Heathers the Musical Review

I’d like to preface this review by saying that I have seen the original movie that this musical is based on. I enjoyed the original movie and I liked that it was sort of the origin of the “mean girl” movie. If you haven’t seen it, fair warning that I may spoil a few things. The dark undertones of the story is something I really admired. Heathers could easily have been turned into a horror movie, but did not take that direction. I liked that they chose the more comedic route instead, though I’m not saying that suicide or murder is comedic.

First off, I just adore this musical. I don’t really have anything bad to say about it. I think by adding music, they made the story stronger. I’ve found that musicals adapted from movies, in particular, tend to develop the characters and plot much more, creating a stronger piece. This is how I felt with Shrek the Musical as well. I thought the music was fantastic. The stand-out songs for me were Candy Store, Big Fun, Freeze Your Brain, Dead Girl Walking, Blue, Yo Girl, and Lifeboat. I say these mostly because they were the ones getting stuck in my head, not so much for impact. Although, I thought Lifeboat was a very moving song even though it was sung by Heather McNamara and not substantial for moving the plot along.

My perception of the characters surprisingly changed after watching the musical. The largest example of this was the Heathers themselves. In the movie, Heather Duke was my favorite Heather (prior to her personality change after the death of Heather Chandler). But in the musical, Heather McNamara was my favorite. I love McNamara! The relationship explored between Veronica and Heather McNamara was one I felt to be very touching. I also was fonder of Heather Chandler in the musical than in the movie. I also really liked how they gave Martha Dunnstock a larger role and made her persona into almost a version of Tracy Turnblad from Hairspray. Veronica was simply amazing, and almost identical to her movie-self, played by Winona Ryder. The thing I liked the most about the characters is that they had JD’s victims come back to haunt Veronica. This was toyed with a bit in the movie but not to the extent the musical goes to. Having Heather Chandler, accompanied by Kurt and Ram, give snide remarks and taunts to Veronica from beyond the grave was brilliant. I feel this was necessary, being that it is a stage production and you don’t have all the creative liberties that film has.  

Overall, I thought this production was extremely well done. It’s a shame that it was merely an off-Broadway run. I hope that someday it will get will get a proper Broadway run and maybe even a theatrical version. I was fortunate enough to find the full show on YouTube, Act 1/Act 2. Original. 

Jesus, I’m on the freakin’ bus again ‘cause all my rides to school are dead.