Australia is diving head-first into a massive year for musical theatre in 2025. In addition to garden variety revivals and grassroots local stuff, Aussie audiences are also finally going to have the chance to experience two fresh, edgy Broadway blockbusters that haven’t been seen Down Under before now. In Sydney, that’s the February debut of Hadestown, while Melbourne is busting out the ghost with the most in Beetlejuice the Musical in May – the hair-raising musical comedy inspired by the cult 1988 film directed by Tim Burton. (Not to be confused with the 2024 movie sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which is another great addition to the fantastically twisted fictional universe, just saying.)
Beetlejuice’s summoning to the local stage is a spooky dream come true for Melbourne-based triple-threat Karis Oka, who has just been announced as Australia’s own Lydia Deetz – the quick-witted teenage outcast who finds herself befriending the dead couple who haunts her family’s new home. Portrayed by Winona Ryder on the big screen, the character is considered a goth icon. As she explains it to Time Out, on the day her casting was announced, Oka “felt like my brain and my heart was just going so fast all day!”.
It's a dream role for the Japanese-Australian actress, and even a passing glance at the comment section on her Instagram page (a space where off-beat shots of taxidermied creatures, tarot cards and mystic paraphernalia intermingle with backstage moments from her latest acting gigs) reveals that there’s a bunch of respected names in the local theatre industry who whole-heartedly agree that she’s the perfect fit.
Aside from being self-described as “dark sided” and at least “goth-adjacent”, Oka’s professional experience in musical theatre has helped shape her to take on a demanding role of this ilk. She was signed on for the Australian production of Six the Musical before she’d even officially graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts, and from 2021–2023 she toured the country as a swing. Currently, she holds the record for fastest swing in a single production of Six, playing all six roles in 24 days (according to the official Six the Musical fandom wiki).
Oka is no stranger to musicals with distinctive cult followings; she’s also starred as Edna in the 2021 tour of Fangirls (the Aussie pop musical that shimmied its way over to the West End) and as the “freakishly straight-edged” Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg in the critically-acclaimed Australian premiere of Ride the Cyclone at Sydney’s Hayes Theatre Co, another dark comedy that deals with untimely death. On screen, we will also soon see her in the Rebel Wilson-directed musical comedy The Deb (that is, when it finally gets an Australian release date).
In Beetlejuice, Oka will be starring alongside Eddie Perfect, who made a big splash with the announcement that he’s stepping into the shoes of the rabble-rousing ‘bio-exorcist’ himself, Betelgeuse. The Aussie actor/singer-songwriter/pianist/comedian/writer scored himself a Tony nomination for developing the musical’s music and lyrics, but Perfect has never actually played the scallywag himself, before now.
As we anxiously wait for Beetlejuice to open at the Regent Theatre, Time Out’s resident musical enthusiast and fan of all things “strange and unusual” sat down with Oka to discuss all things giant sandworms and more. Read on below, if you dare.
Q&A with Australian Beetlejuice the Musical star Karis Oka
Alannah: My first question for you is, do you consider yourself to be “strange and unusual”?
Karis: Actually, I think I'm really normal, which is the weird thing! I feel like everyone else is strange and unusual, but then everyone thinks the opposite. But I think I'm not unusual in the ways that people would expect, I think I'm weird in ways that other people don't see in me.
How do you plan to embody this role, and fill the shoes of those who have come before you, like our OG Winona Ryder?
I think all the little ways in which we're different are kind of more interesting to me than the ways that we’re similar – because, to be honest, there are a lot of similarities. I’m also a fan of the original film and the musical, so I definitely want to stay true to that. The musical naturally keeps all of the really iconic parts of the film, and then there’s so much room around that for new stuff and different points of view… all of that wiggle room around the sides is where I'll work it out.
Lydia, she’s a goth icon. I've always been dark sided, I’d definitely say goth-adjacent. In doing research for Lydia, I had a deep dive into what goth is and what the culture actually is, and I would say I have been a goth kid my whole life. It is beyond just dark clothes and going to raves and stuff like that, it really is big love for the dark, the macabre and the weird.
Tell me a bit about your relationship with Beetlejuice, both the movie and the musical?
I saw the movie when I was young, amongst watching, like, all of Tim Burton’s stuff. But Beetlejuice was the only one I was very obsessed with. I just got sucked into it. You know when something really just speaks to your soul? I don't even remember choosing to be obsessed with it, it was just a natural awareness that I had. And finding out about the musical, obviously being a musical theatre person as well, I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is like, worlds colliding!’ I remember waiting for the soundtrack, I was like, I need that as soon as possible. It makes perfect sense that the story has become more popular over the years, and that it took off in the musical theatre world, because it's doubling down on anyone that’s kind of felt like an oddball.
What do you love about this musical, and why do you think it works so well?
It's textbook musical theatre, but then also just, not. It's undercut by the style of Beetlejuice, and that humour. I describe it as ‘off’ – like, off-beat, but also just off. Like the character of Betelgeuse, he’s off! Everything’s not quite right. It’s dark humour, it's about death. We're singing some beautiful, dark, deep, serious songs – and then there’s going to be a giant sand worm, and it's going to get so wacky. I think it has to go so weird, because it goes really real at the same time.
Traditionally, musicals are slick, shiny and sparkly; and they've got to have a good start, middle and end, and wrap up nicely in a bow. But I feel like putting that Beetlejuice energy into a musical, it almost shouldn't work, and the fact that it does – there's some real magic to that. It's so addictive!
Which song do you think is going to be the most challenging to perform in this show?
One that will be really tricky but equally rewarding to do is ‘Home’. It's the emotional climax for Lydia, it's so full of emotion, and singing while almost crying is really hard!
Are you looking forward to working with Eddie Perfect?
Oh my god, yeah! I keep thinking about how this feels really big for me. But then I'm like, 'This is his baby – and then he’s also playing Betelgeuse!?' I can't even imagine how that would feel. I’m really excited not only to be working with him, but I’m really excited for him. I just hope he has the best time.
The Australian premiere of Beetlejuice the Musical is presented by the Michael Cassel Group with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures and Langley Park Productions. It opens in Melbourne this May, and tickets are on sale over here.
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