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.

Bring Broadway to the small screen with Heathers: The Musical! Sit in the front row and witness the musical that took the world by storm. The witty and creative production continues to revolutionize theater and lives.

Heathers: The Musical is a musical theater adaptation of the 1988 film Heathers. When Veronica (Ailsa Davidson) wants to fit in with the cool crew at her new school, the most popular girls, the Heathers, (Madison Firth, Vanka Panka, Teleri Hughes) take her under their wing. As Veronica realizes that being popular isn't all it's cracked up to be, she tries to escape the clique she's become a part of, and soon finds that it'll be much more difficult than she thought.

Heathers: The Musical brings the off-Broadway production to audience's homes. The recording of the musical makes it easy for theater fans of all ages to re-watch their favorite play. The film really captures the magic of the theater and hits every mark. The live audience reaction adds to the feeling that viewers are in an opera house, watching the production live. The acting is colorful and easily defines the characters' personalities. Veronica dangles in the morally gray character. She's awkward and funny, but will cross the line between innocence and murder. Meanwhile J. D. (Simon Gordon) is someone who may not be the best boyfriend, but he's a character we can't help but love. All of the actors' performances are outstanding; they emphasize character development, belt out high notes and dance to difficult choreography. It's clear that every actor is a triple threat and enjoys performing for live audiences. The standout performance is Ailsa Davidson, as Veronica. She is a star and captures every scene she is in. Each musical number is fantastic and gives insight to each character and their life. The most recognizable song is "Candy Store." This performance upholds its reputation and proves why it is the most famous song of the soundtrack.

The message of the film is a reminder to be yourself. Veronica craved to be popular and, once she thought she had good friends and changes her entire personality, she realizes that what she really wants is to be herself. This film is inappropriate for younger audiences due to crude language, partial nudity, heavy sexual innuendo, murder and suicide.

I give Heathers: The Musical 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 12 to 18, plus adults. It launches on the Roku Channel September 16, 2022. By Heather S., KIDS FIRST!

I saw a trailer for the tour on a BBC show and truthfully thought I was seeing that line up so the girls who appeared I can't help but feel really underwhelmed by. But moving on from that none of them wowed me, I expected a performance or two would impress, whilst none were awful, no one here for me stood out.

They charge £25 a seat to this at the cinema and I'd say that's double what I'd expect to pay at a theatre for a show of this quality. I saw an amateur performance of the Addams family for £7 and both females voices were far better than this.

The lad was extremely weak and poorly cast, he had no presence or charisma and just blandly did the basics very averagely.

I'm also not convince the story in this is good or makes sense, Veronica technically kills someone and although they try and loosely make it look more his fault, technically it's still on her, it took very little persuasion to hide it and not report it etc. Also the heather who goes didn't really do much that I'd say it was fair. Then the actions continually of supposed heroes of the story are just odd. Veronica isn't particularly likeable and her attempts at humour aren't very good, her voice becomes grating and her mannerisms poor.

I'm not getting personal but I feel for this kinda musical the girls should have some "sex appeal" none of these did. None had that X factor that'd make them top girl, they were all just ok.

I'm not sure how sensitive it is to bullying, school violence and suicide, it feels like it's trying to be a positive show but you don't get any real warmth, positivity or even leave with a message that'd cheer you up, it misses the mark.

Lastly and most surprising. I watched SIX which I'd seen on the same bbc show and literally every song is class, catchy and I instantly bought the album. I left this and couldn't remember anything but one weird line about "being god" the music is bland and not particularly memorable, no song have much about them and some are lyrically very weak. It's rare that's there's not one big number, I think the one that mashed some together was about the best but overall just barely toe tappers.

Stop over charging people for things, in 2 showings of this you sold 6 tickets, it's more expensive than AAA titles like avatar, Mario etc.

Defenition of average.

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.

The Heathers: The Musical pro-shot recording of the Off West End revival of said show is one of the more flushed away productions of musicals.

To start off, their voices are significantly weakened due to the American accent they have to put on. Maddison Firth, who plays Heather Chandler's voice is very nasally when it comes to singing. Jason Dean's actor; Simon Gordon is also a victim of said American accent let-down.

On positive notes, the set design is very flexible when it comes to moving sets. The stage is small, but they still managed to do what they could with a smaller budget. Another pro about this is the tech involved. The lighting is spectacular and it needs a standing ovation just for that! Following, the catchy songs and stunning choreography bring a dim spotlight to this small stage.

Sadly, another negative note is the comedy. It feels much more dry than the comedy in the original West End production and the Off Broadway production. You would expect that the pure hilarity of Off Broadway mixed with the awkwardness of West End surely means hilarious scenes, but the delivery of certain lines seems like they were held at gunpoint to do this show.

All in all, a good movie to listen to just like background music.