Heathers The Musical.
Book Music and Lyrics by Kevin Murphey and Laurence O’Keefe. Based on the film written by Daniel Waters.Directed by Grant Pegg and Kelly Roberts. Musical direction by Matthew Webster. Choreogaphy by Rutups. Dramatic Productions. Gungahlin College. October 12 – 27 2018.
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
Dramatic Productions has come up
with another musical that consolidates its place as a top ranking music theatre
producer in Canberra. Heathers The
Musical is no easy challenge. Its
premise that we are all in some way damaged, subject to the whims and actions
of those more popular or more powerful, and driven to dubious actions to
assert our individuality presents a dark and troubling aspect of the human condition.
The Dramatic Productions team of directors, Grant Pegg and Kelly Roberts and
Musical director, Matthew Webster have taken this on board and inspired an
outstanding cast to rise to the heights and deliver an evening’s entertainment that
is blazoned with energy, bursting with talent, musically manipulative in
twisting the emotions, charging the tempo and pulsating with surprising rhythms.
Nathan Rutups’ choreography brings a fresh feel to the lives of the students of
Westerberg High in some of the highlight ensemble numbers such as Shine A Light or Dead Gay Son with Ram’s Dad (Jonathan
Rush), Kurt’s Dad (Bailey Lutton and the Gospel Choir Mourners.
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| Mikayla Brady, Charlotte Gearside and Madeleine Betts |
Beneath the razzamataz of the
explosive energy of the show is the serious glimpse of a troubled society,
confronting the individual and societal conflicts of the age. Veronica Sawyer
(Belle Nicol) wants to belong. The Three Heathers (Charlott Gearside,
Madeleine Betts and Mikayla Brady) want to control as they vie for the coveted
popularity crown. Prize dicks, Ram Sweeney (Pippin Carroll) and Kurt Kelly
(Pierce Jackson) are testosteronic , sex
starved skittleheads. In the cloistered world of Westerberg High, where everything
is ordered according to its status from the domineering Heathers to the
domineered Martha Dunnstock (Chelsea Heaney), it only takes an outsider to
upset the balance – the new prisoner in the prison; the new worker or executive
in the workplace, the new neighbour in the street. At Westerberg it is the new
kid on the block, arriving at his tenth school,. Who turns the natural order
into dark and devious disarray. JD (Will Huang), a brooding antihero with a
literary bent and bent psyche captures the heart of confused Veronics
with desperate and homicidal consequences. Nicol and Huang are superb in the
roles of Veronica and JD. They transcend the amateur to catapult their
performances into the professional echelon of music theatre performance. They
are brilliantly supported by a vibrant, slick and stunning Ensemble with
remarkable individual performances by Jonathan Rush in My Dead Gay Son and Chelsea Heaney’s touching Kindergarten
Boyfriend.
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| Will Huang as JD and Belle Nicol as Veronica Sawyer |
Heathers The Musical has the American musical brand stamped all
over it. Dramatic Productions has captured the brashness of a nation engulfed
in the disturbing undercurrent of society’s seeping fragmentation and
divisiveness. Part prophesy, part warning the musical’s fantasy is also the
nation’s reality without the gloss of sentimentality or artifice. JD, bent on
avenging his mother’s suicidal escape from an oppressive situation, reminds us
only too clearly of the horrendous school shootings.
The power struggles within the
school lend this production a sobering message, somewhat alleviated by the
sheer ebullience and shining talent on the stage. On closing night this flooded
the auditorium as the sound operator upped the volume to drown out a more
serious subtlety, but it was closing night and emotions run high. I
congratulate Dramatic Productions on continuing to present new and challenging
work of an extraordinarily high standard. But where are the great Australian
musicals? Where is the voice of our nation on the music theatre stage? Or is
Heathers The Musical our musical seen through the prism of the American
experience? Whatever the case, Dramatic Productions and producer Richrad Block
with his creative team of artists and production personnel have once again
given Canberra audiences a wonderful night of entertainment and thought
provoking theatre.
