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Heathers: The Musical
A revival of Heathers: The Musical, based on the cult classic film Heathers (1988) written by Daniel Waters, has rocketed onto New World Stages. With book, music and lyrics by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe, the production first opened at the same Off-Broadway venue in 2014 with Andy Fickman directing. In the decade since, Murphy and O’Keefe honed the production to a fine brilliance. Recently transferring from the West End, Heathers: The Musical runs until January 25, 2026 to its fans’ delight.
Sardonic and satiric, the musical ridicules the cruel power dynamics prevalent in American high schools. Each school has its own peculiar “selection process” of those who “matter,” and those who “don’t.” But whatever the specifics, the discrimination emotionally and psychically harms the students.
How do communities fight against such social stratification and prevent violent backlash? The coolly rebellious J.D. (the superb Casey Likes) thinks one should “burn everything down” to purge the toxicity. But exchanging one form of supremacy for another can lead to a never-ending cycle of retribution, as the musical indicates. What to do?
Asking Questions About School Bigotry
In the show’s latest version, this terrific, complex production asks and answers these questions. Top-notch performances, music (Will Joy), choreography (Gary Lloyd, Stephanie Klemons), direction (Fickman again) and design elements cohere with near-perfect unity to present an overall message: Despite the darkness present in all of us, our humanity has a softer side. We have only to manifest it with courage in the face of bigotry and hatred.
Narrator/diarist Veronica Sawyer (the amazing Lorna Courtney) considers the cruelty of her classmates who grew into bigots (“Beautiful”). The brainy misfit is a senior at Westerberg High in 1989 Ohio. Veronica believes herself a good person but must navigate the toxic student environment without becoming a target like those the elites label with such terms as freak, slut, loser, bull-dyke, even hunchback.
No authority figure reins in the students’ brutality because their power dynamic remains secret. Clueless parents, and teachers like Ms. Fleming (Kerry Butler), can’t satisfactorily deal with the cynical culture. Thus, the three “Heathers”—McKenzie Kurtz, Kiara Lee (covering for Olivia Hardy when I saw the show), and Elizabeth Teeter)—rule with ferocity (“Candy Store”). They make their “subjects” feel worthless and ugly. Illogically perhaps, the other students in turn electrify the Heathers’ power grid, because they fear retribution. What would happen if they didn’t bow to Queen Heather Chandler?
Veronica joins the Heathers
When an opportunity arises, Veronica joins the Heathers, in spite of their nastiness. Instead of rejecting Heather Chandler’s orders, she forges a note that will result in a terrible humiliation for her friend Martha (Erin Morton) at an upcoming party (“Big Fun”).
Calling out the Heathers’ obnoxious reign of terror, new student J.D. provides a superior perspective. He criticizes Veronica for selling out her friend to the “Swatch-dogs and Diet-Cokeheads.” Likes’ J.D., dressed in a trench coat and dripping charisma and courage, dazzles. Defiant against the stifling social order, he refuses to bow to the elites.
When J.D. stands up to popular jocks Ram Sweeney (Xavier McKinnon) and Kurt Kelly (Code Ostermeyer), Veronica’s infatuation with him grows (“Fight For Me,” “Freeze Your Brain”). Turning to him for help to stop Chandler’s retribution for a mistake she has made, Veronica creates with J.D. a plan (“Dead Girl Walking”). But it backfires when Veronica mistakenly gives Heather a cup of drain cleaner instead of a cup of Chandler’s usual prairie-oyster hangover cure.
A Conspiratorial Love
J.D. and Veronica’s love relationship is fueled by a conspiratorial cover-up of Heather’s death. With J.D.’s help Veronica forges a suicide note imitating Heather’s handwriting. The clever, ironic lyrics to dead Heather’s suicide note in the song “The Me Inside of Me” include “No one thinks a pretty girl has substance. I am more than just a source of handjobs. No one sees the me inside of me.”
In a sardonic twist the suicide note elevates dead Heather Chandler to even greater status. However, her ghost haunts Veronica, revealing Veronica’s guilt. Meanwhile, a worse tyrant, the new Queen Heather Duke, sets up Veronica to be sexually attacked by Ram and Kurt. Veronica foils the rape, and she and J.D. plot revenge. Once again, vengeance which begins innocently in Veronica’s misguided mind turns deadly in J.D.’s hands.
After their diabolical actions against three of the most brutal kids in the social hierarchy, J.D. and Veronica sing Act I’s stunning closing number (“Our Love is God”). Here they affirm their love and their righteous acts of “justice.” They sing, “We can start and finish wars. We’re what killed the dinosaurs. We’re the asteroid that’s overdue.” Energized by her love and their righteousness, J.D.’s nihilism continues in Act II. Only Veronica can stop him.
Ironic, Funny, Timely
With Fickman’s superior staging and timing the production races by. The ensemble’s exuberance, voices, and dancing are crackerjack, the arrangements super. Memorable throughout, Lorna Courtney inhabits Veronica’s conflicted hypocrisy. Casey Likes is Courtney’s match. The perfect couple, they remind us of evil’s seductive power.
Finally, McKenzie Kurtz lifts the ironic character of Heather Chandler in death with great humor. She contrasts perfectly with Erin Morton’s kindhearted, loving Martha Dunnstock. Very funny standout numbers include “My Dead Gay Son” (Ben Davis, Cameron Loyal) and “Shine a Light” (Kerry Butler). “Kindergarten Boyfriend” (Erin Morton) resonates with pathos.
Thematically, the original film and Heathers: The Musical presciently reveal the danger of allowing high school communities to be breeding grounds of hate and discrimination. Spawned in community settings and reinforced by curricula, hate and bigotry become normalized. Not surprisingly, “select” political groups use insults and bigotry to manipulate voters, now powered by AI and social media.
However, Heathers: the Musical reveals a better answer in the concluding song. It’s up to us to “make it beautiful.”
Heathers: The Musical is at New World Stages.
