A Full-Price (Gasp!) Splurge (3/21/14)

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Heathers: The Musical

I was both scared and excited by the mere prospect of this off-Broadway offering. The movie Heathers is a 1989 classic full of quotable lines and madcap, if dark, comedy played to perfection by co-stars Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. It’s a movie I owned on VHS, and to this day can’t ignore when it happens across my screen. The musical, though, is penned in part by Laurence O’Keefe of “Legally Blonde: The Musical” fame, which I pretty much detested because of its—IMHO—squandering of brilliant source material.

But based on great pre-NY buzz, I decided to give it a go. And I’m glad I did.
The story follows the movie’s pretty faithfully, including many of the classic quips either in dialogue or woven into lyrics ... with one line even becoming a full production number: “My Dead Gay Son”. (Very funny ... and with a plot twist that wasn’t in the film.) While the movie chronicles the blossoming love of honorary Heather, Veronica, and bad-boy J.D. (subtle, eh?) somewhat quietly, the musical has several lovely duets that showcase their relationship beautifully and give it additional strength. One deeply feels the struggle Veronica is going through as she and her boyfriend ‘accidentally’ knock off their classmates one by one. The singing and acting of Barrett Wilbert Weed (Veronica) and Ryan McCartan (J.D.) were top notch, though the standout vocal goes to Katie Ladner as best-friend Martha Dunnstock. All of the Heathers were great, with Alice Lee as Heather Duke stealing her scenes with vicious glee.

The score is decent, though will require repeat listening to be memorable. There might be some sing-along gems—“Dead Girl Walking” being the most likely contender for me. The flaws in the show stem from the smallness of the production. The movie is centered around the snotty rich girls, who each “own” a color of clothing—red, yellow, green, and Veronica's heroic blue. Yet the total lack of costume changes allowed that cunning device to live only in the minds of those who know the film. (Perhaps the expectation is that only those who know/love the movie will see the show?) There was also no set to speak of, which kept the whole thing feeling a little like a high school production. Lighting and sound design were fine.

The audience skewed younger than I expected, and they were boisterously into it, but without being annoying. Yay!

Overall: B+ leaning into A-.

GuestMeister

Full disclosure: GuestMeister is BabyBro—he was more knowledgable than I about the film-to-stage process.