From Beetlejuice to Les Mis and Annie: A big-ticket guide to Melbourne’s shows

From arena spectaculars to epics ancient and modern, there are a slew of big-ticket shows to tantalise audiences this year. It’s going to be massive, so let’s dive straight into an overview of the biggest of the big main stage and commercial theatre events coming to Melbourne in 2025.

Reeve Carney and the cast of Hadestown perform at the 2019 Tony Awards in New York. Credit: AP

HADESTOWN

The Ancient Greeks didn’t do things by halves, and the United States? Well, Dame Edna once quipped drily that America is “the world’s best-kept secret”, although sometimes a blockbuster musical does indeed start small over there. Hadestown – an Orphic musical from singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell that bagged eight Tony Awards in 2019 – began as an indie touring production on a bus in Vermont, before morphing into a concept album, and eventually taking Broadway and the West End by storm. It’s a jazz-and-folk-inspired musical retelling of a Greek legend – the doomed romance of Orpheus and Eurydice, spliced into the myth of Hades and Persephone – with a gloomy factory for an underworld and a trio of Fates weaving destinies in song. With a star-studded cast including Christine Anu, Abigail Adriano, Adrian Tamburini, Noah Mullins and Elenoa Rokabaro, this will be a truly epic musical theatre event. Her Majesty’s Theatre, from May 8.

Eddie Perfect takes the title role in the musical, Beetlejuice, for which he also wrote the music and the lyrics. Credit: Benny Capp

BEETLEJUICE

Beginnings do get humbler than a bus in Vermont. Musical theatre whiz Eddie Perfect is from the Melbourne suburb of Mentone, and he’ll soon be starring on the city’s biggest commercial stage as the undead chaos agent, Beetlejuice.

Perfect wrote the music and lyrics to the Beetlejuice musical for Broadway a decade ago. He’s been charming Australian audiences with his irreverent, razor-sharp wit for a lot longer than that, of course, through satirical solo cabarets and the iconic Shane Warne: the Musical. Adapted from the 1988 comedy horror film (directed by Tim Burton and featuring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Geena Davis), the musical makes far more emotional sense than the movie, and Perfect delights in skewering the taboo of death itself.

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Perfect perform songs from the show live, in a cabaret staged between pandemic lockdowns. It’s a frenetic, scurrying score, with plenty of outlandish black comic juice and a surprisingly poignant underbelly. Melburnians won’t want to miss a home-grown star in the oddball Gothic limelight. Regent Theatre, from May 7.

The cast wave the flag for Les Miserables - The Arena Spectacular. Credit: Danny Kaan

LES MISÉRABLES: THE ARENA SPECTACULAR

Arena spectaculars are by definition massive and, having just finished up with the Australian Open, Rod Laver Arena will play host to the much-loved musical theatre classic, Les Misérables, in May. There’ll be an internationally renowned cast manning the barricades, with Alfie Boe and Killian Donnelly as the criminal antihero, Jean Valjean, Michael Ball and Bradley Jaden as his nemesis, Inspector Javert, Rachell Ann Go as Fantine, and Matt Lucas (who made his name in the TV sketch comedy series, Little Britain) teaming up with our own Marina Prior as the comic villains of the piece, Monsieur and Madame Thénardier. Doesn’t get much bigger than that. Rod Laver Arena, from May 14.

Dancing hobbits on stage for Lord of the Rings - A Musical Tale. Credit: Daniel Boud

LORD OF THE RINGS

Except maybe Lord of the Rings? As musical theatre? Cramming the whole of Middle-Earth on stage might sound like a tall order, but you can’t fault the ambition. Original music, spectacular set and costume, a dynamic score and ensemble storytelling promise to take audiences from the cosiness of a Hobbit home to the grim fires of Mordor, as Frodo Baggins (Rarmian Newton) unites a band of brave companions on a fateful quest to save Middle-Earth. The talented Australian cast includes Laurence Boxhall as Gollum, Jemma Rix as Galadriel and Ian Stenlake as Saruman. Even if Lord of the Rings only immerses us in the highlights of J.R.R. Tolkien’s seminal fantasy fiction, it should leave fans in its thrall. Comedy Theatre, from April 26.

