Before Mean Girls, there was Heathers. The 1989 black comedy still stands up as a cruel, cutting satire of 80s teen films, starring a young Winona Ryder as Veronica Sawyer, a popular girl with the heart of an outsider who’s in with the trio of cool girls, all named Heather, at Westerberg High. Sick of the tyranny of the “lip gloss gestapo”, she falls for a mysterious new student, Jason “JD” Dean, and becomes an unwitting accomplice to murders framed as suicides.
Heathers the Musical premiered in 2014 and has more in common, aesthetically and tonally, with the film’s millennial successors. A high-octane blast of colour with a bombastic pop-rock score by Laurence O’Keefe (Legally Blonde) and Kevin Murphy, the musical has gained a devoted fanbase. Seeing it on opening night felt not unlike going to a pop concert, with the costumed audience emitting high-pitched screams the moment the cast appeared on stage.
