Heathers The Musical Hits The Road
Like Fame with femicide, Heathers The Musical is a heady blend of upbeat, singalong kitsch with a dark, murderous plot. What better way for a Belle to spend Valentine’s night than with a bestie watching the new touring production of the West End smash?
The award-winning production, based on cult 80s film Heathers, has a brand new cast and is running for the next two weeks at Theatre Royal Windsor before touring the country.
With themes of suicide, bullying and teen angst, how this still manages to be a feelgood feature is surprising. But it does. More sanitised than the screenplay, there’s a constant #BeKind undertone, but still plenty of brutal insults, brave confrontations, and dark humour which provide laughs and gasps in equal measure.
Heathers the Musical is based on the 1988 film that saw Winona Ryder and Christian Slater deliver teen-dream justice to the cliquey high school Heathers. While we lusted over Slater and ached to be Ryder, Heathers was a teen flick that bucked the trend.
At Westerberg High, Veronica Sawyer is just another nobody dreaming of a better day. When she joins the beautiful and impossibly cruel Heathers, her dreams of popularity look to finally be coming true. But mysterious teen rebel JD teaches her that while it might kill to be a nobody, maybe murder could lead to becoming a somebody…
Wickedly sharp and with unique and vivacious music and lyrics, this production is led by a cast of strong female actors. It offers a perfect night out with not just an element of escapism but a good dose of nostalgia too.
Jessica Innes is unfaultable as Veronica. Her voice, her presence, her ability to shift between jazz hands and jaw-dropping emotion is incredible. And the Heathers – played by Verity Thompson, Elise Zavou and Billie Bowman – bring power in both voice and stature to the stage. If ever a show oozed girl power, this is it.
There’s less creep and more kitsch than the film, but if you leave your expectations of reliving the fear of the movie at the door and accept this as a hyped-up and energy-fuelled show you’ll not be disappointed.
Theatre Royal Windsor has had a run of headline-hitting performances, from Sir Ian McKellen’s Hamlet to recent hit Home, I’m Darling, and with original Kenwright productions premiering here before they tour the country you can see why its holding its position a leading theatre outside of London so strongly.
Head down to Heathers the Musical now, but one piece of advice – take it as a new story, and don’t watch the film just before!
- For all tour dates and booking information, click here.
