Reviewed by Amelia Bascombe
Heathers The Musical has celebrated its 10 year anniversary this year, after it ran off-broadway in March 2014, catapulting stars like Barrett Wilbert Weed and Ryan McCartan. Directed by Andy Fickman, the dark comedy came over to the UK in 2018 with west end legends Carrie Hope Fletcher and Jamie Muscato in the lead roles. After generating a cult following, Heathers has one of the biggest fan bases the West End has ever seen, culminating in limited run after limited run. This current production is playing @Soho Place for 6 weeks before heading out on another UK tour. I gave the tour last year a solid 4 stars, so let’s see how this run shapes up.
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| Esme Bowdler, Jenna Innes, Sedona Sky and Daisy Twells. Photo by Pamela Raith. |
I’m going to have to start with Keelan McAuley as JD because I just have to get this off my chest. Male performance of the year right there. The sheer talent and grit that is put into this performance elevates the show as a whole. Keelan is leaning into every psychopathic strand of JD, giving what can only be described as a terrifying triumph. This is a role that can feel like it’s being forced or stereotyped if in the wrong hands, but Keelan is totally capable and excels.
Opposite him is Jenna Innes who’s returning to the role after taking it on tour last year. After seeing Jenna twice over her previous run, each time she has become more comfortable in the role and has really found her groove with it now. Not to mention her stellar vocals; ‘I Say No’ is where she truly shines.
The Heathers are comprised of Esme Bowdler (Chandler), Sedona Sky (Duke) and Daisy Twells (McNamara). Esme is fresh off being a finalist on Mamma Mia I Have A Dream, and proves why she was worthy of getting that far in the competition. She nails Chandler’s comedic side and you can tell that she is having so much fun on that stage. She almost towers over everyone else which is incredibly commanding. Sedona Skye is giving a wonderful west end debut performance in what i think is a quite a difficult role to land. I found myself drawn to her in ensemble moments as she very humorously puts her own spin on the character. You can see Chandler getting increasingly annoyed at her throughout the beginning of the first act, which lends itself perfectly to her rise in the ranks after Chandler is bumped off. My only criticism would be that I wish her mic was a little louder in Never Shut Up Again, as she can be a bit drown out by the ensemble vocals. To conclude, Daisy Twells is a beautiful Mac, and has such an innocent way about her that makes it very hard not to fall in love with the performance.
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| Jenna Innes and Keelan McAuley. Photo by Pamela Raith |
The ensemble cast were amazing as always, with standouts from Ivan Fernandez Conzalez, Jason Battersby and Lucy Sinclair. The latter provided that funniest ‘Steve’ interaction I’ve seen in any performance. Amy Miles gave the most heart wrenching performance of ‘Kindergarten Boyfriend’ and she has one hell of a voice. I can’t wait for the ensemble to go on for their covers and hear about how wonderful they all are!
After falling in love with The Little Big Things, I was eager to see how they changed the staging @Soho Place to fit with the Heathers production. It was strange not seeing a show in the round there but I think they’ve done the best they can with the space. The band sounded much more prominent than usual which I liked tremendously, as the build in the songs was much more obvious. I noticed a few new moments in the show which I won’t spoil, but it’s great that they are keeping it fresh. I do have to mention that JD’s mattress popped during Dead Girl Walking, and I’m not sure if that was supposed to happen but it was marvellous.
From what I can remember from previous productions, I think the lighting is slightly different here and it was a welcomed change. It really stood out to me in a way that it never did at The Other Palace and served the story a lot better. I still long for a slightly bigger stage, but that’s more so because I don’t know how they fit in dance numbers like Big Fun without stepping on each other’s toes!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heathers is playing @Soho Place until the 6th of July before it embarks on another UK tour! You can find out more and grab tickets from https://www.heathersthemusical.com/
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| The Heathers company. Photo by Pamela Raith. |
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