A St. Thomas University musical theatre class will be performing Heathers: The Musical March 2 to 5 in the Black Box Theatre.
Hilarity, harmonies and homicides ensue in this cult classic based on the 1988 black comedy film by Michael Lehmann. Heathers: The Musical follows a teenager named Veronica Sawyer as she navigates the social maze that is high school.
A gang of the school’s most popular girls, all named Heather, have taken Veronica in as one of their own. She soon finds out that being popular isn’t as glamourous as it seemed when her good-girl reputation comes into question. Looking for vengeance, Veronica decides to team up with the school’s new bad boy J.D., and together they plot to take out the popular girls by any means necessary.
When looking for a production to choose this year, director Leigh Rivenbark decided on Heathers partly due to the high number of women in the class. The musical features primarily female roles making it a perfect fit for the STU company.
“I had a lightbulb moment,” he said. “We have class with a lot of really, really strong women and I just think the show serves their development as artists quite well.”
The musical theatre class has almost doubled in enrollment this year, reaching close to 40 students – making space on the stage a pressing issue in production. Raised levels had to be constructed on set to make sure everyone will be audible and visible during the performance.
Alex Rioux, who plays J.D. in musical, said all rehearsals are hard work, but the pay off is worth it.
“It’s a labour of love,” he said. “Honestly, the hardest part of it all is having to dress in a trench coat.”
The play goes over the top in terms of costume – big shoulder pads, mass amounts of hairspray and vibrant makeup add to the play’s mood. Think Cindy Lauper meets Mean Girls – only darker.
The score by musical director Shawn Henry is an homage to ‘80s music with a contemporary twist, often featuring difficult six-part vocal harmonies. Rivenbark compares the setting more to a prison than a high school, with rusted walls and dark silhouettes creating a grotesque atmosphere that lends itself to themes of strife and anguish.
“It explores the question, ‘how do you survive the brutalities of high school?’” said Rivenbark. “On a deeper level the musical warns us that society is going to self-destruct unless we start treating each other with compassion.”
