Heathers is the psychotic older sister of Mean Girls, and we love it!
Heathers has just finished its run in Melbourne, and is preparing to head off to Adelaide next! But let’s take a look back at the hilariously dark musical comedy that graced the stage at the Arts Centre Melbourne for the past few months.
Heathers the musical is a musical stage adaptation of the 1989 film by the same name. Following a high school senior, Veronica Sawyer, as she befriends the school bullies, Heather Chandler, Heather Duke and Heather McNamara, before accidentally killing Heather Chandler with her boyfriend Jason “J.D.” Dean and setting off a chain of events for her peers.
In the main roles, Heathers the musical starred Emma Caporaso as Veronica Sawyer, Conor Beaumont as JD, Calista Nelmes as Heather Chandler, Amélia Rojas as Heather Duke and Abigail Sharp as Heather McNamara. This was Emma Caporaso’s theatre debut, and she absolutely killed it as Veronica Sawyer. Between her awkward mannerisms to further depict the character as an unpopular oddball, and Caporaso’s incredible vocals, she really owned the character and did fantastically in her first role.
Speaking of vocals, Calista Nelmes, Amélia Rojas and Abigail Sharp’s portrayals of the Heathers were also brilliant. Nelmes portrayed the ‘mythic bitch’ so unbelievably perfectly, and her powerful voice made the character all the more intimidating. As for Rojas and Sharp, their singing and dancing was so fantastic. Sharp’s emotion of despair and confusion in ‘Lifeboat’, was beautifully heart wrenching, and Rojas’ energy during ‘Never Shut Up Again’ made the song all the better. These women will go far in their theatre careers, each of them had such big, incredible stage presence in this production.
While Conor Beaumont was absent for the show, his understudy, Mackenzie Htay, portrayed the psychologically damaged and crazed JD magnificently. The rage on his face was palpable during his more emotional scenes, and he owned the stage during those intense moments. Htay is making his touring debut with Heathers, and so far he is doing brilliantly.
Rounding out the cast of Heathers is Zoe Gertz as Ms. Fleming, Mel O’Brien as Martha Dunnstock, Nick Van Lits as Kurt Kelly, and David Cuny as Ram Sweeny. Nick Van Lits and David Cuny, while portraying awful characters, were absolutely hilarious in their performance, making their bully-characters surprisingly (somewhat) likeable. Zoe Gertz also had her hilarious moments as the hippie-wannabe school counsellor during the song ‘Shine A Light’, in which she calls out an audience member and proceeds to act as if he is her secret lover Steve, whom she is ending things with due to a lack of satisfaction.
Heathers deals with topics we still deal with in today’s society, such as sexual assault, suicide and murder. In contrast to the film, which took everything very seriously, what the musical does quite fantastically is it adds an element of comedy through jokes and upbeat songs to lighten the intensity of these topics. This by no means diminishes the harsh and horrific nature of these matters, but actually adds another level of thinking to these issues. For those who wish to focus on the darker themes of the show, the comedy makes you think more seriously, as it adds a thought-provoking contrast to the taboo subjects. Alternatively, you can go in with an open mind and enjoy the comedy of the musical.
That being said, without turning the show into a dark comedy, Heathers wouldn’t have worked as well as a musical. There needed to be an upbeat element to it to be successful, and Heathers the musical pulled that off very well.
Heathers is a fun show with a fantastic cast, brilliantly directed by Andy Fickman, incredible comedy, choreography and vocals, and bright and fun costumes. While its Melbourne run is currently ended, we can hope it decides to return. In the meantime, you can catch it at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Adelaide from July 16.
Read more from Marina Cerra HERE.
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