The first time I watched Heathers was via a bootleg version of the off-Broadway production, posted to YouTube by an audience member. The quality was grainy, the dialogue almost unintelligible and the moral implications of watching bootlegs questionable, but I fell in love with the musical — mainly for its soundtrack — just as I had when watching the movie for the first time. The entirely unique spin on a classic ‘80s high school story felt groundbreaking for the time.
My chance to redeem myself from my bootleg Broadway days came in the form of UBC’s Musical Theatre Troupe (MTT), a student-run club that puts on two full-length musical productions a year, with this fall’s being Heathers.
On a Saturday evening at Performance Works on Granville Island, the stage was set simply, but appropriately, with ‘80s music filling the theatre as the audience chatted among themselves.
Heathers follows the story of high school student Veronica Sawyer as she battles teen angst and the vicious social hierarchy of Westerburg High school. After committing “social suicide” by embarrasing the Heathers, Westerburg’s most popular clique of three girls with the same name, she joins forces with outcast JD to bring them down.
From the moment Tala Zhang stepped on stage as Veronica, I knew the show was going to exceed my expectations.
What impressed me the most had to be the cast’s vocals. From the leads to the supporting characters to the ensemble, I didn’t hear a single voice that wasn’t superb. A standout to me was Ryan Hocking as JD. His voice was mesmerizing — off-Broadway-worthy, one could say. As a fan of the Heathers soundtrack, I would like to think I am somewhat of an expert on the subject, and Hocking nailed every song.
The leads in the Saturday evening cast (including Lauren MacFarlane, Mandisa Volo and Isabella Coccimiglio as the Heathers) did a fantastic job, but one of the most memorable performances was Sarah Hayes as Ms. Fleming. As the quirky, hippie teacher of Westerburg, Hayes embodied Ms. Fleming’s over-the-top yet enduring personality during the song “Shine a Light,” where she interacted with the audience by pretending they were fellow students and hyping them up as if they were on TV. She brought an energy-filled approach to the role that enhanced the entire show for me.
And I can’t write this review without mentioning “My Dead Gay Son,” performed by Luke Pender and Jordan Kovacs. The song pays homage to a line in the original movie, but the show takes it a step further by suggesting that the fathers of two football players who are grappling with the fact that their sons were a couple (they weren’t actually, but that story’s a bit too complicated to explain here) are in love with each other. The song was hilarious to watch, and the vocal talents of both Pender and Kovacs blew me away.
I think it’s interesting to note that the version of Heathers performed by MTT was the West End version as opposed to the off-Broadway version — the West End script modifies a few offensive lines and songs from the original show. The cast and crew were very mindful of alerting the audience of the heavy themes and language that are in the show, but I appreciated that they didn’t choose to completely modify it. The language used is highly reflective of the time the movie was made, and I think that keeping the show as it is not only reflects the time period well, but makes it uncomfortable to watch at certain points, further emphasizing the necessity of how times have changed since the movie was made.
MTT did this show justice, not only for people who feel intense nostalgia for the show, but also for those who had no idea what to expect going into it. Director Emma Doig and the rest of the creative team put on a beautiful show, and I can’t recommend watching their next production enough.
You can find more information about Heathers and MTT’s upcoming spring production on their website.
An earlier version of this article misspelled Tala Zhang's name. The Ubyssey regrets this error.
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