Most of us have heard of the cult classic ‘90s film Heathers, however most of us haven’t been exposed to the musical version that took place Off Broadway in 2014. Featuring a cast of Barrett Wilbert Weed, Ryan McCartan and Elle McLemore, this show ran from March 2014 to August 2014. This show brings back a lot of ‘90s nostalgia and has a few catchy songs, but that’s about the extent of the positive things one can say about Heathers.
The Cast
Barrett Wilbert Weed spent two and a half hours yelling at the audience. You would feel violated. Her belt had no mix in it whatsoever, people should be mixing anything above an F5 if they don’t want to blow their vocal chords! You should be worried about the very imminent possibility of her developing nodes. You could see her shoulders moving with each breath she took; another sign of poor vocal technique. Most would be clutching their larynxes the entire time. The only actor I liked was Ryan McCartan who didn’t scream at anyone (unless it was an acting choice) and played an unlikable character well.
Questionable Script Writing
Now onto the questionable script writing, overall the show didn’t quite make its point. It circled around its mark but never quite landed. Most shows are intended to have some sort of overarching message, in Heathers it gave a general idea of what it was trying to say but if asked about it after watching the show, most people would struggle to think of an answer. Was it about teen mental health? Kind of, maybe? Was it about childhood innocence? Kind of? Bullying? Suicide? Heathers just can’t seem to commit to a message, and as a result it has a very vague one.
More Questionable Writing Choices
More on the script writing, there some of the most unnatural, unrealistic, unintelligent writing decisions I have ever seen in a musical before in this script. Can someone please explain why Veronica, right after her boyfriend just sacrificed himself to save her (though the whole sacrifice was pretty unnecessary, he could have just like put the bomb somewhere else? Maybe? Instead of dying?), made a pun about it? Yes she actually made a pun about her boyfriends death less than two minutes after he died. A pun. She made a pun. It wasn’t even a good pun. There are many other writing and acting choices that just don’t make sense in this show, such as Heather Nacamara’s unexplained suicide attempt that really just felt like they had to add to act two. As well, the character development of Kurt and Ram is non-existent. They literally exist as stereotypes of your typical high school football player the entire show. If you’re not going to develop these characters in any meaningful way, why are they even there?
In Conclusion
Heathers missed its mark with basically everything. It just didn’t land; A for effort I guess though. It could have been a really strong piece however, they were lazy and uncreative with the plot development and writing. It’s unfortunate. 5/10
Written by Abby Jansen
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