Review: ‘Beetlejuice’ at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre (2025)

Now playing exclusively at the Regent Theatre, Melbourne until August 3
Tickets and more info can be found at: beetlejuicethemusical.com.au

Beetlejuice the musical! the musical! the musical!, loosely based on the 1988 Tim Burton horror-comedy classic, has seemingly taken forever to reach Australian shores. In reality, it’s only been six years since its barnstorming debut on Broadway, and while the show has debuted in countries such as South Korea and Brazil before reaching Melbourne’s Regent Theatre, it has yet to make an appearance on London’s West End, which is a coup for local theatre lovers.

Also a coup is securing the services of Eddie Perfect in the lead role. Perfect, who wrote the show’s music and lyrics, arguably knows the role better than anyone, and it’s a rare treat that he’s able to play the role in front of a hometown crowd.

While the show retains the basic structure of the original film, it’s not a slavish retelling and alters (and arguably improves upon) some key plot elements, while also softening the lead character into something more affable and cuddly than the perverted and gross demon that Michael Keaton played in the movie.

The show also reframes the story from Beeltejuice’s point of view, with sullen goth teen Lydia (Karis Oka) as a co-lead, and the movie’s twin protagonists, Adam and Barbara Maitland (Rob Johnson and Elise McCann), switched to supporting players.

The plot kicks off with titular ghoul serving as narrator and eagerly awaiting the imminent demise of the Maitlands, a bubbly married couple who both die in a freak accident and are guided through the afterlife by Beetlejuice, who encourages them to use their newly-acquired supernatural powers to scare off the new residents of their former home – Charles Deetz (Tom Wren), Charles’ employee and secret lover Delia (Erin Clare), and Charles’ daughter Lydia, who is still grieving the death of her mother.

But the morose Lydia soon discovers a kinship to the haunted house and is able to see both the Maitlands and Beetlejuice, who decides to use her extra-sensory skill set to help him escape from the afterlife and wreak havoc in the real world.

That kicks off a fight for control of the house that pits Lydia and her poltergeist pals against father Charles and would-be stepmum Delia.

The music in the Burton movie, composed by Danny Elfman, is iconic and Perfect only occasionally uses snippets of the score in his compositions, but makes the wise decision to retain the film’s memorable use of two Harry Belafonte calypso numbers. It’s a smart choice as a Beetlejuice musical without Day-O just wouldn’t feel right, and the entire Day-O sequence might rank as the show’s highlight, with almost too much comic mayhem taking place on stage to see it all in one go.

The set design of Beetlejuice is incredible. The off-centre, slanted designs and colourful lighting effects are brilliantly effective at letting us know whether we’re in the real world or the gloomy “netherworld”. The costumes also evoke the original film while coming up with some striking new designs as well.

This adaptation deserves credit for making the plot cleaner and by making the characters of Delia and Lydia much more interesting on stage, giving both characters interesting dimensions that never existed in the movie. The book by Scott Brown and Anthony King doesn’t take as many lines from the movie as you’d expect, instead coming up with its own jokes and dialogue for the most part and carefully avoiding simply coasting on the goodwill of the film. The writers really must be applauded for only using the original movie as a framework, and coming up with their own plot that deviates a fair bit from the source material.

The softening of the Beetlejuice character is also a welcome change for this stage version, as the lighthearted tone of the show definitely needed a more lighthearted Beetlejuice as well. In his early media appearances, I wasn’t completely sold on Perfect’s casting as the Ghost with the Most, but his singing is great throughout and he really excels in the non-musical sequences, with pinpoint comic timing and expert delivery of some wicked one-liners. It didn’t take long for the preview audience I attended to warm to Perfect and his character. His opening number, The Whole Being Dead Thing, is the perfectly snarky, catchy and downright fun note to open the show on.

Not to be outdone is the equally-impressive Oka, who was the favoured choice by fans to play Lydia even before it was officially announced that she was cast. Oka was seemingly born to play the gloomy, black-clad teen, and gets the stage to herself to belt out two of the show’s most emotional and heart-wrenching numbers, Dead Mom and Home. The emotional and pain that Oka conveys in those two numbers is just extraordinary and they could not have found a better Lydia.

The show’s choice to make Beetlejuice and Lydia allies in this version of the tale is a nice touch and a more interesting choice than what was done in the movie, with Perfect and Oka already sharing a terrific chemistry in what was only their second performance together on the night I attended.

There’s not a weak link in the supporting cast, with talented local stars like McCann, Wren and Johnson all excellent in support and all given their moments to shine. But special mention has to be made of the scene-stealing work of Clare as the self-absorbed but well meaning Delia. Her unique delivery of some hilarious dialogue generated the biggest laughs of the night, and Clare’s big and bold performance is a true scene stealer.

Beetlejuice might not the deepest or thought-provoking musical ever written, but credit must be given to the fact that it does still touch on some really challenging ideas and themes, and by not shying away from the impact of death and the way the crippling grief we all must deal with at some stage, but it also never forgets to be fun and must rank as one of the most enjoyable shows to arrive on these shores in many years, rivaling the feelgood gem that was last year’s Groundhog Day.

I don’t think a familiarity with the 1988 movie is a prerequisite to enjoy Beetlejuice, with the show owing much of its early success to millennials who are not familiar with the source material. But a liking for dark and occasionally macabre humour is a plus, and the presentation will wow anyone lucky enough to see it during its Melbourne run, where it will play exclusively, with no plans for it to tour the country at this stage.

In conclusion, run, don’t walk to the Regent Theatre to catch this phenomenal piece of theatre, one of the most fun two and a half hours I’ve had at theatre in recent years. And if you don’t have the time of your life, I’d recommend checking for a pulse.

5/5 STARS