It’s a show named for a star and that seems appropriate, as Beetlejuice The Musical is propelled by one. I refer to Andy Karl, who takes over the lead role from Eddie Perfect who wrote the music and lyrics and seems happy to step back.
Karl is an American, a Broadway star who is in the process of becoming a kind of honorary Australian, not least because he is engaged to Elise McCann, who was in this musical before he joined the cast. She is now taking parental leave as the couple is expecting a baby soon. Jenni Little has taken over from her as newly dead Barbara Maitland – and she does a fantastic job.
But, frankly, the show really hinges on Karl’s stunning performance as the black-and-white striped suit-wearing ghost Beetlejuice, a simplification of Betelgeuse, which happens to be a massive red supergiant star located in the constellation Orion, 640 light years from Earth.
Karl’s performance as Beetlejuice -the ghost with the most – is hilarious and at times moving, because this is a musical with heart that asks some propound questions about life and death while having an awful lot of fun in the process.
Beetlejuice The Musical is a dark comedy based on the 1988 Tim Burton film. It follows Lydia Deetz (Karis Oka), a gothic teenager grieving her mother’s death. When she moves into a new house haunted by a recently deceased couple – the Maitlands – they team up with a manic bio-exorcist ghost, Beetlejuice (Karl), to scare away the living.
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Reprising their roles from the Melbourne and international seasons of this show are Karis Okas (Lydia), Rob Johnson as the sweet but clueless Adam Maitland, Erin Clare as the Zen but zany Delia Deetz and Tom Wren as Charles Deetz, the dad who desperately needs a holiday from ghosts. Among the other cast members is Brisbane local Angelique Cassimatis as Miss Argentina (also dead). Cassimatis got a huge roar from fans on opening night and she is terrific in her brief but impactful role.
The show is very slick in many ways … amazing sets by David Korins, costumes by Tony Award-winner William Ivey Long, with a book by Scott Brown and Anthony King and the original score by our own Eddie Perfect, which contains some killer lines. Perfect’s songs are not just funny, there is some thoughtful philosophical content, too, which adds oomph.
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In the middle of it all is frenetic powerhouse Andy Karl, whose talent and energy is the foundation of the show. He is a seasoned campaigner with many musicals under his belt including Rocky The Musical and Groundhog Day.
I was lucky enough to lunch with him before the show opened in the Lyric Theatre at QPAC and was surprised to find that he is planning a musical about Arnold Schwarzenegger. No, really. He does an amazing Arnie accent, and he mentioned that voice would feature somewhere in Beetlejuice The Musical. I waited and waited but nothing. Until quite late in the piece when – spoiler alert – there it comes, a couple of classic Arnie lines delivered just for fun.
And, I guess, despite all the death inherent in a show about the recently departed, ghosts and the afterlife, fun is the operative word. Fun with great songs, a killer live band and a that incredible central performance by a Broadway star supported by a talented cast.
As Eddie Perfect says in a brief essay in his program notes … “when we laugh at death, we celebrate life”. “Those we love who have left us would want us to live and live well,” he writes. “So that’s what we should all do.”
Amen to that and thank you Reverend Eddie.
Beetlejuice The Musical continues in the Lyrics Theatre, QPAC, until August 2.
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