‘Heathers’ has become widely known as a “teen” show, but anyone expecting the light frothiness of ‘High School Musical’ or ‘Glee’ will be surprised by the show’s much darker tone and razor-sharp bite, with themes of suicide, depression, attempted rape and drug use, not to mention murder. A scathing black comedy with a rock-infused edgy-pop score, the show brings the 1989 film to the stage and gives an exaggerated look at just how hellish teenaged life can be. The show became an off-Broadway hit in 2014 before gaining a huge cult following in the UK in 2018 and is currently seeing great word of mouth on its UK tour, playing the Alexandra Birmingham this week.
Veronica Sawyer (played by Jenna Innes) can’t wait for college and struggles to fit in to the social hierarchy of Westerberg High, a hormonal mass of jocks and nerds with ranging levels of popularity, all ruled over by The Heathers. Accepting her into their clique on the back of Veronica’s skills at forgery, she starts to find school life easier with the Heathers on her side, also helped by meeting the mysterious Jason “JD” Dean (Jacob Fowler). When a prank ends in an accidental death, Veronica & JD make it look like a suicide, sending shockwaves through the school. The deeper Veronica falls for JD, the more she realises that he’s on a mission to “play god”, and his murderous intentions hope to ultimately rid the school of as many classmates as possible.
Directed by Andy Finkman, ‘Heathers’ is a show that knows exactly what it is, and what it wants to say. Bold, fearless, at times brutally savage, it’s a morbidly perfect antidote to sugary-sweet musicals and instead shows the ugly side of a twisted doomed romance, along with the horrors of adolescence. It doesn’t pull any punches, unafraid to use strong language and startling visuals to make its point and creates a gripping hold on its audience. It’s far from sombre, with plenty of humour (book by Kevin Murphy and Lawrence O’Keefe) and lively choreography (Gary Lloyd) keeping the pace up, along with Johnny Palmer’s costume design with its iconic arrangement of primary colours for each of the individual Heathers. The strong score (also by Murphy and O’Keefe) gives the show its uniquely dark identity and improves further with repeated listens. Ballads and rockier numbers both hit with a punch, with every leading character having at least one standout moment to shine, and enough belting to make the rafters shake (especially Act 2 standouts “I Say No” and “Kindergarten Boyfriend”).
The set design (David Shields) may be overall relatively simple, being mostly a permanent brick backdrop with some portable stage pieces to create different locales, but it all works well and uses the space effectively.
‘Heathers’ has seen a range of leading performers in its various UK productions, and this current tour cast is among the strongest we’ve seen to date. Jenna Innes is a fantastic Veronica, bright and funny, not only sounding fantastic (avoiding over-riffing like some former performers have done), but also ensuring the character stays likeable throughout, despite some questionable logic. As JD, Jacob Fowler is brilliantly understated and controlled, keeping the character’s psychosis bubbling just under the surface and let letting out the rage at just the right times. He also shows off a great voice and delivers “Freeze Your Brain” and “Meant To Be Yours” brilliantly. Verity Thompson is a magnetic standout as “mythic bitch” Heather Chandler, owning every scene she’s in and clearly loving every second of being the queen bee. Thompson hopefully has a lot of villainous roles in her bright future. Also, Kingsley Morton breaks hearts as the sweet-natured Martha Dunstock, holding the audience in the palm of her hand during “Kindergarten Boyfriend” and making it soar.
With an incredibly loyal fanbase which only seems set to grow further on the back of this tour, ‘Heathers’ takes its established source material and elevates it, getting into its characters heads and pulling the audience along for the ride. A rare example of a musical adaptation being better than the original, ‘Heathers’ is an edgy thrill-ride with plenty of bite. It may lose it sharpness slightly as it nears its explosive conclusion, but great songs and an even greater cast ensure a fantastic night out. How very.
‘Heathers’ runs at the Alexandra Birmingham until Saturday 20th May 2023, https://www.atgtickets.com/venues/the-alexandra-theatre-birmingham/
Performance runtime 2 hours 35 minutes including interval and contains strong language, adult themes, and gunshots.
Reviewer: Rob Bartley
Reviewed: 16th May 2023
North West End UK Rating: