Heathers: The Musical at New World Stages

The brand new New York musical Heathers, based on the cult 1989 dark comedy of the same name, manages to cover most of the important moments of the film – no details spared. The murder of ultimate popular girl Heathers Chandler in Westburg High School is there, followed by the killing of two jocks wearing only their underwear. One of their fathers with the emblematic saying “I love my dead gay son” is not left out, the unsuccessful hanging of the main female character Veronica Sawyer, even the clothing of her crush Jason “JD” Dean is present.

But even though it’s pretty funny, it has some major flaws. Firstly – this may be due to the poor sound system – the actors sounded much more like they were screaming than singing; their voices were way too loud. Secondly, in some moments the comedy was way too raunchy. A song about guys having “blue balls” because a girl doesn’t want to sleep with them? A whole song about this? Come on! The main actors Ryan McCartan and Barrett Wilbert Weed delivered good performances, but the acting of the three Heathers – Alice Lee, Elle McLemore and Barett Wilbert Weed was really stand-out. Katie Ladner also deserves special mention, she had one of the best voices in the musical, as well as a very pleasant performance as the outsider Martha Dunnstock. All-American high-school stereotypes were pretty well covered and the songs – very 80s! The best scene included flashlights pointed to the public from all actors and a lot of smoke.

Heathers: The Musical will please viewers who are ready for an explicit, raunchy musical – one that’s kind of shallow but still catchy. Don’t expect it to reach the levels of the movie, but still it’s a refreshing addition in the spring Off-Broadway program.

Martina Dechevska
Photos: Chad Batka

Heathers: The Musical is on at New World Stages until 7^th September 2014, for further information visit here.

Watch a preview of Heathers: The Musical here: