Review: Heathers: The Musical

Review of the Saturday, September 27, 2025 matinee performance at New World Stages - Stage I in New York City. Starring Lorna Courtney, Casey Likes, McKenzie Kurtz, Kiara Michelle Lee, Elizabeth Teeter, Kerry Butler, Erin Morton, Xavier McKinnon, Cade Ostermeyer, Ben Davis and Cameron Loyal. Book, music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy. Set and costume design by David Shields. Lighting design by Ben Cracknell. Sound design by Dan Samson. Choreography by Gary Lloyd. Direction by Andy Fickman. 2 hours, 30 minutes including one intermission.

When we saw the original off-Broadway production of Heathers, it was okay, not great, and I was perplexed by the uneven tone. Then I saw the current version in the filmed London production. And since the revival of the show now playing at New World Stages is a carbon copy of that, I can say that it remains entertaining, its tone issues have been mostly repaired, but it is still a bit of a perplexing enigma.

The book and score, by Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy, has been sharpened and some songs added, so work has clearly been done since it began life on the stage. What remains disappointing is that they have tiptoed to the edge of important ideas - generational bullying, mass suicide, co-dependency, etc. - and then drop it just before it gets really interesting. Maybe I'm expecting too much from a show that seems to want to be more than a teen high school musical, but is afraid of alienating a teen high school audience. For me, a late-teen/early twenty-something when the film came out, I got the real message of Heathers and was still entertained. Either the writers here didn't have enough confidence in its audience, or simply didn't want to be bothered.

The unit set (designed by David Shields, lit by Ben Cracknell) is serviceable, and, at least from the second row, is kinda cheap even by off-Broadway standards, even with tickets at Broadway prices. Shields' costume designs fare better, the perfect mix of movie-familiar and recognizable 80s "types," such that you don't have to waste any brain space trying to figure out who's who in the moving high school yearbook that is the ensemble. Cracknell's lighting also mirrors this, smartly bathing things in red when power-mad Heather Chandler is at her meanest, and yellow when Heather McNamara reveals her timid, scared inner feelings, and so on. At its best, the design meets theme with the little things: the passing of the red scrunchie as power shifts, the two best friends, Ram and Kurt, wear matching knee high blue striped gym socks and blue briefs in the afterlife, matching the blue Veronica wears, thematically loyal in all three characters. Whatever you can say about those two, there isn't a more loyal pair in the whole story. These hints at deeper meaning are just stark reminders of what could have been.

The score has some truly catchy tunes - "Beautiful," "Candy Store," and "Big Fun" (all in the top-heavy first act) - and some great ballads - "Lifeboat" and "Kindergarten Boyfriend." It also features some dark, meaty songs that again hint at a depth that is possible here - "Our Love is God," "I Am Damaged," and the truly scary "You're Welcome," centering around impending sexual assault, possible rape, and murder. And of course, there's "Seventeen," which is, for me, one of the best single show tunes of the 21st Century.

Andy Fickman's direction is tight and fast-paced, and only occasionally gets to be too much. Still, it is pretty amazing how he makes such full use of the multi-level set. The same can be said about Gary Lloyd's athletic and stylized choreography. I especially enjoyed the "Heathers Trio" movement style, reminiscent of Fosse's iconic "Manson Trio," just as ominous and alluring.

The biggest strength of the whole thing, though, is the uniformly excellent cast, who are to a person on the same page stylistically. That is to say that they all understand how to play that fine line between overacting and satire, and when to turn down the melodrama and play it grounded. The ensemble manages to convey types and individuality simultaneously (no small feat), and they even manage to make the otherwise cringe-inducing one-joke "My Dead Gay Son" palatable. 

The always reliable Kerry Butler brings her patented gift for parody to her role as hippy counselor Ms. Fleming, and Erin Morton makes a terrific debut as the beleaguered Martha "Dumptruck" Dunnstock. (She should be considered for Effie in the upcoming Dreamgirls revival.) And both Xavier McKinnon (Ram) and Cade Ostermeyer (Kurt) manage to bring considerably more to what on the page must read as one-dimensional dumb jock bros. 

The ladies we all came for - the Heathers - do not disappoint. "Yellow" Heather McNamara is brought to multi-dimensional life by the ultimately touching Elizabeth Teeter (her Playbill resume is impressive), and in an "I Can't Believer She's the Understudy" star turn, Kiara Michelle Lee is pretty darned brilliant at the perpetually envious "Green" Heather Duke. As "Red" Heather Chandler, McKenzie Kurtz threatens to steal the show with her highly-stylized and over-the-top performance (a compliment, I assure you). My only regret here is that I've missed her other performances as Elsa and Glinda! She is going places, trust me.

Not surprisingly (to me at least), I was thrilled by every moment Lorna Courtney was onstage - which is 99% of the time. As she demonstrated in & Juliet, she has vocal power to spare, though some of my favorite moments of her Veronica come in the quieter range. But here, she also gets to show off more of her dramatic capabilities, and she is really a force to be reckoned with. I see a long, illustrious career on the stage for this young actor. And speaking of young actors with a big future, Casey Likes is now three for three in truly amazing leading musical roles; he is now permanently on my favorites list. His dark take on the black-clad villain J.D. gave me literal chills in his final scenes, as I was torn between feeling like his end was deserved and feeling sorry for his broken life. Throughout his layered nuanced take on the role was completely captivating. Much like with his take on Marty McFly in Back to the Future, he starts out here channeling his film counterpart, Christian Slater, to draw us in with what we know, but morphing into a J.D. that is all his own. What a pair these two are!

Heathers will never be a favorite of mine, but this production, with its more focused direction, enhanced score, and this amazing company sure makes the case for liking it much more than I did before.