Without Heathers, there’d be no Clueless or Mean Girls. And Westerberg High’s Heather Chandler is the most “mythic bitch” of them all.
So we can take it as a matter of national pride that in the new production of Heathers: The Musical touring New Zealand this month, not only has a Kiwi been cast as Chandler, but there’s also a Kiwi in one of the two sidekick Heather roles.
Kiwi performer Calista Nelmes (centre) as “Queen Bee” Heather Chandler, with fellow New Zealander Amelia Rojas (left) as Heather Duke and Australian Abigail Sharp as Heather McNamara.
British-based producer Paul Mansfield had seen her at the Sydney Opera House as Maureen in Rent, which won her the 2024 People’s Choice Award for best performance in a musical.
He reckons it wasn’t only Nelmes’ soaring vocal talent but her personality and character that made her a perfect fit for the role.
She’s a real bitch, then? “No, no! Absolutely not, and I will not be quoted on that,” he says, waving his hands in mock horror.
“Maureen is a big sing and she dominated that stage. That is what Heather Chandler is. She’s the queen bitch and she has to own it. Calista brings that, too, and the character arc she goes through isn’t just evil; it’s clever and funny.”
Described as High School Musical’s darker, dirtier cousin, Heathers: The Musical opens here this month as part of a six-month tour of Australia and New Zealand.
The original film, a satirical coming-of-age that starred a 15-year-old Ryder as underling Veronica Sawyer and Slater as her psychopathic boyfriend JD, was adapted into a stage musical in 2010 by award-winning US director Andy Fickman.
Sixteen years later, it’s still drawing crowds. A current New York revival scheduled to sign off in May has extended its season to September. Another production of the show opens a 20-stop tour of Britain and Ireland in August.
No bubblegum musical, Heathers is a hot mess of homophobia, toxic masculinity, date rape and relentlessly cruel bullying that drives one of its victims – a fat girl – to attempt suicide.
Some of the scenes aren’t easy to watch, and although the musical softens some of the film’s bleaker moments, let’s just say the end is explosive.
Somehow, it still pulls off being very funny at times, with its slick choreography and the two jocks, Ram and Kurt, adding comic relief despite some truly despicable behaviour. When their dads sing the duet, I Love My Dead Gay Son, it brings the house down.
Emma Caporaso as Veronica Sawyer and Conor Beaumont as her psychopathic boyfriend, JD, a role Brad Pitt apparently read for when the original 1989 movie was being made. The part went to Christian Slater instead.
To maintain quality control, the original creative team from the West End and Broadway productions has remained actively involved in Heathers, reviewing audition tapes and giving feedback on the cast’s performance.
Fickman, whose 2005 musical comedy film Reefer Madness won three Emmy Awards, is directing this six-month tour of Australia and New Zealand. Featuring a new set and new costume design, it takes in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland before finally wrapping in Perth at the end of October.
At the glitzy premiere in Melbourne last month, excitement was at fever pitch for a show that’s been described as High School Musical’s darker, dirtier cousin.
Fans came dressed as one of the Heathers or the lovers Veronica and JD – devotees of the film and musical are known as “corn nuts”, after Heather Chandler’s dying words. There was even a drag Barbie.
The entry ticket for the VIP after-party was a red scrunchie, the symbol of Chandler’s royal status at the top of the social hierarchy, claimed by another Heather after the Queen Bee’s unfortunate demise.
Calista Nelmes as “mythic bitch” Heather Chandler. “She’s obviously deeply troubled and insecure.”
It’s the first time Nelmes has had a death scene on stage. Spoiler alert: being dead doesn’t mean she’s out of the story.
In the film, Chandler is played by Kim Walker, who’d been a classmate of Christian Slater and Jennifer Aniston at the performing arts school in Manhattan that inspired Fame. (Apparently, Brad Pitt read for JD.)
Nelmes based her interpretation of the role on Brook Crompton, the 27-year-old model from Queensland who made a dramatic but short-lived appearance in the latest season of Married at First Sight Australia.
“At the first dinner party, she’s wearing red, and as soon as she opened her mouth, I went, ‘That’s Heather Chandler’. So that’s who I’m channelling,” she says.
About 1500 hopefuls sent in audition tapes when the casting call first went out. Less than half made it through to the next round. Five days of in-person screenings were then held across Australia and New Zealand, with four Kiwis making the final cut.
Professional opportunities offering this level of exposure and experience are rare in New Zealand, especially for young performers so early in their careers. Compared with most of the cast, Nelmes is a veteran.
Abigail Sharp, the Baby Spice lookalike who plays Heather McNamara, is just a few months out of high school herself. Emma Caporaso, in the central role of Veronica, was part of the Aussie girl pop group G-Nation and is making her professional theatre debut.
