Heathers, The Musical
Theatre Royal Bath
THE big question is: do the music and lyrics that Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe have added to their adaptation of Daniel Waters’ 1989 film enhance or detract from its mixture of black comedy and thriller? One thing is certain, their lyrics in no way shy away from the powerful themes, which to some people are still unpalatable even 34 years on from the film’s first release.
Conor McFarlane and Jay Bryce, as the at-first butch, very heterosexual fathers of sons murdered by the vengeful, scheming JD Dean, start the second half of the show with the showstopping My Dead Gay Son. It’s a number that – with Katie Paine’s blinkered teacher Ms Fleming’s Shine A Light – is one of the rare occasions when the older generation on stage have a chance to musically challenge the dominance of the younger players.
At the head of this younger generation is 17-year-old Veronica, new girl at Westerberg High School, desperate to penetrate the school’s social hierarchy, led by the three Heathers. She quickly sees through the trio, especially their bullying leader Verity Thompson’s beautiful blonde Heather Chandler, when they torment fellow student Martha – a lovely piece of underplaying by Kingsley Morton among many very broad portrayals – and teams up with the mysterious JD Dean.
In the thoughtful hands of Jacob Fowler, JD is a young man with hypnotic power, full of ideas for putting the world to rights and willing to commit murder to do so.
His first victim is Heather C, quickly followed by the not too bright “lads” Kurt, played by Alex Woodward, and Ram, played by Morgan Jackson. Is JD an avenging angel or a twisted psychopath? Jenna Innes’ finely drawn, powerfully sung Veronica certainly cannot make up her mind, until JD’s threat to blow up the school and all of those in it becomes one step too far.
It all ends a little too tritely for our characters, and with the three dead victims reappearing like a Greek chorus sometimes to help and on other occasions to torment Veronica.
Not all the black humour in Andy Fickman’s slam-bang production hits its mark, but musically the show, under MD Will Joy’s leadership, literally grabs you by the throat from start to finish.
One request to the MD: in Jenna Innes he has a leading lady with a terrific voice, so why restrict her for most of the time to the narrow top, full-belting range of notes? With wider arrangements she could make even better use of her voice and the musical challenges the show throws up.