“What’s your damage, Heather?” Not much anymore. “Heathers: The Musical” is back Off-Broadway, and this time, it’s a total knockout.
Sharper, sleeker, and eerily timely, the revival proves that what began as a cult curiosity has grown into one of the best stage musicals of the last decade.
Eleven years ago, “Heathers” premiered at New World Stages and was met with skepticism and a short-lived run. But in the years that followed, it built a rabid cult following thanks to its original Off-Broadway cast album, a hugely successful West End production (which yielded its own cast recording), and a professionally filmed version of the London staging. Combined with the viral spread of its songs on social media, “Heathers” became a genuine phenomenon among younger audiences raised on TikTok and YouTube bootlegs.
Now, “Heathers” has returned to its original home, newly polished, confidently staged, and still packing a wicked punch. Its journey echoes that of “Be More Chill,” another high school-set musical that premiered quietly in 2015, only to explode in popularity after its cast album went viral. That momentum led to an Off-Broadway run in 2018 and a Broadway transfer in 2019.
Heathers is ‘How Very’
Based on the 1989 Winona Ryder-Christian Slater film, “Heathers” centers on Veronica Sawyer (Lorna Courtney), a witty high school outsider who gains popularity after joining a clique of ruthless mean girls all named Heather (McKenzie Kurtz, Olivia Hardy, and Elizabeth Teeter) and falling for J.D. (Casey Likes), a mysterious new student with a violent agenda.
What begins as a high school comedy quickly spirals into a satirical, blood-soaked exploration of conformity, cruelty, exploitation, and adolescent despair, with depictions of gun violence, teen suicide, sexual assault, bullying, and homophobia.
“Heathers” is often compared to “Mean Girls,” another musical based on an iconic teen film that unpacks high school power structures and has stinging one-liners. (Coincidentally, “Heathers” co-writer Laurence O’Keefe is married to Nell Benjamin, lyricist and co-writer of the “Mean Girls” musical.) While “Mean Girls” has been the more commercially successful musical (with a Broadway run and a film adaptation of the stage version), “Heathers” goes deeper emotionally and lands harder both musically and thematically.
Director Andy Fickman, returning from the original Off-Broadway and London productions, delivers sleek and confident staging. Gary Lloyd and Stephanie Klemons’ energized and stylized choreography bursts with personality and edge.
Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy’s pop-style score has not only endured but improved with age. The songs are contagiously catchy, character-rooted, and unusually well-integrated into the storytelling. (The opening number alone, which follows Veronica’s transformation from outcast to popularity, is a masterclass in writing for musical theater.)
Since the original production, the show has undergone several rewrites, including the removal of “Blue,” a number that leaned too far into crude humor, and the addition of two new songs that aim to give the female characters greater agency.
As Veronica, Lorna Courtney (“& Juliet”) brings vocal power and undeniable stage presence. But unlike previous Veronicas such as Barrett Wilbert Weed and Annaleigh Ashford, who leaned into the character’s inner conflict, Courtney seems poised and assured, and hardly someone who desperately wants to sit with the popular girls at lunch.
Casey Likes (who is no stranger to musical adaptations of film, having starred in “Almost Famous” and “Back to the Future”) is magnetic as J.D., capturing the character’s charm, pain, and volatility. As queen bee Heather Chandler, McKenzie Kurtz is effortlessly intimidating, but with glimpses of the toll that role-playing takes.
Olivia Hardy brings a simmering edge to Heather Duke, while Elizabeth Teeter gives Heather McNamara an aching vulnerability and comic sensibility. In a fun bit of casting symmetry, Kerry Butler, who played the various adult female characters in “Mean Girls,” performs the same duty here.
The audience at the performance I attended was young, electrified, and fully engaged, giving the production the kind of energy you usually see at a fan convention. This is not a revival for nostalgia but for a generation that made “Heathers” their own.
With the Off-Broadway run already extended through January, could “Heathers” finally transfer to Broadway? Maybe. But as “Be More Chill” proved, social media hype doesn’t always guarantee box office longevity. Perhaps it will follow in the path of “Mean Girls” with a film adaptation of the stage musical.
New World Stages, 340 West 50th St., heathersthemusical.com. Through Jan. 25.
