| 'HEATHERS, The Musical' last night ... (long, and probably some spoilers) ... | |
| Posted by: | flaguy 09:00 am EDT 03/17/14 |
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| I thought the day of the big 'LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE' kind of Off-Broadway musical was over because, financially, they just can't pay off anymore. Well, last night I saw the new Off-Broadway show 'HEATHERS, The Musical,' based on the Winona Ryder-Christian Slater cult movie of the same name. And there was a cast of seventeen on that stage! Wow! If you've never seen the 1988 film 'HEATHERS,' it was (to the best of my knowledge) the first of the truly mean, popular school girl comedies. Except this one was a black comedy, set at a cliquish high school in Ohio, where the most exclusive of those cliques is the 'Heathers,' comprised of the three prettiest and most popular girls in town -- all named Heather. And they rule that school. A girl named Veronica (Winona Ryder) manages to join their clique, but can't keep up with their meanness. Especially after she meets a new (weird) boy in town named J.D. (Christian Slater), and falls for him. Several MURDERS follow, starting with Heather #1, who is the meanest of all the Heathers, and is the leader of the pack. So, ... what we have here is kind of a blend of 'LEGALLY BLONDE,' 'GREASE,' 'MEAN GIRLS' and 'CARRIE.' It helps to be a cult follower of the film, I guess, to really have a great time with this material. And last night the place seemed to be packed to the rafters with 'HEATHER'-heads. (They even applauded after famous lines from the film were spoken, most notably "F**k me gently with a buzz saw, please!") Anyway, the evening began when the director of this piece, Andy Fickman (whose background is in FILM), came out on stage and gave one of the worst curtain speeches in the history of the theatre. He explained that this was only the second preview!, and then he begged and pleaded for the audience to be kind, and proceeded - at great length - to whip the crowd up into a frenzy for what was to follow. It worked. The audience whooped it up big time through the entire evening, especially at the conclusion of every song (and at the delivery of some of those famous lines.) As for the show itself: it's staged nicely, the choreography will do, the costumes are fun, the set is spare and only adequate, and the cast -- all twenty-somethings playing teenagers, of course -- is excellent. Especially Barrett Wilbert Weed (God, whatever happened to "stage names"?!) and Ryan McCartan, in the Ryder-Slater roles. Heather #1 was out sick (on the second night? FIRE HER!), so I saw her understudy, Charissa Hogeland, who was perfection in the part (HIRE HER!) Book, music and lyrics are by Kevin ('REEFER MADNESS') Murphy & Laurence ('LEGALLY BLONDE,' 'BAT BOY') O'Keefe, so these guys know what they're doing. And, like their previous shows, this one has some very clever, funny lyrics, plus music that just misses being truly tuneful, and a book that pretty much gets the job done. It becomes a little too dark and muddled (and long) in the last half of Act Two, but then so does the film, I suppose. (Or maybe I was just tired, by then.) And, though there's no happy, romantic ending, there IS a sweet, hopeful one that instantly brought this audience to their feet, screaming, with that final blackout! Oy. Did I enjoy it? Yeah. Will it be a hit? Probably. If it can survive the financial woes of a large Off-Broadway musical today. I certainly don't see it moving to Broadway. It's just right, right where it is, at New World Stages. Can't imagine it'll be a critic's favorite, but it certainly was a crowd-pleaser last night. So, as long as they can keep drawing the cult movie crowd that adores this piece into a legitimate theatre, I imagine they've got a winner. Bravo! television's Andy Cohen, a film/TV producer and first time theatre producer, is the lead producer here, by the way. And apparently it was his idea to turn this movie into a stage musical. I kept thinking, while watching it, "My God. Every high school across the country is going to want to do this show." And then it got kinda raunchy, and more than a little vulgar (with a song called "Blue," sung by high school jocks, referring to body parts of theirs that get "blue" when they're horny.) But maybe they'll clean it up for high school productions? Still, when the cast album is released (and surely there'll be a cast recording), and kids hear that song, that's the one they'll all want to sing. On the other hand, maybe high schools are more sophisticated these days than I think they are. In MY day we did operettas! ('RUDDIGORE,' etc.) Whatever. I had a good time. | |
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| Previous: | re: I saw that the other day too .... - hitbycab 10:34 am EDT 03/17/14 |
| Next: | The movie IS dark... - Maguire75 01:20 pm EDT 03/17/14 |
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