Book, Music and
Lyrics by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe
Based on the film
written by Daniel Waters
Directed by Kelly Roberts
and Grant Pegg
Dramatic Productions
Gungahlin Theatre to
27 October
Reviewed by Len Power
13 October 2018
New for Canberra, ‘Heathers’, based on the 1989 film of the
same name, is a 2014 off-Broadway musical that seems to be having a steadily increasing
success internationally. It’s already
played in Sydney and a new production is currently playing in London’s West End.
More light-hearted than the original movie due to an
engaging musical score, the show unflinchingly presents a disturbing story of bullying,
teen suicide, sexual assault and violence in an American school. The language is raw and many of the
characters are thoroughly repellent.
On the plus side, the directors, Kelly Roberts and Grant Pegg,
have given us an imaginative production that has strong in-depth performances, lots
of energy and a nice pace flowing effortlessly from one scene to the next.
Chris Zuber’s set design of high school lockers was inspired
and worked very well as entrances and exits for the cast. The complex lighting design by Carl Makin and
Grant Pegg worked very well. The 1980s costumes by Jennie Norberry were
colourful and matched the personalities of the characters. The high energy choreography by Nathan Rutups
was excellent, showing a good understanding of heightening the intent of a song
with appropriate routines.
The able cast of eighteen performed the show with skill and
enthusiasm. Belle Nicol gave a fine characterisation
as Veronica Sawyer and Will Huang was excellent as her troubled boyfriend,
J.D. The three Heathers were given very
distinct and amusingly awful personalities by Charlotte Gearside, Madeleine Betts
and Mikayla Brady. Chelsea Heaney was a
standout with her two very different characters of Martha Dunnstock and Paula
Fleming. It was hard to believe it was
the same actress in both roles. She achieved
show-stoppers with both of her songs. The
rest of the cast added considerably to the show with realistic characterisations
and strong playing.
There was assured musical direction by Matthew Webster with
fine playing by a band that sounded larger than it was. The singing by everyone in the cast was very
strong. It’s a complex musical score
with lots of harmonies which were generally well sung. Sound balance was mostly fine but some singing
towards the end of the show was swamped by the sound level of the band.
This was a fine production of a modern musical with a very
strong cast and clever direction and it was good to see another new musical
that hasn’t played in Canberra before.
Len Power’s reviews
are also broadcast on his ‘On Stage’ performing arts radio program on Mondays
and Wednesdays from 3.30pm on Artsound FM 92.7.