Heathers The Musical

Heathers the Musical has been performed in the UK for a number of years now, both in the West End and as a touring production and remains extremely popular. It has acquired a cult following of fans who would happily see the show on repeat and know the songs and dialogue inside out and backwards judging from the audience who were present when I watched the show!

Based on the cult 80s film Heathers by Daniel Waters, the musical tells the story of Veronica Sawyer, a bright student who wants to get through the remaining time of High School trouble free. To do this, she joins the school bullies aka The Heathers, and becomes part of their clan. Veronica is then caught up in their vicious tactics towards anyone they deem weak or different, which goes against everything that she believes in, but knowing that school is ‘survival of the fittest,’ continues to go along with their vitriolic instructions and abuse.

JD – a new student with a unique and mysterious style, joins the school and forms a relationship with Veronica much to The Heathers disgust. From then on, a catalogue of bizarre events unfolds resulting in some murderous results and increasingly strange behaviour.

The staging and set design by David Shields work well, and although similar design to the previous incarnation at The Haymarket and The Other Palace, uses the space at @sohoplace well to create Westerberg High School in the main. It is flexible to then become a home, or a cow field or boiler room, helped by clever lighting from Ben Cracknell.

The cast are young, vibrant and full of energy. There were 13 on stage that were making their West End debuts, which wasn’t surprising considering the age of the characters on stage, and they were polished, slick and well drilled. The energy that filled the theatre was tangible and it was delightful to observe and absorb! Even the evacuation of the theatre during the interval when the entire cast, crew, FOH and audience were escorted out of the building in the rain for 20 minutes, didn’t seem to damper the cast’s enthusiasm!

Stand out performers for me were Jenna Innes and Keelan McAuley who played Veronica and JD respectively. Their vocals were absolutely bang on stylistically and they sang with confidence and a good secure clean line throughout. The chemistry between them was powerful and communicated well to the audience. The part of JD is a tricky one to manage as he is teetering between Mr Nice Guy and Mr Deranged Guy, and I felt McAuley played this juxtaposition brilliantly.

Martha Dunnstock played beautifully by newcomer Amy Miles deserves a mention, as does the in-sync performances of Ivan Fernandez Gonzales and Jason Battersby as bullish jocks Kurt Kelly and Ram Sweeney.  They were well supported by their fellow cast members, who all brought integrity and energy to the piece as a whole.

I did feel the band was a little on the loud side and at times overpowered the vocals, but the musicians themselves led by Will Joy, played brilliantly and that could have been from where we were sitting!

All in all, a high energy, well executed performance which I am sure many people will appreciate and enjoy during it’s short run here before heading off on a UK tour this year.

This show was reviewed on the 28th May 2024 at @sohoplace, London where it runs until the 6th July 2024.  Tickets available here: https://sohoplace.org/shows/heathers-the-musical

The show then heads out for a full UK Tour from the 24th July 2024.  Full details here: https://www.heathersthemusical.com/tour

**** stars

Mandy Watsham-Dunstall

Join Mandy every Sunday afternoon from midday for ‘Ladies Who Lunch’ here on Box Office Radio

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Photo credit: Pamela Raith