Back in 2019 just before the pandemic, Angelique Cassimatis was sitting around on her couch, sad about not being on stage and listening to the album of a new show at the time, Beetlejuice the Musical.
Now fast-forward to 2025 and Cassimatis has a role in said show when Bettlejuice The Musical comes to Australia for the first time.
Based on the cult classic Tim Burton film, it tells the story of Lydia Deetz (Karis Oka), a strange and unusual teenager whose whole life changes when she meets a recently deceased couple and a demon with a thing for stripes.
Cassimatis plays the role of Miss Argentina, and despite being a small role she says she’s ecstatic.
“This crazy, wild, silly, hilarious, magical show. It’s not often you get to be a part of something that’s the first iteration of a show that comes to Australia… to actually be part of the show in some little way is incredible,” she tells Neos Kosmos.
She describes her moment in the show as “explosive” and one that she gets to put all her talents into.
“I’m a dancer first – I love dance and I sort of fell into singing and acting after that and it’s a great little moment for someone that can do a bit of everything,” she says.
“I get flung around the stage, I get to sing. I get to use all my all the things that I love to do.
“I feel very lucky that I get to have that opportunity to use all them little aspects of musical theatre in one little number.”
The original score of the musical was by Eddie Perfect from Melbourne, which earned him a Tony Award nomination in 2019.
He’s also playing the titular character of Beetlejuice in the show, and Cassimatis says it’s been a delight.
“Being on stage with the guy who wrote the songs and was there from the absolute beginning moment of this creation of the show has been pretty special and it’s probably a bit of a highlight for me,” she says.
Being based off a popular movie, there’s always going to be comparisons, and when asked by Neos Kosmos to do so, Cassimatis had the following to say.
“Obviously the movie is so iconic and there’s definitely aspects that are brought into the show but they are two different things,” she says.
“The movie is incredible but I feel the stage show has a slightly more obvious storyline in a way.
“Someone who might not love the movie as much will probably enjoy the stage show because it delves deeper into a few of the characters.
“There’s some really beautiful heartfelt moments that I wasn’t expecting to see.”
But she says for fans of the movie, a lot has been bought in, in a “very clever way, so I think you’re going to be in for a real treat”.
When Neos Kosmos last spoke with Cassimatis in early 2021, it was just announced she replaced Kerri-Anne Kennerly in the Sydney’s Lyric Theatre’s musical Pippin.
Back then she told us that a first trip to Greece was in the plans for the future – and it still is.
She was meant to go but she was in the disco cabaret show, Velvet, for its Hamburg, Germany season.
Her family in Greece ended up going to Germany to see her so that first Greek trip has yet to come to fruition.
But if an opportunity ever came for her to perform in the birthplace of Western theatre, she’ll be on that plane in a heartbeat.
Bettlejuice The Musical is running at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre from May 7 to August 3 2025.
For more information and tickets, visit the Bettlejuice The Musical Australia website.
