Beetlejuice the Musical's Australian run ends early

Beetlejuice the Musical is bringing down the final curtain early, cancelling all shows in Perth, Sydney and Adelaide. (Supplied: Michael Cassel Group/Michelle Grace Hunder) The Australian run of Beetlejuice the Musical is coming to an early close. The last show will be at QPAC in Brisbane on July 5 and all shows in Sydney, Perth and Adelaide have been cancelled. The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance says it will work with the production company to ensure workers are paid their entitlements. Link copiedShareShare articleBeetlejuice the Musical is calling curtains early on its Australian run. On Friday the producer, the Michael Cassel Group, said in a statement the "difficult decision" had been made to cancel the show midway through its Brisbane leg. All performances in Sydney, Perth and Adelaide have been cancelled. "For a production of this scale, the current logistical realities of touring across vast distances between Australian cities have created increasing cost pressures that ultimately made continuing the run unsustainable," a Michael Cassel Group spokesperson said. "While audience enthusiasm for the show has been encouraging, a more cautious consumer environment combined with the economics of moving a production of this magnitude could not be justified." The final show will be at QPAC in Brisbane on July 5. Andy Karl, who is playing role of Beetlejuice in the remaining Brisbane shows, posted his response in character to Instagram. "It sucks for everybody who was part of the production already," he said. "But seriously — best damn company, so grateful for the laughs and the Brisbane audiences. Australian comedian and composer Eddie Perfect has written the score for the stage version of Beetlejuice, which is about to premiere in New York. The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), said in a statement that the cancellation was "deeply disappointing and devastating for the cast, crew and musicians who were booked for show over the coming months". "At a time when the live performance sector is already under pressure, this decision highlights the precarious nature of creative work and the gap between the ambitions set out in Australia's current National Cultural Policy and the lived reality for those working in the industry," the spokesperson said. "Abrupt cancellations like this highlight the need for stronger protections, greater accountability, and better government support to ensure cultural work is valued and workers are not left exposed." The MEAA spokesperson said the union will be actively pursuing all entitlements owed to affected members. The show had been booked to tour to Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. A spokeswoman for the Adelaide Festival Centre said ticket sales for the Adelaide season had been "tracking very strongly". "This is simply the unfortunate circumstance of an entire national tour of Beetlejuice being cancelled," she said. "The decision relates to the commercial viability of the national tour as a whole." Performers in Beetlejuice have been told their season will end early. (Supplied: Michael Cassel Group/Michelle Grace Hunder) Beetlejuice the Musical is based on the 1988 movie starring Michael Keaton. The show, which opened on Broadway in March 2019, has had mixed fortunes. Written by Australian Eddie Perfect, Scott Brown and Anthony King, early reviews panned the show and ticket sales for the first few months in New York were disappointing. Despite the lacklustre response Beetlejuice was nominated for eight Tony Awards in 2019 and Perfect tailored a performance at the awards ceremony to include jokes about the Tonys and actors who were in the audience. When the performance was uploaded online it found millions of new fans. Within a few months ticket sales had soared and turned the show's fortunes around. It became something of a cult hit, with audience members sporting costumes to look like the cast. And while the musical is currently playing in London's West End, a planned Singapore run was cancelled in December, a month before it was due to begin. The Australian actor, writer and composer reflects on how his Broadway show based on the 80s Tim Burton movie came back from the dead. It is not the first musical to call curtains early in Australia recently. Back to the Future: The Musical ended its Australian run in Sydney in January after producers scrapped plans for a national tour. That decision was also blamed on high running costs, disappointing ticket sales and a tougher than expected economic climate. Beetlejuice the Musical began its Australian run in Melbourne in May 2025 with Perfect playing the lead character. Copy linkFacebookX (formerly Twitter)PromotionTop StoriesMelbourne woman suffers acute liver failure after using knock-off drugTopic:Health

Beetlejuice the Musical's Australian run ends early

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