Behind: Heathers The Musical
Written by Alannah Cannon
‘Heathers: The Musical’ is a stage adaptation based on the 1988 film ‘Heathers’. Written by Laurence O’ Keefe and Daniel Waters, this musical tells the story of Veronica Sawyer who is trying to fit in at Westerberg High, and her not so healthy romance with ‘bad boy’ JD, or ‘Jason Dean’. The soundtrack is incredible and it amazingly represents the story from the eighties movie it was inspired by.
The first song on the track, ‘Beautiful’ is a strong opening number and highlights the hard life of high school, including the bullying, the social hierarchy, and negative mindset that many teenagers have during this time. Veronica, played by Barrett Wilber Weed, longs for a time when ‘life can be beautiful’, after high school and its hardships. We are also introduced to The Heathers, who are your typical ‘popular girls’ donned in colour coded clothing; red, green and yellow. This is where Veronica meets The Heathers and it is the beginning of the crazy events soon to follow. She joins their group and wears a blue matching outfit and is noticed for the first time in a positive light. It ends with a chorus of the school chanting her name ‘Veronica’ along with a triumphant fanfare. The song has a moderate tempo which allows the lyrics and talking to flow nicely together. It mainly features woodwind and brass accompanied by drums at times. When The Heathers are introduced, the music gets soft and whimsical to show their status and how they are treated almost like royalty by the other students. The word ‘beautiful’ is given a whole other meaning in the end than it was at the start of the song. First it was used to describe Veronica's ideal life, and then it was used to describe Veronica herself by The Heathers. This eight minute track is long, but very essential for the plot and setting the story.
‘Candy Store’ is the second track and it is one of the more popular songs from this soundtrack. It also happens to be one of my personal favourites. You may have seen the fairly recent trend of people attempting the ‘iconic Candy Store riff’. This catchy song runs just under three minutes and is sung by the three Heathers. They sing to Veronica, telling her what they do and enticing her to follow suit. The melodies and harmonies in this track are exceptional. The three Heathers vocals blend spectacularly when needed and the strong voice of Heather Chandler, played by Jessica Keenan Wynn in the world premiere cast recording, really shines here.
Another popular song is ‘Seventeen’, which is the fourteenth track. It is a duet between Veronica and JD, played by Ryan McCartan, where Veronica begins by listing things that they could do as a couple if they stopped the deception and murder. JD does latch on to this and continues on. They want to just be teenagers, even if they are damaged. The pair come to a conclusion that they want to be with each other, ‘you’re the one I choose’, as their vocals and the instrumentation become softer as the song fades out. This is a beautiful song as two teenagers discover their love for each other, outside the bad that has happened or that they have done.
Quite contrasting from ‘Seventeen’, ‘Meant To Be Yours’, which is near the end being track twenty and we see exactly how insane and psychotic JD really is. This is another one of my favourites, I really enjoy the building insanity in his voice and the music until it all comes crumbling down when he believes Veronica is dead. The choir is strong in the song, providing accompanying harmonies that haunt JD. He reveals the bomb he planted at the school, intending to kill all of the pupils excluding himself and Veronica. In his mind that was the only way they could truly be together after Veronica rejects him. He repeats several times during the song ‘I was meant to be yours’ and ‘you were meant to be mine’. He is not giving her an option, he is telling her what is going to happen. He is angry at her, but also loves her. When he believes that she is dead, it devastates him and only fuels him more. This song reveals the manipulative nature of JD and I would assume perhaps some sort of mental illness.
The ‘Heathers’ soundtrack has many many strengths. The lyrics, flow and instrumentation are spot on throughout. The songs are very catchy and the strong performances of the original and recorded versions do them justice. This is why I am giving it five stars. Maybe I do have a little bit of a soft spot as it was the first musical I ever watched, but it is certainly intriguing and the incredible soundtrack was written beautifully, really capturing the essence of troubled teens.