So much ugliness takes place at Westerberg High — homicide and homophobia, attempted suicide and sexual assault – that there’s an extensive “content advisory” in front of Stage 1 at New World Stages, where “Heathers the Musical” is opening tonight. Yet the pastel-colored Off-Broadway production could easily pass for a bubbly high school musical comedy, with its pleasantly poppy score, fun and sometimes clever lyrics, and a principal cast full of bright young Broadway talent, led by Lorna Courtney (Tony nominee for originating the title role in “& Juliet”) as Veronica Sawyer and Casey Likes (“Back to the Future the Musical”) as Jason J.D. Dean. That impression was enhanced on the night I saw the show by its mostly young, loudly demonstrative audience, theatergoers who apparently reflected (to quote a press release) the “large, devoted fan base known as the ‘Corn Nuts’… [who] have significantly contributed to the show’s international success, resulting in over 1,400 productions worldwide.”
It all felt like a startling contrast to the mordant humor of the original 1989 cult movie, which starred Christian Slater as teenage serial killer J.D., and Winona Ryder as Veronica Sawyer, his girlfriend and (not always unwitting) accomplice, as they took aim at the Heathers, the three wealthy, comely and cruel classmates all with the first name of Heather (one played by Shannen Doherty) who ruled the school.
One might view the movie’s edgy black comedy as a sub rosa commentary not just on the horrors of high school but on the cruelty of the Reagan era. The musical adaptation offers more or less the same plot, but, created during the Obama administration (with an Off-Broadway run in 2014 by the same director, Andy Fickman, who’s helming it now), it sands off some of the edginess of the movie. It does this in two, almost opposite ways. The action is more cartoon-like. But some of the songs also land in earnest public service announcement territory (“I wish your Dad were good/I wish grownups understood”) and some of the characters suddenly at the end develop a conscience and a heart.
Having lost the courage of its own outrageousness, “Heathers the Musical” feels too toothless for the Trump era, even as it maintains a level of tastelessness that I might call amoral, if that didn’t make me sound too much like a “Reefer Madness”-era scold. Let’s just say the show feels too tonally jarring and too calculated for me to sign up for membership in the Corn Nuts.
The show begins with a musical number, “Beautiful,” that introduces most of the characters, and showcases the cleverness and craft of some of the lyrics. While the students around her sing “Freak/Slut/Loser” to each other, Veronica tries to put a positive spin on the horrors of high school by singing: “I know life can be beautiful/I pray for a better way….We can be beautiful.” By which she means, beautiful on the inside, beautiful in spirit.
But the word “beautiful” shifts in meaning as the song progresses. To protect herself from the meanness of the Heathers, she uses her skills at forging people’s handwriting to convince them of her usefulness as their friend. By the end of the song, when head Heather, Heather Chanlder (McKenzie Kurtz) sings “This could be beautiful,” she means Veronica’s face, and suddenly external beauty is all that matters.
There are other songs in the show that are as tuneful and crafty. After Veronica meets the new kid in the school, J.D., he takes her to his favorite hangout, the 7 Eleven – favorite because it’s the only thing consistent in a peripatetic childhood by with an abusive, widowed father. He tells her to try a slurpee, and sings:
“Freeze your brain,
Suck on that straw,
Get lost in the pain.
Happiness comes
When everything numbs”
He’s talking about the literal effect of the Slurpee, of course but he’s also giving us a preview to the (psychotic) way he’s adjusted to the life he’s been forced to live.
There is, embedded in “Heathers the Musical” a romance between JD and Veronica that involves both sweet ballads and sensual scenes, which would be simply expected in most musical comedies, but it felt like a blatant commercial calculation to shoe-horn in all this lovey-doveyness amidst the show’s cartoonish criminality.
J.D.’s killing spree begins with two football stars, Ram (Xavier McKinnon) and Kurt (Cade Ostermeyer) because they try to rape Veronica. The two actors are directed to be clowns – they move with exaggerated gyrations, often wearing only underpants – which I suspect is supposed to soften both their ugly behavior, and the ugliness of their murder.
And it is indeed ugly. JD and Veronica set it up to look like a joint suicide, with Veronica forging a suicide letter that makes it seem as if the football players were homosexual lovers who kill each other because they are not accepted by Society.
This is one of the moments I found amoral, which occurs after copious use of homophobic slurs, some of them by the football players. By the twisted logic of entertainments such as Heathers the Musical, they got their just desserts by being stigmatized in death as gay. This is not made any better – indeed, it feels worse, since it’s so calculated – by what happens at their funeral. In the song “My Dead Gay Song,” while mourning their children, Ram’s Dad reminds Kurt’s Dad of “the summer of ’83.” “That was one hell of a fishing trip,” Kurt’s Dad responds. And then they suddenly proclaim their love for one another and kiss, to raucous applause.
But this was not what I found to be the most egregious example of the calculated worldview in this musical. The most villainous character – or at least the one most savagely satirized – is the teacher Ms. Fleming (portrayed by Kerry Butler) whose efforts to help assuage the hurt by hold healing sessions after are depicted as not just pointless, and hippy-dippy, but self-serving. Given the average age of the audience, I wondered whether this could wind up tangibly discouraging people from seeking help.
Heathers The Musical
Book, music, and lyrics by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe, p
New World Stages, Stage I through January 25, 2026
Running time: Two and a half hours, including an intermission
Tickets:
Book, music, and lyrics by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe
Directed by Andy Fickman
Choreographed by Gary Lloyd, additional Choreography by Stephanie Klemons
Set and costume Design by David Shields, lighting design by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Dan Samson.
Cast: Lorna Courtney as Veronica Sawyer, Casey Likes as Jason “J.D.” Dean, McKenzie Kurtz as Heather Chandler, Olivia Hardy as Heather Duke, Elizabeth Teeter as Heather McNamara, Kerry Butler as Ms. Fleming/Veronica’s Mom, Erin Morton as Martha Dunnstock, Xavier McKinnon as Ram Sweeney, Cade Ostermeyer as Kurt Kelly, Ben Davis as Ram’s Dad/Big Bud Dean/Coach Ripper, and Cameron Loyal as Kurt’s Dad/Veronica’s Dad/Principal Gowan.
Sara Al-Bazali, Emma Benson , James Caleb Grice (Ensemble – Beleaguered Geek/Officer McCord, u/s J.D., Kurt, Ram), Louis Griffin (Swing – Fresh Prince of Ohio, u/s J.D., Ram, Kurt’s Dad), Devin Lewis (Ensemble – Hipster Dork, u/s J.D., Kurt, Ram), Kiara Michelle Lee (Ensemble – Young Republicanette, u/s Veronica, Heather Chandler, Heather Duke), Brian Martin (Ensemble – Preppy Stud/Officer Milner, u/s Kurt, Ram’s Dad, Kurt’s Dad), Lav Raman (Swing – Drama Club Drama Queen, u/s Heather McNamara, Heather Duke, Martha), Syd Sider (Ensemble – Stoner Chick, u/s Martha, Ms. Fleming), and Cecilia Trippiedi (Ensemble – New Wave Party Girl, u/s Veronica, Heather Chandler, Heather McNamara).
