Music & Lyrics by Eddie Perfect. Book by Scott Brown & Anthony King
The Ghost with the Most lands on Australian shores to give audiences a fright and a fitful of laughs with a superb cast at play
Reviewed by Justin Clarke
Regent Theatre, Melbourne
Until August, 2025
Tickets: https://www.beetlejuicethemusical.com.au
Type: Musical, Movie Adaptation, Dark & Joyous
If you liked: The Beetlejuice Movies, Little Shop of Horrors, The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Australian composers do not often land Tony-nominated musicals—rarer still do they end up starring in them in their home country. But that’s exactly what Melbourne audiences are getting as Beetlejuice the Musical bursts from the Netherworld into the Regent Theatre, complete with its creator Eddie Perfect in the title role. (Yes, the show is actually called Beetlejuice The Musical. The Musical. The Musical.)
Beetlejuice is a return to large-scale musicals full of puppetry, stage magic, a seemingly endless void of props and pulsating lighting, of which Kenneth Posner helps set the tone before the curtain even rises. Rotating beams of green twirl around the theatre, as a smoking green door to the Netherworld drifts out of the curtain centre stage, a red-bulbed sign of “Beetlegeuse, Beetlegeuse” pointing sharply to it. The scenery itself feels alive as David Korin’s design works hand-in-ghostly-hand with Peter Nigrini’s projections to transform, shift and play tricks on both characters and audience throughout.
Much of the plot you know from the film remains the same, but of course there’s a lot more padding to justify its musical runtime – “such a bold departure from the source material” Perfect’s Betelgeuse says immediately following the funeral of the matriarch of the Deetz’s family. Barbara and Adam Maitland (a perfect pairing of Rob Johnson and Elise McCann) die in a freak accident and haunt their former home, trying to scare away the new tenants. Enter Betelgeuse, who schemes to have someone living say his name three times and bring him into the real world. Meanwhile, gothic teen Lydia Deetz (a sensational Karis Oka) is dealing with grief, her clueless father (a loving Tom Wren), and a life coach stepmother-to-be (a scene-stealing Erin Clare). Casting consultant Lisa Campbell has assembled a pitch-perfect cast. Each character feels fully lived-in, delivering sharp comic timing and powerhouse vocals, with Oka being a standout.
Beetlejuice is not just full of outrageous comedy – and surprisingly crude comedy at that – inspired by Michael Keaton’s cemented performance from Tim Burton‘s much loved 80’s cult classic but it also has a great deal of heart, with each character, Betelgeuse included, seeking a sense of belonging. With the plot for the large part taking place in one location, the house of the Maitlands becomes in a sense a prison for each character where they fight to either be seen, physically or emotionally, reconcile their pasts and ultimately find a chosen family.
Like an actor improvising a curtain call, the book (Scott Brown and Anthony King) fumbles its final moments—throwing in multiple endings instead of picking a lane. It’s messy, but packed with enough gags to keep spirits (and corpses) high.
Perfect’s turn at Betelgeuse feels a wholly different take than the Broadway casting of Alex Brightman, who most see as inseparable from the role. But once your ears attune to Perfect’s gravelly baritone, he’s electric: chaotic, creepy, and weirdly sweet. The Juice himself embodies multiple personalities throughout, some sweet, some creepy, and some downright, knowingly, offensive, and this too weaves its way into the score. Gospel, soul, ska, swing jazz and inspiration from both the stylings of Harry Belafonte and Danny Elfman sit within Perfect’s register. It’s almost like he wrote it that way…
Oka’s performance as Lydia is gothically rich and astonishing. You feel as if you could pluck her straight from the stage and into the real world and Lydia would be a wholly real person. From the crisp, clear melodies of mourning grief in ‘Dead Mom”, the playful defiance against her father and Delia, the softness in her relationship with the Maitlands, and the fright filled fun shared with Betelgeuse, Oka is the heart around which the production revolves.
…everything a cult adaptation should be: irreverent, oversized, visually jaw-dropping, and just a little bit unhinged.
For those stuck in defiance of movie to musical adaptations, it’s with a thankful heart that we can say this is one of the good ones! Burton’s unique and instantly identifiable characteristics are imbued throughout every design choice of Beetlejuice thanks to Alex Timbers‘ direction. Gothic expressionism is etched into projections, as well as the lighting design elements that produce complex layers of bold colour and angular light, creating an ominous sense of surrealism at key moments of ghostly possession, whilst playing with shades of good and evil throughout.
The overall production design elements therefore are ambitious to say the least, without spoilers there are many nods to the film’s more monstrous characters that leave us begging to be a fly on the wall backstage to see how they all work. Seeing the organisation of the props table alone would be worth the price of admission.
Beetlejuice the Musical is everything a cult adaptation should be: irreverent, oversized, visually jaw-dropping, and just a little bit unhinged. And thanks to Eddie Perfect and a powerhouse local cast, it feels like it was brought from the Netherworld just for Australian audiences. Say his name three times, and summon a ticket!
Theatre Thought: What other composers/creators would you love to see take on their title role?
Beetlejuice the Musical is on at Regent Theatre, Melbourne until 3rd August
