Heathers the Musical is based on the 1988 movie, Heathers, that follows Veronica Sawyer, the witty, teenage misfit with a gift for forgery, as she wrestles her way to the top of the high-school hierarchy. The original 2014 off-broadway cast of this dark comedy featured Barrett Wilbert Weed, Ryan McCartan, Elle McLemore, Alice Lee and Jessica Keenan Wynn. Then, when it was brought to London in 2018, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Jamie Muscato, Jodie Steele and Sophie Isaacs took on some of the principle roles, and an entirely new song, “I Say No”, was added to the soundtrack.
Veronica Sawyer longs to be a part of the it-girl clique that run Westerberg High, the school located in the fictional town of Westerberg. This popular group, the Heathers is made up of three girls with the same name: Heather Chandler, the queen bee and leader of the group, Heather McNamara, the seemingly sweet but insecure one of the trio, and Heather Duke, who is determined to overthrow Heather Chandler so she can finally step out of her shadow and be number one. The Heathers are very toxic and use their popularity to get whatever they want while also bullying their peers. These girls are practically worshiped by the rest of the school, including Veronica, so when they decide to give her a complete makeover and take her under their wing, she jumps at the chance. However, when Jason Dean (more commonly called by his nickname JD), a mysterious, brooding, slightly unstable teenage boy with a superiority complex starts attending Westerberg High, her priorities are confused. Does she continue to be a Heather, or does she pursue the new, kinda weird kid at school? After an accidental death, Veronica turns to JD who convinces her to cover it up. It turns out, after a difficult childhood featuring the passing of his mom and a distant father, JD ended up very emotionally unstable and actually quite malicious, making some very, very poor decisions. Veronica, charmed by his dark allure, lets him pull her into the fantasy that this thing they have, their love, is so powerful that they can conquer anything… or anyone, and this belief leads to more death and absolute chaos within the school.
Just before Act 2, JD convinces Veronica to go ahead with a revenge prank on some classmates that goes horribly wrong. She is horrified to learn that maybe she doesn’t really know her boyfriend or his plans for their future as he believes that they are superior and can take lives and do whatever they want, whenever they want. As this scene goes on onstage, JD and Veronica sing ‘Our love is god’, which is a song about how they believe their love is more powerful than anything. “We can start and finish wars” and “we’re what killed the dinosaurs” are just two of the ways JD expresses how he holds his and Veronica’s love over everything else.
Find out more about Heathers the Musical at https://heathersthemusical.com/