Return of Heathers?

[macbeth]

Posted: 1/21/25 at 9:32am

A friend said that Heathers is coming back to New World Stages for a longer commercial run. I missed it the first time. Has anyone heard?  

[quizking101]

Posted: 1/21/25 at 9:46am

Per Playbill, there’s a possible run in the works, but nothing concrete.

https://playbill.com/article/heathers-the-musical-to-come-back-to-new-york-city-in-2025

[Dirty Chestnut]

Posted: 1/26/25 at 6:22pm

commercial off-broadway is hardly a thing.  All musicals die a quick death at NWS.  Don't know why drag is still running.  As long as they keep segregating off broadway and broadway, I don't think Heathers stands a chance, and they should do a limited engagement on Broadway.

[inception]

Posted: 2/10/25 at 9:59am

Vancouver's prestigious Studio 58 theatre program at Langara College is currently doing Heathers as this winter's musical production.  Saturday night was my first time actually seeing a live performance of this show.  I haven't followed the changes made, and haven't listened to the off-Bwy cast album in a few years.  When I put it on yesterday, I was immediately struck by some of the changes between the original recording & the show I saw - such as the removal of the song about " blue balls."  Probably the changes are for the better.

The show really calls for some power house vocal performances.   While the leads of this student production were up for the task, unfortunately this made the weaknesses of other performances much more glaring.

Any commercial production trying to revive this in New York will need standout performances in every role to sell.  But, I'm not certain that such a black & cynical comedy would sell any better today than it did in 2014.

It is difficult for me to judge how the story plays for new audiences since I know the film so well.   I watched it repeatedly as a teenager in high school back when it first came out on home video.  I know every beat of the plot by heart.  The row behind me was a group of early 20 something's with no familiarity with the material.   They may have been there to support a friend in the cast?  They were in constant shock and surprise at every twist in the story.

I can see an audience like that wanting to see this again. For $25 or $30 for a student production that's do-able.  Would the same market pay $150 plus for a commercial run?  I doubt it.   Even for the current big selling shows on Bwy, this is the group that is lining up at 6am for rush seats to something like The Outsiders, as that is all they can afford.   I don't see school groups selling out matinees  to Heathers. And even with the nostalgia factor, I can't see this being something my generation would support for a long run.

This is definitely a better show, with better songs, than something like Death Becomes Her.  But Heathers is much darker material.   I think any commercial run would have a very difficult time being financially successful. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/10/25 at 10:33am

inception - I love your posts here, I want to say that up front. But I disagree SO HARD with you on this. 

"Death Becomes Her" succeeds (mostly) because it leans even more into what makes the movie so popular. And while it doesn't come close to being as good as the film, it knows it's camp and goes for broke. "Heathers" on the other hand does everything it can to steer away from the film and what makes it (as I've said many many times) in my opinion, the best black comedy ever made. It's a vicious film that holds no bars and the musical holds those bars VERY tightly. "Heathers" IS much darker material but you wouldn't know it from the musical that tries to cover it with cotton candy so not to offend anyone or trigger too much, the very thing a good and true adaptation of the material SHOULD be doing. I know I'm a broken record about this show over the years, but what pisses me off is that it probably could be a really good musical if written by people who appreciated what they're adapting. 

[inception]

Posted: 2/10/25 at 3:14pm

Hey Jordan, I don't think we are disagreeing. 

You wanted a darker adaptation. I can see that.  Right now it is hard to tell this show apart from Mean Girls.

Up above there's a link to comments from producers saying they want to bring this back to New York.  I'm saying, as it is, I don't see it selling.

[inception]

Posted: 2/10/25 at 3:19pm

The only thing I thought made it better between the Off- broadway version and the version licensed now is getting rid of the jokey song about blue balls when Ram & Kurt try to rape Veronica. 

[BroadwayBaby6]

Posted: 2/12/25 at 7:09pm

It's a great score with a serviceable book but it really needs a top-notch director to get the tone right. I saw the LA workshop and the Off-Broadway NWS productions and felt that the direction just didn't quite get the tone right. 

It sounds like the West End version was not well directed either. Hopefully a production in the not-so-distant future will feature a director who can really match the perfectly pitched black comedy tone of the movie.

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 2/12/25 at 7:35pm

The show needs 80s camp and not a UFO set. They need to get rid of the costumes also. More like the workshop that’s the only way this would work

[ggersten]

Posted: 2/12/25 at 11:55pm

BroadwayBaby6 said: "It's a great score with a serviceable book but it really needs a top-notch director to get the tone right. I saw the LA workshop and the Off-Broadway NWS productions and felt that the direction just didn't quite get the tone right.

It sounds like the West End version was not well directed either. Hopefully a production in the not-so-distant future will feature a director who can really match the perfectly pitched black comedy tone of the movie."

The West End version was available on Roku

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 2/24/25 at 9:08am

Return set for New World Stages June 22-September 28; cast & creative tba

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 2/24/25 at 9:10am

Very exciting! I missed the original Off-Broadway run, so looking forward to seeing this.