Broadway star Andy Karl reveals the heart of Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice star Andy Karl says the global musical phenomenon is packed with laughs, but it’s the themes of family, loss and connection that stay with audiences long after the curtain falls.

When I connect with Andy Karl over Zoom, he’s sitting in sunshine.

The acclaimed Broadway performer is in Brisbane ahead of the opening of Beetlejuice The Musical at QPAC on Sunday, while I’m shivering through a grey Melbourne morning. The global hit musical will play a limited Brisbane season before heading to Perth, Adelaide and Sydney.

He’s quick to point out the contrast.

“It’s actually quite beautiful, and the weather is perfect,” he teases. “I feel like I’m in a vacation spot doing the show.”

That easy humour is fitting. After all, Karl is about to step into one of musical theatre’s most outrageous roles – the wild-haired, wisecracking ghost at the centre of the global smash hit Beetlejuice.

Yet as our conversation unfolds, it becomes clear that beneath all the chaos, comedy and supernatural mayhem lies something much deeper. And that’s exactly why audiences keep falling in love with it.

More than a ghost story

“I love Beetlejuice being that ride that you get with any tremendously well put together, beautifully crafted musical,” Karl says. “It’s going to take you on that journey of hilarity and humanity, and songs and performances that you’re not expecting. I think it’s the best mix of everything you could possibly want. If you’re a fan of musicals, but also if you aren’t. Even if your partner is dragging you to come see a musical, come see Beetlejuice, because I think this is the one you should be dragged to.”

Karl knows a thing or two about memorable roles. The three-time Tony Award nominee and Olivier Award winner has starred in Rocky, Groundhog Day, Moulin Rouge!, Pretty Woman, Wicked and Legally Blonde, building a career that has made him one of Broadway’s most respected leading men.

But Beetlejuice, he says, is unlike anything else.

“I’ve kind of always described it since I started taking it on as, ‘I don’t play Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice plays me.’

“Beetlejuice plays me.” ~ Andy Karl

“He can go in many different directions. If I’m feeling a line should be said a different way, it’s such a playful role. I’m taking all the history of every role I’ve ever done and putting it into what I’ve got to do next, so you will be hearing not only the Beetlejuice voice, but a lot of other voices because I’m letting every role I’ve ever done come through like a ghost and take over the demon.”

The result, he admits, can be exhausting.

“There are moments I get carried away, and I’m like, ‘I shouldn’t have done that because now I’m exhausted’,” he says.

“But if I get a laugh, that’s the drug for me. It has been since the first show I ever did in my life… once I got a laugh, I was hooked from day one.”

The heart beneath the chaos

That love of comedy sits at the heart of Beetlejuice, but Karl believes the show’s lasting appeal comes from something more meaningful. While audiences arrive expecting spectacle, laughs and Tim Burton-inspired madness, they often leave talking about family, loss and connection.

Beneath the ghosts, demons and one-liners are characters trying to find their way through loss, family tensions and the messy business of being human.

“You find out more than what you’ve ever known from the actual source material,” Karl says. “You’re getting each character. You’re finding out more about them than you ever knew from the movie. There’s so many beautiful messages through each character.

“Even Beetlejuice has a problem with his mother, as we find out in a very funny way.”

The show’s music, written by Australian performer and composer Eddie Perfect, helps bring those themes to life and Karl is full of praise for Perfect’s score and its ability to balance irreverent humour with genuine emotional weight.

“His sense of humour is so spot on with what the tone of the show is,” he says.

“A little bit dark, a little bit naughty, but also very meaningful.”

Why Australians get it

That dark humour seems to resonate particularly well with Australian audiences.

Karl first experienced it while starring in Groundhog Day, which featured music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, another Aussie super talent.

“I feel like Australians get the dark funny here,” he says. “They are so funny. I’ve been to a lot of the comedy festivals in Melbourne and there’s something about the sense of humour for Australians that really connects to Beetlejuice.”

He also believes local audiences will be surprised by the emotional depth of the Australian cast. At one point during rehearsals, Karl found himself watching fellow performers Tom Wren and Karis Oka in a father-daughter scene and was fighting back tears.

“We are so lucky, and Brisbane is so lucky to have this cast,” he says. “I’ve seen this show in many incarnations, Broadway and beyond, and this has got to be the best cast.”

An honorary Aussie

Off stage, Karl is embracing Australian life too. His fiancée is Australian musical theatre star Elise McCann, who was originally part of the Beetlejuice cast before stepping away on parental leave (the couple are expecting their first child later this year).

“We’re making a little Beetlejuice baby of our own,” he says.

Australia has already influenced him in other ways.

“The biggest thing this morning was right before this Zoom. I was like, ‘You know what? We have to go get coffee’. Because any red-blooded Australian now has got to start the day with good coffee,” he says emphatically.

“I’m now a coffee snob… it’s an effect that I take with pride.”

‘The top is the work’

For all the awards and international acclaim, Karl remains remarkably grounded. When asked whether there was ever a moment when he felt he’d finally “made it”, his answer is immediate.

“Never.”

“The minute you start thinking that way is the minute you start… there is no top. The top is the work.”

It’s a philosophy shaped by decades in the industry and reinforced during the long months when theatres around the world went dark during the pandemic.

“The reason we’re here is to be entertained and have fun and be part of a collective,” he says. “I’m so grateful for the audiences that show up.”

A little laughter and death

As Beetlejuice prepares to open in Brisbane, Karl believes that’s what audiences will remember most.

Not the ghosts, nor the special effects… and not even the laughs.

It’s ‘the feeling’.

Towards the end of our conversation, he reflects on why comedy can be such a powerful way to explore difficult subjects like grief, family and loss. His own father died earlier this year, and the experience has given him an even deeper appreciation for the show’s themes.

“It makes any impossible hard time possible when you add comedy to it,” he says.

“It just takes the weight right out of it. And I think it also gives us a connection with people. I’m all for a little laughter and death.”

For a show built around ghosts, demons and life after death, it is perhaps the most human sentiment of all.

Beetlejuice The Musical opens at QPAC’s Lyric Theatre in Brisbane on June 7 and runs until August 2 before touring to Perth, Adelaide and Sydney. Starring Broadway favourite Andy Karl alongside Karis Oka, Tom Wren, Erin Clare and Rob Johnson, the production combines Tim Burton’s beloved characters with an original score by Australian composer Eddie Perfect. For tickets and session information, visit the official Beetlejuice The Musical website.