“Murderously good with a killer soundtrack” – Small House Big Trips
If you grew up in the eighties and nineties, you may remember one of the greatest cult films of all time, Heathers, starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. Running at The Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham until the 25th September, we have Heathers: The Musical, directed by Andy Fickman.
The film didn’t do so well at the cinema back in 1989, but in the years since has built a reputation as cult classic, gaining a reputation as one of the best coming-of-age films of all time. Mr Trips absolutely adores the film, so when given the chance to check out this adaptation at The Alexandra, Birmingham there wasn’t any question of us going to see it.
Heathers The Musical tells the story of Veronica (Rebecca Wickes), a 17 year old student at a high-school ruled over by the tyrannical Heather Chandler (Maddison Firth) and her sidekicks Heather McNamara (Lizzy Parker) and Heather Duke (Merryl Ansah), the Heathers of the title. The head Heather, Heather Chandler decides to take Veronica under her wing and mould her into a cool kid at the school…..just as Veronica becomes entranced by the mysterious and enticing new kid in the school, J.D (Simon Gordon).
The show is absolutely packed full of great songs from start to finish: if I had to be super-critical, the music itself doesn’t exactly lend itself to the 80s nostalgic setting, but that’s not to take away from the brilliant tunes themselves and the excellent performances from the cast. Rebecca Wickes as Veronica is a great narrator and her facial expressions at some of the absurdity on stage were brilliant. Of the Heathers, Maddison Firth steals the show with her ruthless presence in the school.
It probably should be made clear that this is very much a black comedy: some subject material may not be for everyone, but if you like the irreverent humour of The Book of Mormon and Avenue Q, you will be right at home with Heathers: The Musical.
The Birmingham audience loved this last night: as the lights went down on the last song of the final act, the audience gave a standing ovation, cheering and whistling their appreciation to the cast. It was fantastic. Please, if you have the opportunity to catch this at The Alex, do not pass it up.
A 5 star performance from a very talented cast.
You can purchase tickets (starting from just £13) here: https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/heathers-the-musical/the-alexandra-theatre-birmingham/
Disclaimer: We were invited along to the press showing. All thoughts and opinions are honest and entirely our own. Photographs from the very talented Pamela Raith.