"Heathers The Musical"

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Here's another musical that I can tick off of the list of shows that I'd not seen before. I haven't even seen the 1988 film, but having the soundtrack, I knew a bit about what this musical was all about. And can I just say from the start; this show is fan-frickin-tastic!!

Like the film, the musical follows teenage misfit Veronica Sawyer (Eleanor Walsh) as she struggles to find her place in the stiff hierarchy at Ohio's Westerberg High - Home of the Rottweilers. The school is ruled with an iron fist by a trio of popular girls, known as the Heathers. Veronica infiltrates the Heathers' inner sanctum and becomes their "friend" to make her own life easier. Things take a dark turn though when she meets a boy named JD (Jacob Fowler), who reignites her hatred for the croquet mallet-carrying clique, but he takes plans for revenge to murderous levels.

Eleanor has a wonderful vocal delivery, matched by a wonderful sense of comic timing. The chemistry between Veronica and JD is very natural: they have a fair bit in common, both being outsiders. But that voice was literally off the scale. I know when a song, and singer, hits the spot as it gives me tingles, and Eleanor certainly gave me tingles. A beautiful performance.

Local musician and actor Jacob really brings home the sinister image with his long, black, Matrix style trench coat, menacing looks, creepy murderer vibes, and talking of "numbing his pain" with frozen slushies. I've known Jacob for a few years now, and know what a great voice he has, so knew exactly what to expect from Jacob on the vocals front. He has great range and utilises his singing ability with ease.

If performing to a home crowd, as he has done before, gives an actor another level of nerves, Jacob didn't show one sign of them, and the audience gave him, and the rest of the cast, one of the loudest shows of appreciation I've heard; it was like being at a football match where your side has just scored the winning goal.

The trio of Heathers, Chandler, Duke and Macnamara, are played by Verity Thompson, who completely owns the stage and obviously relishes her bitchy status, Elise Zavou and Billie Bowman respectively. Heather Duke and Heather Macnamara both in utter admiration of Heather Chandler's Queen Bitch role model. Both also wanting to take over the position, but wallowing in the shadow of Chandler. The trio of Heathers received applause even before they said or sung a word, showing the status these three characters have established from day one.

Kingsley Morton plays Martha Dunstock; the "invisible" girl, until she lets rip with her powerful vocals on "Kindergarten Boyfriend", a song with darker undertones than first expected.

Alex Woodward as Kurt Kelly and Morgan Jackson as Ram Sweeney, the two typical High School jocks. They create many of the comedy moments, not least when comparing their underwear at quite a crucial part of the musical. From this point, there are no costume changes for this pair, much to the delight of many audience members!

I'm not going to give anything away for anyone who has not seen this musical, and are coming to see it this week, but what happens at the end of the first act, creates an excellent opening to the second act, featuring Kurt and Ram's Dads, again extracting an amazing response from the opening night audience. Love their ties as well.

Ms Fleming, as well as Veronica's mother, is played by Maeve Byrne, oh and what a character! As the Westerberg High School counsellor, she has her own little musical section, also utilising an audience member - I'll say no more about that. But the "Shine A Light" section was hilarious, and I loved the jackets worn by the students in this bit. Anyone know where I can get one from?

The ensemble, in my eyes, were so much more than an ensemble in this musical, and each seemed to have their own little spot in the spotlight. And they all have incredibly strong voices as well.

Jay Bryce as Kurt’s Dad/Big-Bud/Principal, Conor McFarlane as Ram’s Dad/Veronica’s Dad/Coach, Tom Dickerson as Beleaguered Geek, Lizzie Emery as Midwestern Surfer Punk, Eliza Bowden makes her professional debut as New Wave Party Girl, Summer Priest as Young Republicanette, Liam Dean as Hipster Dork and Markus Sodergren as Preppy Stud.

Directed by Andy Fickman. I can't see that he put as much as a hair follicle wrong with this show. It was great fun, it was dark, it had childish humour and it was sexy as well.

Choreographed by Gary Lloyd. This is one energetic show, and it's the choreography that provides much of that energy.

David Shields' Set design is just perfect; the walls of the High School overshadow any prop changes that create the other settings, and with just subtle changes of lighting, get you to focus on the scene in hand, the scenes being enveloped by the walls of the set, rapidly moved and removed by the cast members.

Musical Director is Will Joy, and he has quite the apt name, as the music was pure joy. There were odd occasions when the volume was just a tad overbearing and swallowed some singers, but I am nit picking because nothing could spoil the enjoyment of such an exciting piece of theatre.

The songs for "Heathers" include many catchy earworms, especially "Dead Girl Walking", "Candy Store", "Seventeen" and "I Say No", not forgetting the creepy duet "Our Love Is God" by Jacob and Eleanor. Tender, but with that dark undertone never far from the surface, as if sung by a cult leader to his disciple, all the while enticing his victim into his dark web.

The Sound Design was by Dan Samson and the Lighting Design is by Ben Cracknell. What I loved about the lighting was that all three Heathers have a specific colour code for their clothing, and these were matched by the lighting spots for the trio, bathing them in their own soft spotlight, highlighting them and creating their own personal glow.

This musical was so worth the wait to experience, and I can see why so many people were raving about it. It had a feel of "Grease" but with menace. It had an operatic air in parts but with rap and an obvious musical theatre feel about many of the songs. What I am trying to say is that there is something musically for just about everyone in this show. There are uncomfortable comedy elements, as you'd find in "Book Of Mormon", and there are many childish comedy elements that teenagers will understand, as well as those teenagers who have grown up but still appreciate childish humour. I for one can not wait to see it again.

"Heathers The Musical" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 2 September.