Fast-paced, dark comedy rarely stops for breath
TEEN suicide, date rape, bullying, violence and a smattering of homophobia – black comedy rock musical Heathers isn’t your average fun night out but that didn’t stop the sellout Hippodrome crowd from whooping and hollering from the first song.
This full-throttle show is in Bristol on its first national tour after box officesmashing runs in London’s West End but it already seems to have attracted something of a cult (and predominantly female) following in the provinces.
Produced by Bill Kenwright and Paul Taylor-Mills, it’s based on the 1988 teen movie starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater as the teenage misfits at Westerberg High.
Geeky, blue-blazered Veronica Sawyer (played here by Rebecca Wickes) is taken under the wings of three beautiful but cruel girls called Heather and the result is that her popularity rating soon rises at school.
Then she meets the mysterious and charismatic new boy Jason ‘JD’ Dean (Simon Gordon) who teaches her that “it might kill to be a nobody but that it’s murder being somebody”.
The couple set about getting their murderous revenge on various friends and acquaintances in a fast-paced and vibrant show that rarely stops for breath.
Despite the dark subject matter, there are plenty of laughs, mainly from thuggish oafs Kurt Kelly and Ram Sweeney, played with great humour by Liam Doyle and Rory Phelan who spend much of their time on stage in nothing but their underpants.
Making her professional musical theatre debut, former Bristol University drama student Mhairi Angus shone brightly as the bullied girl Martha Dunnstock, especially on her solo of Kindergarten Boyfriend.
As the three Heathers, Maddison Firth (a familiar face from BBC’s Waterloo Road), Merryl Ansah and Lizzy Parker provided plenty of sassy glamour and energetic dance moves.
But it was Rebecca Wickes and Simon Gordon as the couple with the unconventional relationship who deserved every bit of their standing ovation.
These two rising stars have outstanding voices and total command of the stage. We are sure to be seeing a lot more of them in future.
Like the show’s pitch-black themes, the songs are equally dark with titles like Dead Girl Walking and My Dead Gay Son, although the stand-out numbers Beautiful and Seventeen are instant ear worms and you’ll be humming them at work the next day.
And that’s always the mark of a great musical, which Heathers certainly is.
■ is at Bristol Hippodrome until Saturday, November 13. For tickets, go to