★★★ Heathers: iconic costumes and catchy songs but a cartoonish portrayal of teen life
Heathers the Musical, a show based on the iconic 1988 movie starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, tells the story of high school student Veronica Sawyer and her journey to popularity. The show covers dark topics including eating disorders, suicide and sexual violence, and is full to the brim of songs anyone would recognise from TikTok.
I have seen Heathers before and enjoyed it, but this tour ultimately missed the mark for me.
The intonation on certain words felt off - one example that stuck out to me was that the “Martha Dumptruck/Dunnstock” differentiation was not always clear and the jokes sometimes fell flat. Several quips made me cringe rather than laugh, but perhaps that is because of their predictability.
Heathers (and other shows that are based off a classic movie) often have this catch 22: you cringe at certain lines because you’ve heard them a million times before, but often these classic movies are where the lines originate from. Heather Chandler’s classic “well f**k me gently with a chainsaw” line makes me shudder the way I do when I hear “he’s right behind me, isn’t he?” (or any of the lines from Stranger Things 5).
My other big problem with Heathers is that no one reacts to anything the way a normal person would. The show has incredibly dark themes but it moves at such a pace that it feels like incidents are brushed off, turned into comedic moments, or forgotten about within seconds. Your former best friend is dead on the floor but now is the perfect time to have a giggle with your boyfriend. You almost got date-raped but let’s sing a song and do a sassy pose at the end because that’s… girl power? The show is not offensive per se, it just does not deliver on the emotions or character depth that the movie does.
I don’t want to sound as though I’m complaining about the entire show; Gerardine Sacdalan played Veronica Sawyer excellently. Her vocals were perfect and she gave the character a sweet and dorky persona, where previously I have seen Veronica as a more serious character. Liberty Stottor as Heather Chandler was brilliant casting. She is a vocal powerhouse and a real triple threat. Jessica Ibadin, who played Heather Duke, gave me goosebumps when she sang “Never Shut Up Again”.
My favourite voice in the cast came from Sophie Manners who played Martha. She is so easy to listen to and although “Kindergarten Boyfriend” is probably my least favourite song in the show, Manners’ version was beautiful. Another highlight was Lou Henry, who played Heather McNamara. She was brilliantly funny and has one of those voices where you never fear she won’t hit the high notes.
I understand why Heathers is such a popular show. The songs are catchy, the story is a classic and the costume design is iconic. However, for such a big show I was hoping for more.
