Heather’s The Musical, Liverpool Empire Review

Reviewed by Kathryn A Harrison

Last night my friend and I excitedly visited The Empire theatre in Liverpool to watch Heather’s the Musical. I love visiting The Empire, its one of my favourite theatres but due to the pandemic I haven’t been since January 2020! Like everywhere the Empire has made some changes over the past 18 months, you now get given a time to arrive before the performance and have to show your Covid status using the NHS app. Due to these extra checks there was a bit of a wait to get in to the theatre however it wasn’t too long and all the staff we encountered were extremely helpful and friendly.

On to the show, I wasn’t aware until yesterday that Heather’s the Musical was based on a cult 1989 film of the same name starring Winona Ryder. I’ve never heard of the film although as I was only born in 88 perhaps that’s not surprising. The show is described as a black comedy but past that I wasn’t sure what to expect.

We start the show at Westerberg High School, Ohio. The shows protagonist, Veronica Sawyer starts the musical numbers with Beautiful, a song despairing at how the students have changed from all being friends in their younger years to the strict social code within their high school. From the start Rebecca Wickes who plays Veronica is superb, her singing is incredible and throughout the show her amazing acting becomes more and more apparent.

Next we are introduced to the Heather’s, three teenage girls all called Heather who rule Westerberg High. Maddison Firth plays Heather Chandler the “mythic xxxxx” (editor’s note – word removed) and leader of the Heather’s. Firth really manages to embody the character in a way that makes her totally believable. As the show continues we meet JD, a mysterious and cool new boy at school, Martha Dunnstock, Veronica’s best friend since kindergarten who is constantly ridiculed by the other students and the hilarious duo of Ram Sweeney and Kurt Kelly.

Ram and Kurt, played by Rory Phelan and Liam Doyle respectively, are the High School footballers. The chemistry between these two actors made this on stage friendship one of my favourite parts of the show despite the characters being wholly unlikeable!

The show has lots of funny parts and some fantastic songs which I really really enjoyed but sometimes the subject matter felt very uncomfortable. Themes running through the show include bullying, bulimia, underage drinking and sex, grief, homophobia, date rape, murder, suicide and high school violence. I’m not someone who shys away from difficult subjects however within this setting it sometimes felt like the issues were being minimised.  (editor’s note – this is the reviewer’s opinion) I think I would struggle to watch the show if I had directly experienced one of the above issues. As an example one of the songs My Dead Gay Son is very funny and performed brilliantly by actors Andy Brady and Kurt Kansley but I couldn’t help feeling despite my initial laughter that actually far too many young people take their own lives due to stigma around sexuality so is it something that should be trivialised into an upbeat song complete with rainbow ties and braces?

Perhaps that’s the aim of the show, to make you go away and think more about these subjects but that’s not necessarily the vibe it gives off. The audience at the Empire clearly enjoyed the show, there was lots of enthusiastic reactions from the audience throughout the show which culminated in a standing ovation. I want to love this show, the actors were all really fantastic and it was a fun evening but the more I think about it, the more I’m left questioning my enjoyment of it.

Rating: ⅘

Tickets cost from £13 with a transaction fee of £3.65. Heather’s the Musical is at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool from 23rd to 28th August, for more information or to book tickets visit www.atgtickets.com/shows/heathers-the-musical/liverpool-empire/or call the box office on 0333 009 6690

Empire Theatre, Lime St, Liverpool L1 1JE