Heathers The Musical – Theatre Royal Haymarket

Picture: Roy Tan

Heathers the Musical continues at Theatre Royal Haymarket until 24 November 2018.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

On the face of it, cult film Heathers would not seem to be a great candidate to form an evening of uplifting musical theatre. The 1988 film is a dark, dark comedy that takes the high school film as epitomised by the work of John Hughes and the feelings of alienation to provocatively explosive extremes.

While not a hit on first release, the Winona Ryder/Christian Slater film later acquired cult status, something that has been transferred to the musical co-written by Kevin Murphy (Reefer Madness) and Laurence O’Keefe (Bat Boy, Legally Blonde). After brief runs in Los Angeles and Off-Broadway, a series of workshops and a short run at The Other Palace has seen refinements, additional songs and a healthy dose of optimistic polish. The result is a show which, while remaining faithful to the dark plot and nihilistic spirit of the original, also manages to find a level of optimism that Daniel Waters’ screenplay omitted.

Part of this is achieved by starting the action earlier than the film, as Carrie Hope Fletcher’s geeky Veronica first meets, and then gets made over by, Westerberg High School’s mean girl clique, the Heathers. Within the trio, there is a definite pecking order, with Jodie Steele’s spiky Heather Chandler ruling the roost above T’Shan Williams’ cowed Heather Duke and Sophie Isaacs’ ebullient Heather McNamara. All three, though, illustrate why their clique rules the high school, thanks to Gary Lloyd’s girl band-styled choreography.

Veronica begins to blossom by her association with the coolest kids in school, even as she begins to rail against their bullying ways. But it is only when troubled new kid JD (Jamie Muscato) arrives that she finds someone she can really connect with.

The intervening decades have helped in the transformation of JD’s introduction between film and stage. The cinematic version, in which Slater’s JD pulls a gun on his classmates, would not fly in the 21st century for numerous obvious reasons. In contrast, the musical opts for a hilariously choreographed slow-motion fist fight: much, much funnier than the film, and one which also posits Muscato’s version of JD as a far more likeable, identifiable person from the outset.

And it is the double act of Fletcher and Muscato which make this musical fly. Both are actors who have achieved large fanbases through their work to date, but neither have yet reached the level of name recognition that this West End run may well confer.

Individually, they shine. Fletcher’s Veronica is a moral person who finds herself at the centre of an amoral maelstrom, combining winsome charm with a winning level of self-confidence.

On paper, Muscato has the harder job: for most of Act I he is the romantic lead, Veronica’s refuge from the hedonistic world of the Heathers. But as he is slowly revealed to be far from nice, and becomes the musical’s troubled antagonist, Muscato makes the transformation both physically and emotionally.

The two leads are supported by a number of superb performances. Steele’s Heather, who sticks around far longer than in the original film, is a constant delight, while Williams and Isaacs really begin to shine once their characters emerge from behind their leader’s pleated mini skirt. Rebecca Lock’s fame-hungry hippy teacher and Jenny O’Leary as Martha, the high school genre’s obligatory frumpy best friend, stand out among an array of supporting actors who form a cohesive ensemble.

Musically, the London workshops have certainly improved the overall structure from the show’s US tryouts. As befitting the subject matter, songs start out with a zippy, if sardonic, expression of high school life, although always aware of the original film’s tone. Even the most traditionally aspirational number, such as Steele’s ‘The Me Inside of Me’, is not without its satirical bite, Murphy and O’Keefe’s lyrics never dwelling on either malice or syrupy sweetness for too long.

But although most of the changes have been positive – a solo number for Williams being especially welcome – a couple of the scenes, most notably one in which Veronica is set up by the Heathers to effectively be date raped by a couple of football jocks, still feel out of place in the sunnier, less seedy plotting of the musical compared to the film from which they have been lifted.

In that instance, the original song ‘Blue’, which evoked the scene from the perspective of the harassers, has been replaced by ‘You’re Welcome’”, a number in which Veronica takes the lead in standing up to the jocks. Originally created for the High School performance edition of the musical, it’s a move in the right direction, but remains one of the darkest and most problematic moments in the play.

But at the very least, Heathers remains optimistic that the sort of behaviour exhibited by its characters is not to be celebrated. We may be encouraged to enjoy the company of boorish young men and scheming young women, but kindness and compassion do win out.

In that regard, it’s a softening of material that could be compared to the transition of Hairspray from low budget shock comedy to big budget mainstream Broadway fare. And from the evidence of this production, Heathers deserves to be just as popular.

Scott Matthewman

Tickets for Heathers The Musical are available HERE.