{"id":878338,"date":"2026-09-03T08:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T08:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/878338\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T08:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T08:10:14","slug":"more-cheeky-than-challenging-more-silly-than-serious-but-heathers-the-musical-is-irresistible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/878338\/","title":{"rendered":"More cheeky than challenging, more silly than serious \u2013 but Heathers the Musical is irresistible"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roslyn Packer Theatre, September 1, until September 19<\/p>\n

Before the curtain had even risen on Sydney\u2019s opening night of the Asia Pacific tour of Heathers the Musical, the merch line was packed with fans, some already boasting thematic scrunchies and (in some cases) full Heather cosplay. After the show, the line to meet the cast at the stage door was even longer. When people love Heathers, they love it with everything they\u2019ve got \u2013 and this production won\u2019t disappoint them.<\/p>\n

Based on the acerbic 1988 cult film where high school power struggles turn into murders staged as suicides, the pop-rock musical landed with buzz off-Broadway back in 2014 and was fast-tracked to Sydney in a well-received production for the Hayes Theatre. A West End cast recording and professional film capture (streaming on HBO Max), helped grow the show\u2019s passionate fanbase. Over a decade later, it\u2019s back off-Broadway and in Sydney too: re-imagined, re-tooled, and ready to knock your socks off.<\/p>\n

\"ItIt is impossible to resist this new production of Heathers.Cameron Grant, Parenthesy<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a real ease to this production. Its pacing and shape, especially in the second act, has been tightened and improved by the original creative team. The cast \u2013 all excellent \u2013 are well settled into their roles. Associate director for the Asia Pacific tour, Matt Heyward, has kept a keen eye on character and the ensemble are fully dropped-in for each scene, maintaining high school hierarchies and cliquey quirks in the background \u2013 there are so many background gags and running \u2018bits\u2019 you might not catch them all.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Heathers in action: (from left) Am\u00e9lia Rojas, Calista Nelmes and Abigail Sharp.Cameron Grant, Parenthesy<\/p>\n

This tour also offers a Heathers that\u2019s still edgy (well, musical theatre edgy) but is less cruel than its original outing. Kevin Murphy and Laurence O\u2019Keefe, who wrote the book, music and lyrics, have cut the comedy song Blue that made light of sexual assault and replaced it with a number that gives the girl dodging those advances back her power. Slurs have also been cut, and the meanest jokes have been blunted. There\u2019s plenty of audacity \u2013 it\u2019s now just causing a little less harm to its audience. There\u2019s now even a little more gravitas to bullied Martha Dunnstock, played winsomely here by Mel O\u2019Brien (perhaps best known as half of comedy duo Mel & Sam).<\/p>\n

The band, led by Martine Wengrow, is loud, rollicking and delightfully brash. Ben Cracknell\u2019s lights are mischievous and bold; both elements are playful \u2013 it feels, charmingly, like they are egging on all the drama.<\/p>\n

\"VeronicaVeronica Sawyer (Emma Caporaso, in blue), ingratiates herself with the \u201cHeathers\u201d (Calista Nelmes, Amelia Rojas and Abigail Sharp).Ruby Alexander<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all so very much, but the cast rises to the occasion. These are powerhouse leads who make a meal out of every joke and find new spins on old insults. Newcomer Emma Caporaso is an instant star as Veronica Sawyer \u2013 naturally funny, big-voiced, seemingly endless energy \u2013 and Calista Nelmes finds new and surprisingly arch shades of queen bee Heather Chandler. Conor Beaumont has a lighter take on brooding bad boy JD that builds nicely towards darkness, and across the board there\u2019s a real sense of freshness and full-bodied commitment.<\/p>\n

This cast is going to give you one hell of a show. It\u2019s more cheeky than challenging, more silly than serious, and very easy to like. There\u2019s no use in resisting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roslyn Packer Theatre, September 1, until September 19 Before the curtain had even risen on Sydney\u2019s opening night…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-878338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}