Nottingham Theatre Royal
Warning: Not suitable for younger readers. This review contains: discussions about sexual assault, date rape, suicide and swearing.
Based on the 1988 cult classic “Heathers”, Heathers The Musical follows 17-year-old Veronica Sawyer (Jenna Innes) as she stumbles her way through Westerburg High School after being adopted by the popular but brutal “Heathers” -Heather Duke (Eliza Zavou), Heather McNamera (Billie Bowman) and the merciless leader, Heather Chandler (Verity Thompson). Meanwhile, she meets and falls in love with the mysterious-bad-boy-type-who-wears-a-trench-coat J.D (Jacob Fowler), who has some interesting ways of making the world beautiful.
One thing that I love about musical theatre is watching the actors/actresses making their character their own, and boy, did this cast do just that! In particular, Thompson’s Heather Chandler was the epitome of sheer obnoxious narcissism and, for lack of better words – utter bitchiness. I think what made Thompson’s portrayal of Chandler so convincing was that her Chandler had heaps of self-awareness- she just doesn’t care, which makes her actions all the more cruel. Another who stood out to me was Zavou’s portrayal of Heather Duke. Duke’s desperation to be in the shoes of Chandler, by mimicking and desperately clinging on to Chandler, made her look utterly pathetic, to the point where I found myself pitying her at multiple points in the show, despite the fact that I knew she was an enabler- I’d like to think I have pretty strong morals, so this impressed me!
The only thing that doesn’t make this a 5-star production (only in my opinion, of course) is that Veronica and J.D.’s chemistry was good but not great. I viewed their relationship as a ‘like’ and not a ‘love’ relationship (on Veronica’s side, I’ve always been a bit sceptical as to whether a person like J.D. can love another person properly). However, this doesn’t take anything away from Innes and Fowler’s quality of their portrayal of Veronica and J.D as individuals, Veronica’s optimism and J.D’s manipulation-which was spot on.
Trigger Warning. The storyline got very intense very quickly, and anyone who knows me knows I LOVE storylines like that-think Cabaret or Miss Saigon. What makes Heather so interesting, though, is that it tackles topics such as suicide and sexual assault, and it yet somehow remains funny throughout, but not in an offensive way. It’s really hard to achieve non-offensive humour with sensitive topics such as those without it considered mocking, but Heathers does it perfectly. The song “You’re Welcome,” which is a song sung by Kurt and Ram in favour of date rape, appears light-hearted and funny, but the meaning of the song is problematic- and yet it also almost mocks the idea of it and, by the end of the song, turns the song around to empower Veronica. I think the upbeat tone of the song also perfectly reflects how dismissive society is about sexual assault, harassment, general creepiness, etc, from guys, which is all too often overlooked.
As it is based on the cult classic, Kevin Murphy, Laurence O’Keefe (who both created the musical), and all the cast had a lot to live up to, and not only did they do it, they did it well! Aside from the slight lack of romantic chemistry, Heathers The Musical remains one of my favourite musicals of all time, and if you like black comedy, you are guaranteed to have ‘big fun.’
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