends call her Bella. ‘I know it’s not really common to just open in the city, right next to where you grew up. But it really is so great.”
That means Esler will see plenty of familiar faces in the crowd, as family and friends turn out to see her play Lydia Deetz, a quirky teen dealing with a trio of ghosts. The musical, an adaptation of the 1988 Tim Burton film, plays in the golden gate until December 31.
Esler has performed in local theater productions for the past twelve years, primarily at Children’s Musical Theater San Jose.
“I’ve always loved music and singing,” she says. “When I was 6, my parents thought, ‘Oh, let’s try theater.’ They put me on a CMT show and I just never stopped.
She performed in CMT’s musical “SpongeBob SquarePants” a few months ago, playing everyone’s favorite underwater squirrel Sandy Cheeks, and has starred in CMT productions ranging from “Once Upon a Mattress” to “American Idiot.”
“I believe her first production here was ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ when she was six,” said Dana Zell, CMT’s general manager. “It was so nice to see her blossom.”
Zell is one of many people who recognized Esler’s potential early on.
“There are always some of those special artists that you start noticing at such a young age,” says Zell. “Bella is definitely one of those people that caught my eye for many, many years.”
Her castmates also felt like she was going somewhere.
“When we were little we used to make jokes like, ‘Oh, in 10 years I’m going to say I knew Bella Esler,’” says San Jose’s Leandro Bilello-Rodriguez, 18, a fellow actor who estimates he is eight to ten CMT productions with her. “And we totally called it. Her singing voice has always fascinated me. She’s gotten to the point where she has what I like to call “creative infinity” with her voice – you get to a point where you know how to use it so well that anything can be made because it’s easy for you.
Yet Esler’s incredible singing voice is only part of the story.
“She’s got the whole package because she’s so genuine and present in every role she plays,” says Zell. “And that is reflected in the other cast members. She just has that special something that makes you want to keep looking at her.
“It’s one thing to have talent; Bella has humility — and that’s why you want to work with her,” says Bilello-Rodriguez. “She knows how to be a piece in the puzzle. And she understands that the reason she’s doing it isn’t for fame or money. It’s to make beautiful art and just be a piece of the puzzle.”
Esler follows in the footsteps of fellow CMT alum Alex Brightman, who earned a 2019 Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for his work in the title role of “Beetlejuice” on Broadway.
The “Beetlejuice” saga began for Esler in September 2021, when she sent an audition tape to the show’s producers “just for fun.” The show was in the process of reopening on Broadway after the COVID shutdown. A few months later, she received a call from the show’s producers.
“I sent some tapes back and forth. I was eventually asked to go to callbacks for the tour,” she recalls. “So in the summer I went to New York for a week and called back two days.”
And she made a big impression.
“Isabella stunned the creative team when she auditioned for ‘Beetlejuice,’” said Alex Timbers, the musical’s director. “She is smart, complex, funny and has a supernatural understanding of loss and grief, which are central to Lydia’s character. Isabella also has a stunning voice that blew everyone away in the casting room.”
“I was so grateful that they even saw my video,” Esler laughs. “I was so happy to get these opportunities. This felt really good to me – this character, this show.
It doesn’t hurt that the role of Lydia in Burton’s film helped make Winona Ryder, another actor with Bay Area ties, a star.
“I love the movie,” says Esler. “My parents have also always been fans of the film, so they introduced me to the film at a young age.”
Esler says she’s been working on increasing her stamina — the touring company performs up to eight shows a week, and the travel required for a traveling show is significant.
“I honestly can’t travel that much,” she says. “So it’s really great that I’m going to so many cities I’ve never been to before. I’m just excited to experience new locations, new food – everything new.
This summer, she’ll be back on familiar territory when “Beetlejuice” returns to the Bay Area for an August 1-6 run at San Jose’s Center for the Performing Arts.
“I grew up watching so many shows there over the years,” says Esler. “It’s kind of crazy that I’m going to perform there now instead of watching.”