The Off-Broadway Theatre Review: Heathers the Musical at New World Stages
By Acton
Oh, the humanity. That’s what was missing when I first saw Heathers the Musical Off-Broadway in 2014. Back then, I thought it was a funny but brittle black comedy that over-relied on mimicking the movie’s iconic performances and one-liners. The new Heathers (book, music, and lyrics: Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe; director: Andy Fickman) is a total blast, thanks to key improvements in the show itself and confident, fully realized performances by Lorna Courtney (Broadway’s & Juliet) and Casey Likes (Broadway’s Almost Famous), expanding on the characters originated by Winona Ryder and Christian Slater.
The plot of Heathers is still shocking. In a hellish high school ruled with an iron scrunchy by three alarmingly intimidating teenage girls, each named Heather, newcomer Veronica (Courtney) is befriended, then humiliated by the leader of the pack, Heather Chandler (McKenzie Kurtz). Veronica stumbles into the arms, and bed, of J.D. (Likes), the edgy new guy at school—but J.D.’s bad boy persona is more than an act. The next morning, he manipulates lovesick Veronica into joining him in Heather Chandler’s murder, and then forging a suicide note that will let them both off the hook (the cops, like all the adults in this world, are idiots).
Veronica is bummed that her new boyfriend is a killer, but J.D. can’t stop at just one framed suicide. Without so much as a trigger warning, he pulls two revolvers out of his trench coat, and when the popular kids start dropping like lords of the flies, killing yourself becomes a certified fad. Students are swallowing pills by the fistful, and their hippie teacher (Kerry Butler) seizes the opportunity to be the next Oprah at a televised school rally to take a bite out of suicide.
Heathers remains refreshingly nasty, but Lorna Courtney plays Veronica with an emotional intelligence and wit to fit a musical that has grown from its source material to become its own thing. Similarly, although Casey Likes can do a mean Christian Slater, his J.D. has just enough comic-tragic depth that we care about the damaged person behind the charisma.
They are joined by an outstanding cast: McKenzie Kurtz (Broadway’s The Heart of Rock & Roll) is priceless in a two-part role, first as the all-powerful Heather Chandler and then as her bitchy apparition. She’s never not funny, but I especially loved her stealing a glance at the suicide note she didn’t write so she can sing along with the class. Elizabeth Teeter (ATC’s The Secret Life of Bees) gets big laughs as Heather McNamara, a born follower who has two hilariously understated comic moments. At my performance, Kiara Lee played Heather Duke (usually played by Olivia Hardy), and was perfectly imperious, whether being treated like a piece of furniture or scheming to fill the power vacuum once the queen bee bites the dust. Xavier McKinnon and Cade Ostermeyer are hilarious as the inseparable jocks Ram and Kurt, particularly in freeze-frame sequences as they’re caught in the most moronic expressions possible. Erin Morton is magnetic as Martha “Dumptruck” Dunnstock, the only kid at school with a conscience (naturally, she’s the most abused). Ben Davis, Cameron Loyal, and Kerry Butler are superbly disturbing adults in multiple roles who offer these wayward teens zero stability and maximum chaos.
Heathers is chockablock with bops, including the mean girl anthem “Candy Store“, Veronica’s catchy theme “Dead Girl Walking“, and of course, “My Dead Gay Son“, which adds another twist to the joke from the movie. Casey Likes brilliantly takes the ballad “Our Love is God” from heartache to menace. Erin Morton stops the show with the simple, sad, and lovely “Kindergarten Boyfriend“. Elizabeth Teeter sings perhaps the show’s prettiest melody, “Lifeboat“.
Along with the great performances and songs, Ben Cracknell’s lighting design is essential to the success of Heathers. He delivers a succession of knockout moments, from the color-coded crash spotlights on Veronica and the Heathers to the soft natural glow when Veronica finally sees the light, the effects are crucial to communicating the story’s tonal shifts.
When the first version of Heathers the Musical premiered in 2014, its overly grody comedy seemed to me out of step with that era of “hope and change.” But this new, much improved production is right on time. In our “cruelty is the point” age, it’s unexpectedly cathartic to see battle-scarred asshole teenagers live to flip off another day.
