Review: HEATHERS: THE MUSICAL

By Toby Zinman

For the Inquirer

Heathers: the Musical was adapted by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O'Keefe  from the 1988 mean girls cult movie. Now, Vulcan Lyric, formerly known as the Center City Opera Theater, launches their Summer Festival with this rock musical and three operas running  in rep through mid-August.   And although Vucan Lyric's announced mission is to develop "new works with contemporary resonance," Heathers: the Musical has already had an off-Broadway run.

The title refers to a trio of seventeen-year-old girls all named Heather, each with the moral fiber of a hyena.  They bully everybody and make life a misery for the kids at Westerburg High. As though being in high school in Ohio weren't bad enough, what with the dopey parents and the ridiculous teachers and the general hormonal mayhem.

When Veronica (Loulu Luzi) arrives, she wins acceptance by the Queen of Mean (Hanna Gaffney) and her posse (Sara Moya and Katie Johantgen, whose one solo song is lovely) with her talent for forgery: hall passes, love letters, suicide notes, you name it she'll write it. Our heroine.

Our hero, J.D. (Nate Golden) is another new kid and a rebel (you can tell that by his black clothes and the Baudelaire quotations); he is deeply damaged and dangerous. Also misinformed ("we killed the dinosaurs"??). As Veronica's and J.D.'s romance escalates, so do their deeds, winding up in three murders and a fourth girl in a wheelchair. Not nice.

And not nice is exactly the problem. It's as if this show were written (and, alas, performed) by the silliest of high school students, with every shallow cruelty on view but not a moment of genuine emotion. Every cliché of an after school special is in place: teen suicide, bullying, date-rape, gay-bashing, and the dangers of conformity.

The irony of the show is that while condemning conformity it conforms to every cliché of the teen angst genre:  the footballs stars who are, of course, stupid and vulgar (Joe Chubb and Ram Sweeney), the pretentious hippie teacher (Lindsay Mauck), the clueless parents and moronic coaches (David Schwartz and Michael McClain), and the sweet, chubby mocked girl, Martha "Dumptruck" (Lindsay Ronaldson who has the only genuinely melodic voice in the cast).

The orchestra, conducted by Michael Pacifico, is so loud as to overwhelm the lyrics, and since they carry the nonsensical story, it's even harder to figure out why any character does what he/she does, especially with the head mikes cranked up so high. Eric Gibson's direction seems to relish every cheesy "shocking" element of the show. Lacking depth and interesting characters, Heathers: The Musical will never be Spring Awakening which is what it seems to aspire to in a "Holy shit!" sort of way.

Vulcan Lyric at Prince Theatre, 1412 Chestnut St. Through Aug.16. Tickets $39-99. Information: https://vulcanlyric.secure.force.com/ticket, or  215-238-1555