NOTTINGHAM THEATRE ROYAL – REVIEW
Heathers: The Musical had made its way to Nottingham for the fourth time a couple weeks ago from September 8th, running through until September 12th.
The lead cast includes Gerardine Sacdalan (& Juliet) as Veronica Sawyer, Louis Hearsey as Jason “J.D.” Dean, Liberty Stottor (Six the Musical) as Heather Chandler, Jessica Ibadin as Heather Duke, and Lou Henry (Six the Musical) as Heather McNamara, alongside Beau Jackson as Ram Sweeney, Markus Södergren (Here & Now – The Steps Musical) as Kurt Kelly, Sophie Manners as Martha Dunnstock, and Veronica Carabai as Ms. Fleming/Veronica’s Mom.
The musical is based on the 1989 film of the same name, which includes Winona Ryder and Christian Slater as Veronica Sawyer and Jason “J.D.” Dean, respectively. It became a cult classic over the years, and still remains to be an iconic movie — which I, myself, find rewatching every once in a while.
So, the question remains — do I like the musical?
The answer is… not anymore, or at least as much as I used to when I was a teenager.
I had previously seen the show in Nottingham for its first and second UK tours several years ago, and I attended the 7:30 pm show on the 9th earlier this month for its fourth UK tour. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy it — either the touring production is poor, or I’m not fifteen anymore.
At my September 9th show, I immediately found that the touring production’s artistic direction is not the same as it used to be; and most of the cast made questionable acting choices in their roles, especially Gerardine, who played the lead role of Veronica Sawyer — I barely felt excited whilst watching the show, and found myself increasingly bored as the numbers flew by. I ended up leaving at interval after the first act due to illness, and that I didn’t want to stay there any longer than I needed to.
So, what exactly is the problem?
Personally, my opinion on productions depend on the casting. I didn’t like Gerardine much when she played the role of Juliet Capulet in & Juliet‘s UK tour last year, and I wasn’t particularly thrilled when she had been casted as Veronica. As expected — I didn’t like her in Heathers, either. I feel Gerardine struggles with the concept of portraying emotion through song, and I didn’t particularly like how she portrayed Veronica as a child — seems pretty wooden.
I knew Liberty and Lou from Six, with Markus from Here & Now, which I had seen him twice in. Out of everyone in the cast, Lou, Beau, and Markus stood out to me in the best way. Beau and Markus outshine everyone in the show as Ram and Kurt, and Lou is an incredible McNamara with her amazing talents — this meant that everyone else in the cast simply became background characters as these three took over the stage whenever they were present. Beau and Markus were hilarious in their roles, and they were incredibly unique compared to the rest of the cast. Those three were the roses amongst the thorns.
Lou’s portrayal of Heather McNamara represented what it’s like to pretend to be someone you’re not, her version of “Lifeboat” carries the pressure of being popular, and thinking that the weight of the “boat” would decrease if she decided to sacrifice herself for the sake of making everyone else happy, and to relieve the load of making sure that she is perfect in every single way — including her outfits, looks, and the way she acts. Lou’s renedition of the number is made by pent-up anger mixed with desperation, exhaustion, and the need to be loved for who she is.
And onto Louis Hearsey — his J.D. isn’t that bad.
I was quite intrigued with how he portrayed the quiet kid in school that goes from Veronica’s high school sweetheart to being posessive and obsessive. I was extremely impressed with his acting throughout the show, and the climax of “Our Love is God” and the entirety of “Meant to Be Yours” was incredibly haunting in the best way possible. Louis seems to understand the concept of what a psychopath would be like, feel, and do — and I think that he did a pretty good job at that.
After leaving at interval, I simply went home and began to research the touring production a little further for the rest of the night as I replenished. I vowed to never go back again, however…
I found myself going back to the Theatre Royal on September 11th for it’s 5 pm show stemmed from an instinct in my gut, I had a feeling that someone was going to have their lead debut that afternoon — and I was absolutely right.
Ellouise Delooze (The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical) made her Veronica Sawyer debut on September 11th for its 5pm show at Nottingham, alongside Caitlin Garcia making her New Wave Party Girl debut, which is one of Ellouise’s tracks — completing swingo. To my surprise, Ellouise is ended up to be an amazing Veronica and ended up being much better than Gerardine, and I was stuck to my seat like glue until the show was over and left the venue with satisfaction and a huge grin on my face. I have reason to believe that Ellouise was better than Gerardine herself in this production, and Ellouise being on as Veronica made me like the show because of the impact she left — therefore giving me a positive experience from this impulsive visit.
