(Michael Cassel Group and Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures)

See the resurrected Beetlejuice before it is dead and buried!!!!

Dr Gemma Regan

Despite the incredible reception of Beetlejuice the Musical to the QPAC Lyric Theatre and the promise of an 8-week run, the last show will now be on only until July 5th and all shows in Sydney, Perth and Adelaide have been cancelled!

The Michael Cassel Group, made the "difficult decision" to cancel the show midway through its Brisbane run due to high running costs and lower than projected ticket sales. After the massive Broadway hit opened in Melbourne last year, Brisbane and the rest of the country had to wait another year for it to be “Showtime.”

Producer Michael Cassel described it as “another landmark moment for musical theatre in Brisbane!” Now the few remaining tickets to see the supernatural spectacle are all that will remain for this incredible high-octane production.

Australian comedian and composer Eddie Perfect, Scott Brown and Anthony King wrote the fast-paced show bursting with ghoulish gags for the stage version of Beetlejuice, based on the iconic 1988 movie starring Michael Keaton. Tony and Golden Globe winning Alex Timbers is a solid director ensuring the show maintains that Beetlejuice magic using puppetry and pyrotechnics with abandon.

Andy Karl is brilliant taking on Eddie Perfect’s role as Beetlejuice, "the Ghost with the most!" Elevating it to astral heights.  His audience banter, Keaton like ticks and rude asides are hilarious. Whenever, he takes to the stage the excitement is palpable amongst the cast and audience. He posted on instagram “So grateful for the laughs and the Brisbane audiences. Let's haunt this b**** til July 5!”

The show opens with hilarity as he wantonly discards a mandolin into the pits, only for it to spring magically up several times. “It’s a show about death!” Beetlejuice warns but “If you die during the performance- we aren’t stopping,” he warns. 

Despite Karl’s ethereal glow, the cast are not hidden in his shadow. Karis Oka plays an assertive young Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder’s character) and Jenni Little and Rob Johnson give a sound rendition of a gullible newly dead couple. Phantastic fodder for Beetlejuice’s wicked pranks!

Erin Clarke plays the mean Delia Deetz like Fran Drescher’s Nanny, with an animated face and sly asides, whilst Tom Wren as the suffering Charles is more present and assertive than his Jeffrey Jones movie counterpart.

The many songs are all written by Eddie Perfect are witty and littered with double-entendre’s, and whilst not being particularly catchy, all have the boisterous element of showbiz..

David Korins’ incredible sets are vibrant and colourful with a cartoonish quality and plenty of characteristic black and white stripes. Lighting is innovative and the supporting dancers shine, literally with an amazing suite of William Ivey Long’s ghoulish costumes. 

This ‘spare no expense’ philosophy has created a jaw-dropping spectacle of a show with spiralling costs leading to it’s imminent closure.

Be sure to see Beetlejuice The Musical before July 5th because although it’s showtime there will be no supernatural resurrection.

CLOSES 5th JULY 2026!