Beetlejuice The Musical is the most fun I’ve had in a Brisbane theatre in years.
That’s not a throwaway line designed to get your attention. It’s the conclusion I reached somewhere around the middle of act one, when I realised I hadn’t thought about work, the news or anything happening beyond the walls of QPAC for quite some time.
For a couple of hours, the world belongs entirely to Beetlejuice. It’s chaotic. It’s ridiculous. It’s gloriously weird. And Brisbane absolutely ate it up on opening night.
At the centre of it all is Andy Karl as everyone’s favourite ADHD demon from the Netherworld. Karl’s Beetlejuice arrives like a tornado in a striped suit and never really lets up. He’s mischievous, quick-witted and wonderfully self-aware, delivering the show’s endless stream of jokes with the kind of confidence that comes from spending decades at the top of the musical theatre game.
And that’s exactly what makes his casting feel so special.
Australian theatre fans are used to admiring Broadway stars from afar. For many of us, seeing performers of this calibre usually involves a passport, a long-haul flight and a healthy amount of financial recklessness. Instead, Brisbane audiences get Andy Karl, a Broadway heavyweight whose credits include Groundhog Day, Rocky and Jersey Boys, stepping into one of musical theatre’s most iconic modern roles. It’s a genuine thrill.
As brilliant as Karl is, Beetlejuice would struggle without a strong Lydia Deetz. Thankfully, Karis Oka is exceptional. Lydia serves as the show’s emotional anchor and Oka gives the role both vulnerability and strength. Her voice is extraordinary. Every note lands with crystal-clear precision and seems to travel effortlessly to the very back of the theatre. More than once, I found myself covered in goosebumps as she launched into another soaring number. In a production packed with spectacle, she makes sure the heart of the story never gets lost.
The musical takes Delia in a very different direction to the character made famous by Catherine O’Hara, reinventing her as a wellness-loving life coach with plenty to say and very little self-awareness. Here, Delia is played by Erin Clare, who clearly understands that Delia is funniest when she treats every ridiculous thing she says as profound wisdom. Her timing is impeccable, turning the character’s crystal-clutching, aura-cleansing brand of chaos into one of the night’s most reliable sources of laughter.
Then there’s Brisbane’s own Angelique Cassamatis as Miss Argentina. The hometown audience reaction when she launched into What I Know Now was immediate. The number is already one of the show’s highlights, but Cassimatis attacks it with such infectious energy that it becomes something even bigger. Her performance is a full-scale song-and-dance explosion, packed with personality and delivered at a pace that barely gives the audience time to catch its breath between laughs. Opening night crowds can sometimes be a little reserved. The Brisbane audience was having absolutely none of that. They adored her.
Visually, the production is exactly what fans of the original film would hope for. The sets are enormous and delightfully inventive, embracing the gothic eccentricity that made Tim Burton’s 1988 classic so memorable. Every scene seems to reveal another clever detail. Every transformation feels like a little piece of stage magic. It’s a production that understands that subtlety was never really part of the Beetlejuice brand.
The same could be said for Eddie Perfect’s score. Perfect’s songs are hilariously irreverent while carrying real musical weight. The comedy lands exactly where it should, but there’s substance underneath the jokes. His score gives the production much of its personality and helps bridge the gap between cult film and blockbuster musical remarkably well.
Speaking of the film, fans should know the stage adaptation doesn’t follow the original story beat for beat. It takes a few detours. Thankfully, they’re smart ones.
The musical expands Lydia’s role, reshapes some relationships and gives the story a slightly different centre of gravity. Rather than feeling like a betrayal of the source material, the changes make the story work better as a stage production. The spirit of the original remains firmly intact, complete with all the dark humour and wonderfully offbeat charm that made audiences fall in love with Beetlejuice in the first place.
What impressed me most, though, was how much fun everyone on stage seemed to be having. That sense of joy is infectious. By the end of the night, the audience wasn’t simply watching the show. They were completely caught up in it, laughing along with every absurd twist and cheering every big musical moment.
That’s what great theatre does. It transports you somewhere else for a while. And Beetlejuice transports you to a place populated by ghosts, demons, giant sandworms and people making deeply questionable life (and death) choices. Which turns out to be a surprisingly wonderful place to spend an evening.
It’s one of the best musicals I’ve seen in Brisbane.
I’ll definitely be back.
And then I may come back again.
After all, everybody knows the magic doesn’t really happen until you’ve said Beetlejuice three times. It’s SHOWTIME!
WHAT: Beetlejuice the Musical
WHEN: Until August 2.
WHERE: Lyric Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre
TICKETS: Get your tickets for Beetlejuice the Musical here.
In her spare time, she likes long walks down the makeup aisle and performing in Brisbane theatre. You can follow her adventures on Instagram and TikTok @thebeautypalate.
