When Karis Oka found out she had been cast in Beetlejuice the musical she cried a lot, the performer says. “Imagine booking your dream job, then times that by 1000 – and that was probably how much I was crying.” She pauses then laughs. “I was very glad I wasn’t in public.”
The announcement of her casting, however, will be very public – taking place on Saturday evening at Rod Laver Arena’s centre court, where Oka will perform a song from the musical in front of a crowd of tennis fans.
Karis Oka will play Lydia in the Australian production of Beetlejuice.Credit: Benny Capp
Beetlejuice tells the story of two families, one dead, one living, who find themselves sharing a home. Oka will be taking on the role of Lydia – played by Winona Ryder in the original 1988 film – a (living) teenage girl who bridges the gap between her dysfunctional family and the ghosts haunting the house she now lives in.
Oka, who grew up in Melbourne, has always had her sights set on a performing arts career.
“I always knew that that was what I wanted to do. I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. Careers counsellors were like, ‘You need to have other plans’, and I said, ‘Well, I don’t,’” she recalls with a laugh.
The arts are important, she reflects, “because you get to see people that are nothing like you but then also that are everything like you – and it makes you remember that the world is so much bigger than just you and that is a really scary thing sometimes. But also that’s a really, really important and amazing thing.”
In just a few years she has built a career that spans stage, film and television – including three years as a swing on high-octane musical Six, which centres on the wives of Henry VIII. In her time on the production, Oka estimates that she performed about 150 times, covering every one of the six roles, sometimes with as little as a few minutes’ notice.
Karis Oka (cente) pictured in 2022 when she was a swing for the musical Six. Credit: Simon Schluter
“I think in the long-run being a swing was the best for me, just brain-wise – it gives me so much confidence in being able to get out there and whip out a performance,” she says. “It just gives you a very grounded attitude on performing. You can’t afford to be too precious about it … So I think it was really good for my ego.”
