By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
By the end of “Heathers: The Musical,” our hero Veronica has gotten what she wants.
In her opening number, she dreams that her classmates entering their senior year at Westerberg High School, placed in Ohio for the BGSU production, would return to the more innocent days of their childhood when they all played together. “That would be beautiful,” . Veronica (Maria Fallouh ) sings. “But not today.”
The BGSU Department of Theatre and Film brings “Heathers: The Musical” created by Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy based on the 1989 film to the Donnell Theatre stage in the Wolfe Center for the Arts on campus opening tonight (April 11) at 8 with shows Friday, April 12, and Saturday, April 13, at 8 p.m. with a Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. Click for tickets. The show is directed by James Stover with musical direction by CJ Capen, and choreography by Colleen Murphy.
As Veronica sings about her hopes, her classmates respond with a catalog of insults, each meriting its own trigger warning. As the actresses who play the Heathers tell us before the curtain the dark comedy grapples with a lot of tough issues, and there are folks in the lobby to talk to if need be.
Presiding over this festering pool of fear, anger, and humiliation are the Heathers, three girls who rule through mockery and meanness. Heather McNamara (Claire Oliver) is the head cheerleader while Heather Duke (Arden Moore ) is editor of the yearbook, and the one who rules them all is Heather Chandler, “the mythic bitch.”
Then there are the alpha jocks Kurt (Logan May) and Ram ( Kyle Metzler) who supply the physical intimidation.
They all are what stands in the way of Veronica’s wistful dream. Her friendship with Martha (Liv Lutz), referred to as Martha Dumptruck by her classmates is a holdover from those beautiful days. Friends since they wore in diapers, they get together for movie nights, which involve watching Martha’s favorite “The Princess Bride.”
“I like happy endings,” she said.
But the “happy” ending Veronica finds comes at a price.
Like any teen musical, this one hinges on the arrival of the new student, the outsider who challenges the status quo.
In “Heathers’ JD (Braden Evans ) fills the bill. He arrives, meets Veronica, and before she can even learn her name, gives Kurt and Ram a beat down. That kind of excites Veronica. This comes at the same time she’s been allowed to join “the lip-gloss Gestapo,” as JD refers to the Heathers.
They discover her ability at forgery, not just a signature, but whole letters. They use that as a weapon, including against Martha. Veronica is an unwitting accomplice in that mean prank. But as we learn as the musical’s madness unfold “unwitting” could be her middle name.
Veronica is torn between her desire to be in the in-crowd, and somewhat protected from their bullying, and her attraction to JD. JD wins out. Somehow, she didn’t pick up on his view that everyone has evil within them. He wants to purge that. He is a damaged person. He witnessed his mother’s death in an explosion, and lives with a transient father (Lazariev), who blows buildings up for a living and always has suitcases packed.
Throughout the adults – all the males are played by Justin Andrews and Danylo Lazariev, and the teacher Mrs. Fleming (Grace Whetstone) are ineffectual. It’s almost as if we’re viewing them through the lens of the students. The adult males all seem like adult versions of Kurt and Ram.
Fleming tries to organize students to confront their sadness over the spate of “suicides.” But it seemed aimed more and make her feel good. She even invites a camera crew to film one session. That ends badly when Heather McNamara confesses to having suicidal ideation. This is just the kind of testimony Fleming encourages. Then Heather Duke steps forward a mercilessly taunts her fellow Heather for being weak. driving her further into despair.
Then the killings starts. Veronica writes suicide notes after each killing. Suddenly those who died because objects of affection, helping people overcome some of their prejudices.
With Martha also suicidal, and JD’s plans to eliminate all the evil, the casualties are mounting, and Veronica’s world is spinning out of control.
This production never does though.
Fallouh gives full voice to all the contradictions inside of Veronica. Her chemistry with Evans is striking with their declaration that “Our Love is God” is a powerful expression of love and a red flag. Evans exudes a sheen of charisma that barely conceals the menace underneath.
Each of the Heathers hits her mark. Heather C is joyfully imperious even toward Veronica’s mom (Grace Whetstone).
Heather D is clearly intelligent, but still leans on Heather C’s shadow. Heather M is timorous, and clearly would be a better person outside the orbit of the Heathers.
Her admission to having suicidal thoughts is believable given the difficulty she has choking it out.
May and Metzler as Kurt and Ram give us the sense of insecurity underneath their bravado, even when they are attempting to rape Veronica. They act out to prove to themselves that they are tough and never seem quite convinced.
Maybe, as Veronica sings, they could change, and be part of that beautiful world she envisions.
In the end, she stands on top of the school pyramid and addresses a school that may finally have seen that they must treat each other kindly.
They have reached what Martha so loves: a happy ending. That is if you ignore the body count.