Heather Duke (Amelia Rojas) seizes power, including the red scrunchie, after Heather Chandler is deposed. Nic Van Lits (left) and David Cuny play the two high-school jocks, Kurt and Ram.
Amelia Rojas, who landed the role of Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty in the movie), is only 20 and midway through a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Auckland.
Last year, she played one of the murderesses on death row and was the understudy for Roxie Hart in a touring production of Chicago, directed by Michael Hurst. During its Christchurch run, she had to swing in mid-show when the star, Nomi Cohen, was unable to go on after the interval. The next night, she stepped on stage as Roxie.
The most sycophantic and downtrodden Heather, Rojas smashes her big solo, Never Shut Up Again, a song that was added to the London season in 2019.
She says her “role model” was Gretchen Wieners, the wealthy, deeply insecure member of The Plastics in Mean Girls. “I grew up with that movie, and she’s the one who really strikes it for me. She just leeches on to power.”
Like Nelmes, who describes herself as one of those “weird theatre kids”, Rojas came across her fair share of bullies at high school.
“But I think I wouldn’t be anywhere without them,” she says. “They’ve made me into the person I am today, and I feel like that’s such a strong message with Heathers. Every little aspect of life makes you who you are.”
The Kiwi contingent at rehearsals before the premiere in Melbourne. From left: Jocelyn Scott as Stoner Chick, Calista Nelmes as “Queen Bee” Heather Chandler, Mackenzie Htay (seated) as Beleaguered Geek and Amelia Rojas (standing at right) as Heather Duke.
Two other Kiwis, both originally from Wellington, are in the ensemble cast. Jocelyn Scott, who plays “Stoner Chick”, was 15 when she left New Zealand to train at a performing arts school in Britain.
A teacher at Ormiston Senior School in Auckland for the past two years, this is her second Australian gig after touring with Shrek the Musical last summer.
Mackenzie Htay plays another high-school archetype, “Beleagured Geek”, a clumsy, bespectacled kid constantly being pushed around. He’s also the understudy for JD.
He thinks Heathers strikes a chord because it tackles the struggles so many teenagers go through, but are too afraid to speak up about.
“That’s why this fan base is so crazy,” he says, “because they relate to it so much and find an outlet through the show.”
The OG (from left): Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Winona Ryder, and Kim Walker in the 1989 film Heathers.
Even Heather Chandler is presented with a smidgen of compassion. A fleeting scene in the movie that’s expanded in the musical shows her reading Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, which was published a month before Plath committed suicide.
“She’s kind of the worst,” says Nelmes. “But high school is a tough place. It’s an awkward time, figuring out who you are. The way that I see Chandler is she’s obviously very deeply troubled and insecure, and I think everyone can relate to that on some level.”
Fickman, the very embodiment of an American director in his merch T-shirt and baseball cap, spent six weeks rehearsing with the cast in Australia before flying back to Los Angeles to wrap the second season of his Disney show, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.
What clique was he in at high school? “I grew up Jewish in Texas,” he says. “There weren’t many groups I was allowed in.”
In the US, the Heathers team has done post-show “talk-backs” with thousands of high-school students, including many who have survived school shootings. Fickman has deliberately given the musical a more hopeful ending.
Director Andy Fickman (left) at rehearsals in Melbourne with Emma Caporaso as Veronica Sawyer and Conor Beaumont as JD.
“Sadly, we live in a world where it’s not going away – gun violence, sexual assault, homophobia,” he says. “It’s hard to live in a society where kindness is not rewarded.
“In our audiences, we see kids from such a young age, 12 and up, who are dealing with it daily and finding there is another way forward.”
If that all sounds pretty grim, there’s plenty of lightness and sparkle in Heathers, too. Candy Store, which has become its “bad girl” signature song, is such a favourite of Fickman’s 6-year-old daughter that the school has begged her to stop singing its racy lyrics in front of her classmates.
It’s 20 years since some producer friends first pitched the unlikely idea of adapting Heathers into a musical. At the time, Fickman was in post-production for She’s The Man, a comedy he directed with Channing Tatum in his breakout role.
After the show’s opening night in Melbourne, footage of the final bows was posted on social media. Everyone in the theatre was up on their feet.
Daniel Waters, who scripted the original movie, was one of the first to comment on Instagram. “World domination,” he posted, “is all I ever wanted.”
Heathers: The Musical opens in Christchurch (May 15-24), then tours to Wellington (May 28-June 7) and Auckland (June 10-14).
Joanna Wane is a senior lifestyle writer with an interest in social issues and the arts.