Heathers the cult classic and film that helped define the 1980’s has just hit the Westend in musical format and it’s taking the city by storm! After a short but very successful run at The Other Palace Heathers The Musical opened this week at The Theatre Royal Haymarket and it’s the must have ticket of the season!
This coming of age story which is anything but the usual fare you might expect from this genre and it has just shot to the top of my musical of the year list! Name anything you love about a musical and this has it! The script is incredibly well written, adapting from the film in such a way that you could argue it is an even better interpretation than its previous incarnation. The changes from the screenplay are subtle but make it’s transition to the stage all the sweeter. For instance Heather Chandlers famous “Fuck me gently with a chainsaw” line is delivered with such power and humour that it almost brings the house down. The songs are written in such a way as to be sassy, funny and just down right catchy as hell! ‘Welcome to my Candy Store’ will swim around your head for weeks! The dark humour throughout this performance plays marvellously well without the usual tropes of cheesy musical theatre in-jokes. The painful high school encounters are relatable for the whole audience whether we like to admit it or not (although hopefully out teen angst didn’t come with a bodycount).
The cast is without fault, I don’t recall the last time I saw a West End show with a cast as strong as this one. Each player absolutely owns their character and the talent oozes from the stage. Carrie Hope Fletcher in her lead role as Veronica brings energy and sass to the role in equal measures and boy can she hit those notes! The production elements all fit perfectly into the new home too, the lighting in particular really stood out in all the right ways and helps take this musical above and beyond expectations.
The Other Palace is proving to the breeding ground for some of the best West End musicals to hit the scene and this is no exception, in fact it’s one of the best things you will find on a London stage this Autumn. In short for me this musical is faultless and I don’t think I have ever been able to say this about a West End show, least of all a musical! It is currently only booked in for a painfully short run so grab a ticket before they are gone!
Tickets can be purchased form London Box Office from £28.
My ticket was complementary in return for a review, all words and opinions are my own.
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