A Perfect visit from musical’s leads

STARS of stage and screen, Eddie Perfect and Karis Oka, were in town on Tuesday to bring a touch of Beetlejuice to Ballarat.

Both the lead performers in Beetlejuice The Musical at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre – respectively playing Beetlejuice and Lydia – they were in the area to promote their show, see historic sites including the Ballarat Old Cemetery Pioneers Section, and to thank Ballarat locals who have already made special trips to Melbourne to support their production.

Perfect, also the musical’s composer-lyricist, said the cast and crew are grateful the audience is travelling from all over country Victoria, and Australia.

“Knowing people make the trip down to see us, we thought it would be nice to make a trip out to return the favour,” he said.

Perfect said Melbourne’s theatre architecture owes everything to the goldfields.

“The wealth that was being dug out of the ground here created some of most beautiful buildings in Melbourne which are the envy of theatres all over the world, and we’re in one right now,” he said.

The pair were interested to see the Pioneers Section of the old cemetery, which is dedicated to the early settlers of Ballarat who established the community in the 1800s.

The Ballarat Old Colonists’ Association, established in 1883, played a significant role in the commemoration of these people and established the section’s monument.

The first burial at the old cemetery took place in 1848 and 683 burials were recorded until 1855. It’s estimated that all of these are in the Pioneers Block.

Oka said the location connects to the big themes of Beetlejuice, death and grief.

“Not talking about those things isn’t healthy,” she said. “You can’t sweep them under the rug.

“To honour death, you have to celebrate life. The heart of our show is very human.”

Perfect and Oka also made a visit to the award-winning book shop, Collins Booksellers on Lydiard, where Oka found Tim Burton’s Designing Worlds.

Burton is the creator of the iconic 1988 Beetlejuice film – starring Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder – which has been adapted for the stage.

Perfect encouraged the community to see the show, which he said is an example of “the sophistication of the modern Broadway musical.”

“There is very little elsewhere that has as much magic, as much

stage effects, extraordinary puppetry, video mapping; it’s the pinnacle,”

he said. “I always knew when I was writing it in New York that Australians would love it. We’re a little bit more relaxed with dark humour and we’re used to transgressing on taboos and stepping over the line.

“It’s funny and real in a way that a lot of musicals aren’t. We’re loving the wild reaction we get in the house every night.”