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He’s gone from homegrown small screen star to spearheading the stage version of one of the biggest movies of the ’80s.
Through six hit seasons, Eddie Perfect’s turn as gardener turned musician and all-round nice guy Mick Holland on Ten’s hit Offspring earned him fans across the country. But despite calling time on his character at the height of the show’s success, his high-stakes gamble has paid off.
Now, less than two years after quitting the popular drama, the actor, musician and writer has nabbed the Broadway gig of a lifetime: writing the score for the musical version of Beetlejuice.
“There was no hesitation,” says the gravel-voiced 41-year-old of his decision to leave Offspring. “I just knew, despite the pain, that it was something I had to do. I love everybody on the show, but I was really excited about getting out and doing something different – of course, it was annoying because [the success of the show] meant that it was a much harder thing to do!”
In a case of life imitating art, just as his Offspring character’s career flourished and took him overseas, Perfect similarly landed the gig of a lifetime, with the musical version of Beetlejuice making its Broadway debut next month.
Based on Tim Burton’s 1988 cult classic, the stage reworking is a testament to its enduring appeal. But three decades on, how will the stage treatment sit with fans?
“It’s a really sympathetic approach,” says Perfect. “It feels like you’re in a live Tim Burton set. The costumes are so kooky and amazing. It’s very much the world from the movie that people love and the characters are all there –some of them altered more than others – but essentially our story puts Lydia [the character played by Winona Ryder] front and centre.
“I’ve always loved the movie, but it has an incredibly odd structure, so it was a real challenge to draw a satisfying story arc … Beetlejuice doesn’t even appear for the first 30 or 40 minutes. It’s a really strange piece. The positive is that audiences have 30-plus years of the movie’s existence to become fans and they’ll hopefully be excited to see what a theatre production of it will be like. It goes a bit deeper, plus, it’s got a lot more music.”
Though best known for his TV work, Perfect’s first love is musical theatre. He wrote the score for Shane Warne: The Musical, and contributed songs to Strictly Ballroom The Musical.
“I wrote my first musical when I was 22,” he says. “But I never thought ‘this is my career’, because I didn’t think I would be able to make a living out of it.”
However, his passion for the genre won out. “Depressed” about the state of musical writing in Australia, Perfect began to worry that time was running out for his Broadway aspirations, so three years ago he took a leap of faith.
“I was getting increasingly upset that I was going to miss the boat,” he recalls. “My wife, Lucy, was like: ‘just buy a ticket to New York and see what happens – take the risk’. So I did. I didn’t know anyone or anything, I just called on every single favour I could to meet with anyone.”
Read the whole article in this week’s WHO.
