LYCEUM, SHEFFIELD – until 18 September 2021
Reviewed by Alison Beaumont
5*****
Heathers the Musical is a rock musical based on the 1989 film by Daniel Waters and is set at Westerberg High. Veronica (Rebecca Wickes) longs to be accepted by the “in crowd”, the 3 Heathers, Heather Chandler (Maddison Firth), Heather Duke (Merryl Ansah) and Heather McNamara (Lizzy Parker).
Heather Chandler is the main leader of the Heathers and is quite manipulative and ruthless, Heather McNamara is the quietest of the 3 Heathers and is the head cheerleader at Westerberg High, Heather Duke is a follower of Chandler and wants to please her, stepping into her role as leader when Heather Chandler is killed. Veronica ditches her friend Martha (Mhairi Angus) to be with the in group of Heathers. Veronica then falls for Jason Dean nicknamed JD (Simon Gordon) who lost his mum at the age of 9 and is intent on killing people who he feels are bad. It has quite a dark story line but does have some slight humour in it.
Having seen many musicals over the years this was the first time I had been to see a musical without having first watched the film so this was a totally new experience for me. Heathers the Musical is 2 hours and 20 mins (including interval) and is rated for age 14 years, this in my opinion is the correct aging for this although at times my 14 year old daughter said she didn’t quite understand things.
My daughter particular liked the assembly part where they sang “Shine a light” and the audience interaction at this point was quite funny. The books that opened with lights during this song really added to it.
Jason Dean had good vocals but for me Rebecca Wickes stole the crown and was an absolutely amazing singer and portrays the role of Veronica superbly. Everyone was in sync with their dancing and all deserve to be praised for their faultless performance. Also lets not forget to give a shout out to the orchestra.
I would definitely recommend you get tickets to go and see this if you like musicals. A fabulous evening enjoyed by myself and my daughter. I have already got my niece and her cousin to purchase tickets when it tours at a venue near them.