Heathers: The Musical

I saw this off-broadway so long ago and it sort of just disappeared until my daughter suddenly heard about it through tik-tok and it gained popularity even beyond its original run. The show had been fun but unmemorable at the time. Revisiting it reminded me why I liked it so much to begin with. Do I love that the dead teens become ghosts (or figments of Veronica's guilt) to keep the actors on stage? No. But everything else about it works. It's fun and fast-paced, although I gotta admit, the commercials ruin it. Roku should advertise this more. Based on the number of reviews and ratings, no one is watching.

I really enjoyed it! I know a lot of people wanted it to be the off-Broadway production, but I actually think the design and direction of the West End version is much stronger.

Ailsa is a very good Veronica. Love her acting and vocal choices, and she's very endearing. Simon Gordon leans much more into the sad/ sympathetic side of JD, which I think might turn off fans of the original film, but he grew on me pretty quickly. I think the changes made to the West End version (ie. Replacing "Blue" with "You're Welcome" and adding "Never Shut Up Again") actually lend themselves to playing JD more sympathetically. The accents are predictably wonky, but I didn't find it too distracting, and I think it actually kind of adds to the campy charm.

Overall: this may not please fans of the original movie, but it's campy fun and a well-produced proshot.

Just about everything about this production was great, except all of the characters were underplayed and none of the actors were consistently able to sell the punchlines. This is problematic for a comedy.

Heather C. Especially was quite hammy and somehow managed to miss the laughs on some of the easiest lines in the show. Veronica, rather than coming off as a wannabe rebel, is just...sad. JD lacks charm. Heather Mac has very little stage time and has literally no character traits, none of the big hearted airiness you'd expect, which culminates in the least sympathetic performance of 'Lifeboat' I've ever seen. Heather Duke was probably the best of them. Kurt and Ram were standouts-both did a great job.

Otherwise a great production, and regardless a fun watch. The songs are well performed, choreo top-notch, costumes and set well-executed, and the lighting is great and comes across really well for the recorded performance.

The weakest facet can be boiled down to the failure to commit to the darkly comedic and campy elements, which is a shame, because that's always been the best part of Heathers.

I normally really like heathers, but this proshot seems very artificial.

I'll be honest, I'd rather watch a bootleg zoomed in from the back row. One of the best things about theatre is how much can happen on a stage at one time. But, when you're constantly zooming in onto a different person's face or chopping between alternate views of the stage, it's harder to appreciate the smaller details.

The increased volume of the audience applause at random jokes makes the show feel a lot more hostile, like an eerie sitcom. And I'll be honest ruins 90% of some of the funniest moments in the show.

Also, the "editing" thing they did before the ad breaks was very weird, and sort of took away from the moment.

I think the cast were great. This JD definitely wasn't my favourite, but again, I really don't think the filming quality did them any favours.

I love this new take on Heathers. I believe that Ailsa Davidson plays a fantastic Veronica, she may be different to the original but that's to be expected as different actors are bound to have different takes on actors. Her Veronica is someone who just so badly wants to fit in and strays from the path to do so and she gets involved with the wrong group of people. I feel like this is something so important to represent in film as it is something so many can relate to. The singing, acting and dancing throughout the movie is incredible and it would make a really worth while watch for any musical theatre fan. I think though that whilst it definitely does link in with the original movie it is important to note that times have changed since 1989 so it is understandable and expected that there would also be changes in a more modern release of the story. I genuinely do love this movie and it is a lot of fun to watch.