Heathers the Musical at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay – review

Thanks to Wales Millennium Centre for providing us with review tickets for Heathers the Musical

Based on the cult 1988 film, West End award-winning musical Heathers returns to Cardiff as part of its current UK tour, the perfect theatre outing this summer for those of you with teens, or anyone who fancies a child-free night out.

It’s dark, edgy and, although it covers a lot of difficult subjects (bullying, homophobia, murder, suicide, physical and sexual violence and references to eating disorders) it’s wickedly funny too with lots of laugh out loud moments. It’s also very relatable for anyone who has ever felt like they don’t fit in or has wondered whether they’ll survive high school. With an age guidance of 14, my daughter was the perfect age for her first Heathers experience – and she loved it as much as I did.

Jenna Innes is Veronica Sawyer, a nobody at Westerberg High, struggling to fit in. When she is invited to join the beautiful but cruel Heathers – three girls who rule the school – she hopes her dreams of popularity may finally come true.

Promising she’ll never become one of the mean girls, she also finds herself drawn to mysterious new student JD (Keelan McAuley) who will stop at nothing to protect Veronica from anyone who crosses her. The two have great chemistry together, with McAuley gradually becoming more and more troubled throughout and Innes slowly developing the courage to stand up for herself.

Esme Bowdler has such a stage presence, making a convincing Heather with the power to intimidate those around her into doing what she wants, including her sidekicks Sedona Skye and Daisy Twells as Heather Duke and Heather McNamara.

Jason Battersby as Ram and Iván Fernández Gondález as Kurt are a brilliant double act, perfecting that dumb jock persona, and fair play to them or spending half of the show in just their underpants! They two are brilliantly funny, with some great one-liners and gestures, and their slow-motion fight with JD is so well executed that you can’t help but laugh.

Other smaller characters are also given the chance to shine with Amy Miles as Martha, Lucy Sinclair as school teacher Ms Fleming, and Conor McFarlane and Alexander Service as Ram and Kurt’s dads all given their chance to shine with powerful solos/duos. The latter two’s performance of My Dead Gay Son is as heartwarming as it is hilarious.

The film and musical are both cult classics, and it’s clear from the whoops and cheers after every song and the number of audience members dressed in Westerberg High jackets or Heathers-style pleated tartan skirts that the fans were out in force tonight. The atmosphere was great, especially given it was a mid-week performance.

Fans of the film will love this musical adaptation, but even if you have no prior knowledge of the storyline, it’s an entertaining and thought-provoking production with a fun and catchy soundtrack, strong characters and plenty of darkness. Watch it with your teens, or watch it with your friends, but definitely watch it while it’s in town.

Heathers the Musical is at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay until Saturday 17 August, with performances at 7.30pm daily and 2.30pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Limited tickets are still available, priced from £17. Running time is approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, including an interval. Age guidance 14+, no admittance to under 2s. British Sign Language (BSL) performance: Thursday 15 August 7.30pm by Max Marchewicz.

Book online here.

Guidance warning: Heathers the Musical contains haze, loud noises including gun shots, flashing lights and strobe as well as strong language and mature themes, including bullying, murder, suicide, physical and sexual violence and references to eating disorders. Support services are available at a national and local level – more information is available at heathersthemusical.com/support

Production images: Pamela Raith