I can see why those who hold the good but flawed movie up in high regard didn't like the direction the musical took, but honestly I think the score is superb, only the lyrics in My Dead Gay Son to me are a bit cliche. I reviewed this score for one of the publications I write for here in the UK and honestly found it far better than 90 percent of the shows that arrived on or Off Broadway this year.
The direction the show took was the only one it could take, I personally thought it had the same tones as the film (though more theatrical) and just flipped them around, the comedy became the more dominant personality of the show where as the dark or odd tones remained present but fell to the back a little. Let's not kid ourselves, the movie has great love for it now by critics but many still sat it had major tone issues, as much as I like the film I agree. It could not decide what it wanted to be, it bounced from strange comedy to morality tale uncomfortably at time, it's odd choices sometimes hindered the film rather than helped it. The ending also sat very awkward. It's a good film but let's not kid ourselves, it was flawed.
The musical feels like it has a more cohesive tone, yes it still has light and dark but the dark feels like it's born out of where the story is taking us rather than the need to be 'quirky' .
Honestly some of the hate for this show confuses me but it does seem like it's a lot of loyalists to the film who view it negatively. Personally I don't think the film version would ever work on stage, it lacks the energy and is very much created as a visual piece. Also times have changed, they needed to handle the killings etc in a lighter way, terms are getting shot at a staggering rate in your country and scuicide is on the rise, it's not the 80s now, things have to move on and adapt to a society that is plagued by this subject matter. A serious play about this subject matter is hard (we just did one here in the UK written by me and my co writer, it opened to strong and encouraging reviews but made audiences feel uncomfortable at times.....and we barely have gun crime)
Personally I think they did a great job with this show, the physical production let it down a bit but that's not the show, a Heathers the Musical is the adaptation that I was hoping for.
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna