After making its Australian debut last year at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre before heading internationally for a few months, producer Michael Cassel Group are finally set to unleash Beetlejuice the Musical upon Brisbane audiences at the QPAC Lyric Theatre next month. As part of their ongoing promotion for the musical, a number of media and local musical theatre students were invited to attend a special In Conversation event featuring Eddie Perfect, the Australian writer, musician and actor who was behind the music and lyrics for this cult musical. There was much to hear directly from the creative’s mouth, opposite Michael Cassel AM, the musical’s Australian producer and host of the event. While those in the musical theatre social media space may have seen a bevvy of stories and posts about the In Conversation event, I would like to share some of the takeaways I received from it:
He wrote three songs for free, and three months later, he got the good news!
When Perfect first heard that Beetlejuice the Musical was being developed by Warner Bros. Theatricals, he wasn’t even invited to pitch. His agent told him the creative team had already approached a roster of high-profile composer-lyricist teams and weren’t interested in expanding the field further. Rather than walk away, Perfect offered to write two songs for the project free, reasoning that the worst-case scenario was him simply getting his writing in front of a proper Broadway director. One of those songs, written in a small shed at the back of his home in Brunswick, Melbourne, was “Dead Mom”; another was “The Whole Being Dead Thing” – and then a third “Death’s Not Great” which was dropped from the show. Three months after sending the demos off, his agent called to tell him he had landed the gig. This reshaped the trajectory of his career, as he and his family moved to the US for several years, working to bring the film to life… musically.
Lydia was originally reunited with her dead mother, and they cut it
In one of the early workshop drafts of Beetlejuice, Lydia did reunite with her late mother in the Netherworld. Perfect recalls sitting in a bar afterwards with book writers Scott Brown and Anthony King, all three of them sensing that something about the moment had not landed the way they had hoped. They eventually realised why. The scene was offering audiences a kind of closure that real grief never provides. To honour the genuine experience of loss (something Perfect’s wife lived through after losing her own mother), the team deliberately reshaped the Netherworld into an unchanging, unfeeling void where the answers we long for are never offered.
He considers the Australian cast one of the best the show has ever had
Perhaps a little bit biased,, given that this is the very first time he has performed alongside the cast in the titular role for several months, he shared that the Australian company is the strongest cast the show has ever had. He pointed in particular to the depth and individuality of the ensemble, which he says manages to combine acrobatic dancing, full-out singing, and genuine comedic instinct. He singled out Karis Oka as easily one of the finest Lydias the show has produced, and offered warm praise for Andy Carl, Elise McCann, Rob Johnston, Tom Wren, and Erin Clare.
He used to sneak into the Broadway production of Beetlejuice the Musical anonymously
During the pre-pandemic Broadway run, Perfect was living on the Upper West Side and would sometimes find himself wondering, mid-evening, what might be happening on stage at the Winter Garden Theatre at that very moment. If he were passing by, he would occasionally slip in through the stage door (which he could do as the show’s composer), wait for a gap in the curtain after the next round of applause, and quietly take in a song or two from the back of the auditorium before disappearing again. He described it as one of the most extraordinary experiences of his career, watching a roomful of strangers respond to something he had made while remaining completely anonymous within it.
The demos released during COVID were never meant to be heard publicly
Demos for musical theatre productions may be leaked on occasion, but they are usually never seen in public distribution. However, when the pandemic shut down theatres globally, and Beetlejuice was sitting dormant on Broadway, Perfect decided to release them publicly. He likened the experience of listening to a writer’s demo to seeing the preparatory sketches behind a work of fine artwork, that being the moment when the artist is most free, most willing to swing for the fences, and most experimental. He also hoped the release would be useful to other musical theatre writers who are sometimes intimidated by the polished final products that arrive on Broadway.
The Polish translation of Beetlejuice the Musical got pretty dark
As Beetlejuice has been mounted in Sweden, the Czech Republic, Poland, and beyond, Perfect has been sent the various translated scripts. He uses these as a kind of accidental cultural barometer, since languages translate themes of life and death very differently, and also to align with the beat of each song and its linguistic requirements. The Polish translation in particular stood out to him, where the opening number Lydia sings became something closer to “everything is meaningless and bleak and grey, and life is just a teardrop on a stained windowpane”.
Performing in his own show taught him a lot about being a writer
Perfect originated the role of Beetlejuice in the Australian production after years of writing for Alex Brightman, the original Broadway Beetlejuice, who is famously physically versatile and small in stature. When Perfect stepped into the role himself, he very quickly discovered that many of the comedic and physical bits he had cheerfully written into the script were not necessarily things he could pull off. He likened the experience to working as a waiter for years and then suddenly having to cook the meals, a humbling reminder of how much a writer can pile onto an actor without thinking.
So much fan art from the passionate Beetlejuice the Musical community
Once Beetlejuice found its audience on Broadway, the production began receiving fan art at such volume that the walls of the Winter Garden Theatre were quickly filled with it. The same response repeated when the show opened in Australia, with Perfect being given beads, jewellery, and pins by audience members at the stage door. He attributes the phenomenon to something in the show’s visual world that seems to actively invite participation, an aesthetic that gives audiences permission to make things, dress up, and bring their own creativity into the space.
His children heard the first draft of “Dead Mom” on the way to school
From the very earliest stages of writing the demos that would become the pitch, Perfect would play his works in progress to his children on school runs, asking for their honest reactions. They heard a version of “Dead Mom” with completely different lyrics, and apparently still remember those original words to this day. He credits the practice as both a useful craft (his children were closer to Lydia’s age than he was), and in turn, they have a sense of ownership over a project that has shaped the family’s life ever since
He wrote the charades scene by improvising both sides alone
There is a moment in “Say My Name” where Beetlejuice and Lydia play charades together, an exchange that reads as wholly spontaneous live invention. Perfect explained that he wrote it by scripting one character’s side of the conversation, then improvising the other side aloud, alone, in real time, before deleting the improvised half and keeping only what felt like a natural reaction.
and one from Andy Carl: #Brizzyjuice
The event opened with a pre-recorded video message from Andy Karl himself, who has taken over the role of Beetlejuice following Perfect’s tenure. He used the opportunity to pitch a potential new hashtag for the Brisbane run: “#Brizzyjuice”. Whether or not it actually catches on with audiences is another story. According to Perfect, Karl has been genuinely excited to bring his own spin to the Brisbane run
I would like to pass on my gratitude to the team at Michael Cassel Group for the invitation to this event! If you are keen on purchasing tickets for the upcoming Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide or Sydney seasons of Beetlejuice the Musical, all booking details can be found via the musical’s official Australian website.
