Karis Oka and Eddie Perfect in Beetlejuice the Musical.
Photograph: Michelle Grace Hunder
Photograph: Michelle Grace Hunder

The best of Melbourne theatre and musicals this month

Get your culture fix via all the world-class productions happening in Melbourne this June

Leah Glynn
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June 2025: Winter may have officially arrived, but Melbourne's theatres will warm you right up. 'Beetlejuice the Musical' is playing to sizzling reviews at the Regent Theatre, while 'Hadestown' remains one of the hottest tickets in town. 'The Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale' continues its blistering run at the Comedy Theatre, and there's a red-hot adaptation of 'The Birds' showing at the Malthouse. And as part of Rising (Melbourne's annual wintery arts extravaganza), you can catch 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch' – hailed by Rolling Stone as “the best rock musical ever”. Rug up and we'll see you out there.

From the toe-tapping to the cathartic, consider this your ultimate guide to all the best Melbourne theatre shows happening this month.

When stuck for things to do between shows, you can also always rely on our catch-all lists of Melbourne's best bars, restaurants, museums, parks and galleries, or consult our bucket list of 100 things to do in Melbourne before you die

Want something else to do this month? Check out our gig guide.

Melbourne's best theatre shows this month

  • Musicals
  • Melbourne
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

The auditorium of the Regent Theatre is doused in a blood-red glow tinged with anaemic green as we take our seats, a buzzing neon sign already dropping his name twice. Providing both the manic music and leery lyrics, Perfect is, well, perfect as our unseen by most living souls poltergeist of ill-repute, accompanied by a jaw-droppingly bawdy book from Scott Brown and Anthony KingExpertly conjuring the blithe spirit of the movie, complete with its iconic ‘D’ay-O (The Banana Boat Song)’ possession, you’ll want to ‘Jump In The Line’ by curtain call on this riotously rabid real good time. 

Stephen A Russell
Stephen A Russell
Contributor
  • Musicals
  • Melbourne
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

Tackled by everyone from Roman poets Virgil and Ovid to Canadian indie rockers Arcade Fire and Katee Robert’s queered novel, Midnight Ruin, the myth of Eurydice and her Orpheus finds new life in the hands of folk singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell. Her eight Tony Award-winning smash-hit musical Hadestown began life as a sung-through community project before she turned it into a concept album, and then a Broadway smash with help from director Rachel Chavkin.

Stephen A Russell
Stephen A Russell
Contributor
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  • Musicals
  • Melbourne

Melbourne, it’s time to put on some makeup and pull the wig down from the shelf – because Hedwig has finally announced plans to head on over to our wicked little town. Following a smash-hit season with Adelaide Festival, GWB Entertainment and Andrew Henry Presents have confirmed that Hedwig and the Angry Inch will unleash its raw energy at Melbourne's Athenaeum Theatre from June 13 as part of RisingSeann Miley Moore stars as the hedonistic anti-heroine herself, Hedwig, opposite acclaimed actor, singer, songwriter Adam Noviello as Hedwig’s devoted yet defiant partner, Yitzhak. 

  • Musicals
  • Melbourne
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

The entire journey of The Lord of the Rings is an incredibly ambitious thing to translate in this way, and musical theatre is a delicate form that can easily be mishandled. The result is a shallow tribute to LOTR that takes itself very seriously, but also doesn’t entirely do justice to musical theatre as an artform. So the question arises: who is this for? Sure, the commercial incentive to produce a show tied to a franchise that is already well known and loved is obvious (it’s the same reason we seemingly can’t go a day without Lego releasing another pricey Harry Potter-inspired kit). But there’s a thin line between boarding the nostalgia train and the risk of oversaturating the market (rumours are that viewership numbers are dwindling for the second season of Amazon’s costly new series set in Middle-earth).

Alannah Sue
Alannah Sue
Arts and Culture Editor, Time Out Sydney
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  • Musicals
  • Melbourne
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

Arguably none of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s shows have hit harder than his 1971 rock-opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, which arrives at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre after a much-lauded run in Sydney. First revived at London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in 2016 for the show’s fiftieth anniversary, it’s been restaged in Australia by director Timothy Sheader. Sheader favours a ‘more is more’ approach, leaning into every ‘Webber-ism’ that made the show a success in the first place: rock'n'roll maximalism, near-inhuman vocal lines, emotional spectacle. No crucifix is too glittery or top note too loud. Megawatt vocals and an electric ensemble cast make it a cut above the other Webber revivals we’ve seen in the last couple years. Yet its heavy-handed approach also exposes the limits of spectacle for spectacle’s sake, even when it comes to Webber.

Guy Webster
Freelance writer

Before you book...

Not all seats are created equal. Sure, there are some shows so spectacular and unmissable you’d happily sit anywhere, but most experiences in the theatre can be augmented by the best seats in the house. And occasionally ruined by the worst. So, without further ado, we give them to you.

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