By Laura Rodriguez, news correspondent
Teen angst in the 80s and the struggle to latch onto popularity –– not to mention the saying, “you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry” –– took on new dimensions in NU Stage’s fall mainstage performance of “Heathers: the Musical.”
The show’s opening night Friday filled Blackman Auditorium with a roaring 500-person turnout, and Saturday night’s showing was just as successful. Director Matt Browne, who worked with one of the original composers of “Heathers: The Musical,” says in his director’s note that Heathers is a show in which “people should remember that [the characters] are just people as simple and complex as that.”
The show opened with a live pit band, playing an overture of hits from the musical and popular 80s hits like Toto’s “Africa,” riling up the audience and setting the stage for the satirical and dark-humored musical adaptation of the 1988 film.
The plot centers around Veronica Sawyer, a clever 17-year-old girl narrating the nuances of surviving the jungle that is high school through her candid diary entries. She befriends the most popular clique in school, the ‘Heathers,’ and juxtaposes this relationship with her troubled love interest, Jason “J.D.” Dean, whose twisted take on high school survival spirals out of control.
The satirical undertones and comedic breaks of the crude-humored musical — particularly one noteworthy, racy and fervent sex scene –– captivate and engage the audience from beginning to end and highlight the artistic talents of the cast and crew. The musical’s key to success was that it centered around caricaturization of jocks, popular cliques, pseudo-psychotic guys who pass for ‘mysterious’ and educational institutions mishandling serious issues, namely depression and suicide.
Gates Schneider boldly embodies Sawyer, a genuine heroine protagonist with perspective, and impresses with her strong vocal performance and artistic dynamism. Schneider hooked the audience every time she broke the fourth wall with her frank asides and successfully executed numbers. Nick D’Apice, who plays antagonist J.D., also delivers a strong performance –– complete with slow motion cafeteria fight scenes and convincing psychotic and obsessive episodes –– and skillfully acts alongside Schneider and other talented co-stars like Kaylee Spano, who plays Heather Chandler.
Smart technical choices in lighting — which seemed to be personalized to fit and establish an atmosphere for each character — and special effects used to dramatize or spotlight expressive moments, helped make certain scenes come to life. Standout scenes included J.D. revealing his plan to blow up the high school gym, where a harsh, glaring red light falls on him, complemented by the change in music that adds an exhilarating rush to the atmosphere of the culminating scene.
The success of the show climaxed at the curtain call, where the tightly-knit cast and crew received a standing ovation as they danced to the melodic tunes of the pit-band and celebrated each other’s performances after months of rehearsal put into the perfection of the production.
A production like “Heathers: The Musical” is bound to be a creative risk in terms of subject matter execution and interpretation, but NU Stage certainly executed savage grace under pressure. Their sweat and time resulted in yet another successful fall mainstage production.