I think Ellouise is the shining star that we’ve been missing.
Her portrayal of Veronica has added a few extra quirks that makes her unique, notably being vocal stims. She knows when to be silly and when to be serious, and has much better chemistry with Louis’ portrayal of J.D. When I first saw “Our Love is God” with Gerardine, she seemed pretty lost on what to do after shooting Ram and Kurt — and not in a good way, but Ellouise’s Veronica let out a bloodcurling scream at the realisation of she and J.D. had done with a horrified look on her face, which gave me chills seeing it live.
I have never seen Ellouise live before, but she is one of my best friend’s favourite actresses in the theatre industry; when I saw the cover notice at the Theatre Royal, I sent a voice note to him with the news, and he headed down to the venue the day after where she was still on for Veronica. This was my first impression of Ellouise, and she absolutely smashed it!
Ellouise previously was an understudy for the role of Annabeth Chase and Clarisse in The Lightning Thief‘s UK tour last year, and is currently 1st cover Veronica Sawyer, Heather Chandler, and Heather McNamara — and is yet to debut the last two roles as of time of writing this blog.
During this show, I found Sophie quite charming as Martha. I didn’t stick around for my last one to see her take of “Kindergarten Boyfriend”, and I was left moved by her performance and she did a tremendous job at portraying Martha and did her justice. I found Veronica as Ms. Fleming/Veronica’s Mom to be a charmer, too — though I do feel like Veronica was trying a little too hard, which threw me off a little.
Sophie’s performance as Martha delved into what it’s like to be someone’s best friend that dipped their toes into popularity, and the impact of abandonment and later betrayed by someone she once knew — all while being bullied by various students in the school, the majority of it by the Heathers. Her rendition of “Kindergarten Boyfriend” captivates what it feels like to be the laughing stock of the entire school after being humilated at Ram’s homecoming party; watching her best friend move on, and the nostalgia of wanting things to go back to how they were when she was a child — and her sole goal to be with Ram again.
Regarding the costuming — I feel it’s cheap. I have noticed the pattern of their costumes decreasing in quality over the years, and it seems like they prefer to go down the route of prioritising quantity over quality; the set, however, remains the same as all previous UK productions with no changes.
Thomas Oxley (Frank Wildhorn’s Bonnie & Clyde, [title of show]) recently made his J.D. debut at Coventry, which went unnoticed as there’s not an uproar on social media about it — which makes me wonder if there’s less Heathers fans than there were back when the show first came to the UK in 2017 with its workshop at The Other Palace, where its Off-West End run took place in 2018 before moving to the West End at the Theatre Royal Haymarket later that year. The show has since toured the UK four times, had an Off-West End revival at The Other Palace, and had several revivals on the West End at different venues.
As mentioned earlier, this is their fourth time touring the UK. As of writing this, their previous stops are at the Theatre Royal in Windsor from August 26th-29th; Grand Theatre in Leeds from September 1st-5th; Theatre Royal in Nottingham from September 8th-12th; Belgrade Theatre in Coventry from September 15th-19th.
Their previous UK tour had ended early, which is assumed to be the lack of sales as they cancelled their last few stops. I wonder if this tour will survive to the very end? I’ve seen a decrease in sales for a couple stops, but usually, a couple stops mean nothing if the tour has several — though it could hurt its income, and potentially affect the rest of the tour in the long run. I remember buying tickets to see the first UK tour, which was later postponed due to lockdown stemmed by the COVID-19 Pandemic, and ended up seeing it in 2021 instead, following suit in 2023 with its second UK tour.
In conclusion; I think the casting is all over the place; the artistic direction of the production is going down the wrong route; the costumes are becoming cheap, and sometimes, maybe the understudies fit their cover roles better than the principals. Naturally, I do not enjoy it as much as I used to when I was a teenager, and I believe that the Off-Broadway production in 2014 has always been better compared to the current state of the show regarding scripts, changes to the musical numbers, etc.
The original 1989 film, however? Maybe some things just should be left as movies.
And finally, would I go out to watch this show on tour again — present and future?
No. It all depends on the casting next time.
Heathers: The Musical is currently playing at the Darlington Hippodrome at Darlington from September 22nd, running through until September 26th.
