Given its colourful design and glittery pop soundtrack, you’d be forgiven for thinking Heathers is a light-hearted coming-of-age, high school comedy, but it’s bloody dark: murder and suicide, bulimia and bullying dominate the Westerberg campus. Based on the ‘80s Winona Ryder film, this musical offering has earned a cult following over the years on the back of its zany humour and infectious soundtrack, and it now lands in the West End starring musical theatre stalwart Carrie... Read more
Following a number of workshop performances and then a full production at The Other Palace, Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy musical adaptation of Heathers is set to transfer to West End. It ran at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 3rd September to 24th November starring West End sensation Carrie Hope Fletcher.
Heathers: the Musical premiered Off-Broadway in 2014 and is based on the 1988 film of the same name which is about a group four teenage girls – three of whom share the first name Heather - at high school in Ohio. Veronica, the fourth friend, has had enough and longs to return to her old life and geeky friends. The film starred Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, and gained cult status.
Carrie Hope Fletcher played Veronica in the musical. Her previous stage credits include Éponine in Les Miserables, Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family, and Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. She has also just released her debut album, When the Curtain Falls, and has had a number of best-selling books and boasts over 640,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel.
The musical version was adapted by O’Keefe (Legally Blonde) and Murphy (Reefer Madness), and features songs such as “Seventeen”, "Candy Store", “Beautiful” and “Shine a Light”. It got its UK premiere with five workshop performances at The Other Palace, with a cast that included Charlotte Wakefield, Jamie Muscato and Sophie Isaacs, and went on to recieve a full production which starred Fletcher, Muscato, Isaacs, T'Shaan Williams and Jodie Steele.