Heathers: The Musical [DVD]

Product Information

Heathers The Musical premiered on September 13, 2010 at Joe’s Pub in New York City, followed by a run at the Hudson Backstage Theatre in Los Angeles in September of 2013. Although Anderson disliked the production overall, he praised Barrett Wilbert Weed for her portrayal of Veronica. Where a lot of filmed shows, like Hamilton or Come From Away, sit their audiences in the dark, Heathers decides to bathe them in a soft purple light and cuts back to them regularly- they become a constant, vocal presence. Heathers The Musical is closely based on the 80s film of similar name, starring Winona Ryder as Veronica Sawyer and the era’s heartthrob Christian Slater as JD. They felt the musical lacked the bite and social critique of the original movie, and also felt Fickman’s direction missed the mark.

The film is often seen as a result of social dysfunction and a desire by young people at the time to be heard. Following two smash hit London seasons and the WhatsOnStage award for BEST NEW MUSICAL, Heathers the Musical is back!The cost and license availability quoted are estimates only and may differ when you apply for a license. The show earned the Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Musical and ran through August 4, 2014. In a review for Entertainment Weekly, Kyle Anderson similarly lamented that the musical “misses just about everything that made the film great, making it not only a colossally disappointing adaptation of a beloved property but also a generally unpleasant theater experience.

The West End production of Heathers won two WhatsOnStage awards including Best New Musical and Best Actress in a Musical (Carrie Hope Fletcher). Once again the musical was directed by Andy Fickman, with set and costume design by David Shields, lighting by Ben Cracknell, sound by Dan Samon, and choreography by Gary Lloyd. Writing for WhatsOnStage, Alex Wood praised the production for using the show’s current cast with “emerging talent” for the capture, rather than bringing in previous “major stars”. Elsewhere, rumours destroy reputations overnight, a plot device that works even better re-watched from the internet age.NOTE: in certain songs Ram and Kurt can switch choral assignment if, say, Ram sings higher than Kurt. And I was stepping back from the teen movies we were getting at that time, especially the John Hughes films which were fun and are still fun. You look at movies like The Matrix and Back to the Future, and the sequels almost hurt the original's reputation. With direction from Andy Fickman and electrifying choreography by Gary Lloyd, this is one class production you can't afford to skip.

Veronica Sawyer does her best to survive her senior year while navigating the beautiful but cruel Heathers, the new to school Jason "J. Simon Gordon leans much more into the sad/ sympathetic side of JD, which I think might turn off fans of the original film, but he grew on me pretty quickly. I wasn’t consulted on the TV show because it dates back to a hilariously medieval TV contract I signed in the 80s.In late March 2023, Village Roadshow Entertainment and Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment announced a new partnership to distribute Heathers. Opening recently at London’s The Other Palace following its premiere on Broadway, Heathers The Musical has already secured its West End transfer, jumping to Theatre Royal Haymarket from the 3 September 2018. Hadley Freeman, writing for The Guardian, praised Carrie Hope Fletcher’s “energetic sweetness” in her portrayal of Veronica and Jodie Steele’s “close to stealing the show” performance as Heather Chandler. The first performance of Heathers The Musical was September 2010 at Joe’s Pub in New York City, followed by a run at the Hudson Backstage Theatre in Los Angeles in 2013.