Michael Paynter (Jesus) and Mahalia Barnes (Mary Magdalene) in Jesus Christ Superstar.Credit: Jeff Busby

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

At the Princess Theatre, Jesus Christ Superstar arrives in March to take over from the glorious Tina Turner musical. The production stars Melbourne’s outrageous comedy and cabaret star Reuben Kaye as Herod, Michael Paynter as Jesus, Javon King as Judas and Mahalia Barnes as Mary, unleashing power vocals in a Biblical rock opera that’s a tried-and-true musical favourite – and still one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s best, in my opinion. Princess Theatre from March 16.

ANNIE

Big things, small packages, they say, and it’s true of the inextinguishable optimism of the orphan lead in the musical, Annie, taking over from the passion of Jesus in July. Anthony Warlow will be reprising the role of Daddy Warbucks (which he’s played on Broadway), and auditions for the juvenile cast are to be held in April: they’re always a big deal for aspiring musical theatre stars of the future. Princess Theatre, from July 10.

Troy brings the story of the Trojan War to the Malthouse stage.

TROY

Hadestown isn’t the only Ancient Greek myth to resurface in 2025, with Tom Wright’s Troy, directed by Matthew Lutton, adapting the story of the Trojan War to the stage. The conflict was historical, but we know it mostly through heroic legend (Homer’s Iliad, first and foremost). This drama should contrast human and mythic scales, the timeless war coming to life through Lutton’s gift for epic visual design, Wright’s taste for blending ancient and modern (he has adapted The Odyssey), and an ensemble including talents such as Paula Arundell and Mark Leonard Winter. Malthouse Theatre, September 4–25.

The Wrong Gods, starring Radhika Mudaliyar and Nadie Kammallaweera, tells the story of a mother-and-daughter struggle.

THE WRONG GODS

Contemporary classic Counting and Cracking – an intergenerational family saga set between Sri Lanka and Australia – was a highlight at last year’s Rising festival, and playwright S. Shakthidharan returns with a co-production between Melbourne Theatre Company and Belvoir in Sydney. In The Wrong Gods, a village in a remote valley in India carries a sense of proud independence and cultural continuity spanning many thousands of years. When a stranger arrives, a daughter of the latest generation seeks to look beyond the confines of her home. Will a taste of the world outside prove a Faustian pact? If it’s even half as accomplished as Counting and Cracking, this should be an unmissable feat of theatrical storytelling. Melbourne Theatre Company, June 6 to July 12.

Marney McQueen (centre) plays Céline Dion, the diva who comes between Jack (Drew Weston) and Rose (Georgina Hopson) in the camp fever dream, Titanique.Credit: Daniel Boud

OTHER HOT RECS AND TEASERS ...

Fans of psychological suspense will find a serendipitous surprise double, as the Malthouse and the MTC are adapting stories that inspired Hitchcock films – a version of The Birds using creepy audio technology in May, and Rebecca, starring Nikki Shiels, Bert Labonté and Pamela Rabe, from July. If you’re as impatient as I am, there’s also the Agatha Christie classic, And Then There Were None, at the Comedy Theatre this month.

Farces don’t get sillier or more crowd-pleasing than The Play that Goes Wrong (The Athenaeum, September 3-21), and musical theatre nerds will be eagerly anticipating the offbeat Broadway hit, Kimberley Akimbo: A Musical (Arts Centre Melbourne, July 26 to August 30).

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights is rumoured to be heading to Melbourne.Credit: Daniel Boud

There are always unannounced tours being whispered about on the grapevine. My lips are sealed, although if you look to successful stage shows in interstate capitals, there’s much to tantalise. Will Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, which has just announced a season in Sydney, come to Melbourne?

Certainly, Hamilton fans should be keeping their ears to the ground for word of whether if Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights, playing the Sydney Opera House in August, will head south.

Other musical theatre successes Melbourne might eye with envy, hoping for a tour? Hedwig and the Angry Inch, starring Seann Miley Moore at the Adelaide Festival, tops the list, and the parody, Titanique – a Celine Dion jukebox musical that rewrites the James Cameron film to make Dion the heroine – is getting big laughs in Sydney by merrily cutting the blockbuster down to size. It even features (I kid you not) a singing iceberg.

The best of Good Weekend delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Sign up here.