Heathers: The Musical
The B*itch(es) is Back!
Heathers: The Musical
Theater Review
Maybe it’s some kind of boomerang effect or hopefully, karma: after trudging through a production of The Crucible and two comedies in Erie, it was invigorating to see a local theatrical production that was not only funny, but fun.
How rare!
Heathers: The Musical currently at Meadville Community Theatre, is a reworking of the 1989 comedy-drama film that starred Winona Ryder and Christian Slater; it spawned the 2014 off-Broadway musical and even a one-season TV series in 2018 (Who knew?).
Still set in 1989, Heathers: The Musical by Kevin Murphy ad Laurence O’Keefe focuses on 17-year old Veronica Sawyer (Shawna Daisley), the only student at Westerberg High School who seems to question the authority of the Heathers, (Keyera Zarembinski, Isabella James, Lauren Hale), the elite troika of high-and-mighty girls who rule the school”all named Heather.
Invited into their cloistered coven due to her skill at forgery, when Heather C. orders Veronica to forge a love letter from a football jock to her childhood friend, chubby-nerdy Martha Dunnstock (Ellen McCarthy) for laughs, she’s chastised by the quiet, sullen new kid in school, J.D. (Duncan Prather). Yet when Veronica finally breaks with the Heathers realizing how awful they are, she realizes their snotty juvenile schemes are nothing in comparison with the demented plans of hunky bad-boy J.D. for the entire school…
The two-act play aptly directed by Maribeth McCarthy has plenty of scenes to recount such as McCarthy’s own portrayal of guidance counselor Ms. Fleming with her raise-the-roof song, “Shine a Light;” Martha’s tender soul-searching ballad regarding suicide in “Kindergarten Boyfriend;” yet the most unforgettable scene is Fight for Me, where J.D. kicks Ram Sweeney and Kurt Kelly’s (Chole Loose, Robbie Brown) asses in a hilarious slow-mo beat down.
Daisley, a doppelganger for Shannen Doherty (who, oddly enough, was in the film, Heathers), serves well as an innocent Daniella cast into the lionesses’ den, hoping only to survive until she graduates–then love blooms. Prather pulls of the cool swagger of a shaggy lone wolf (Who reads!) that cute-brainy girls like Veronica dig. Anytime the dynamic doofuses played by Loose and Brown hit the stage, they were a laugh and half for the audience. As for queen bee Heather C., Zarembinski’s portrayal as the uber b*tch is nonpareil. Ironically, only after her death does her character show some humanity, even compassion, to beleaguered Veronica.
While the show’s content is a little edgy dealing with real issues such as bullying, sexual assault and in-school violence, you have to appreciate the honesty with which it actually portrays high school, not sugar coating it.
The only negative aspect of the show was the occasional undersinging of cast members. While some live music shows with a chorus can overwhelm the main singers, this wasn’t the situation. Rather, in a few cases, it seemed the singers didn’t fully bring it. Lyrics from “Freeze Your Brain” and “My Dead Gay Son” couldn’t fully be heard”even with the reviewer in the third row.
The psyched crowd who attended the show were either rabid theaterphiles and/or cast friends or family, filling the Odd Fellows Building with their cheering, clapping, whooping it up and generally having a great time.
And isn’t that what theater is all about?
*** GG
Heathers: The Musical runs through May 21. For more information, visit mctbackstage.com
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