Following on from my post a few days ago which was a roundup and sort of photo diary from our latest trip to London, today's post is a review of the musical we saw when we were there, Heathers. I'm such a huge fan of all things musical theatre, it's one of my biggest passions and it would feel strange now to plan a trip to London and not book a show, and I'm so happy with the one we chose this time, it thoroughly deserved it's own blog post as I have so much to say!
It's only been in the last few months that I've really got into the original Heathers soundtrack, after listening to a select few in between many other musical soundtracks! Once I gave it a full listen this Summer, I couldn't stop, it was soon on repeat and it didn't take long for George to love it too (I'm sure he likes to make out he doesn't love musicals as much as me but I think he does 😉). We didn't expect to actually get to see it anytime soon as though it had come to the West End in the Summer, it was only for a short amount of time and booked up. Luckily they announced it was extending and transferring to another theatre for a limited run, and as we also knew we had a trip to London coming up in October, we instantly booked and I'd honestly looked forward to it so much.
The Heathers film which was released in 1989 and stars Winona Ryder and Christian Slater has become such a cult classic with a massive fan base so whilst we loved the soundtrack, before we saw the show we watched the film and surprisingly I loved it. I'm weird, I don't like 'old' films but I'd say it's probably one of my favourites now and it really made the musical make much more sense and it covers parts which the show obviously can't as it would go on for ages otherwise. So if you're wanting to see the show, definitely give the film a watch first. Anyway, the musical is now playing at the Theatre Royal Haymarket until the 24th November and it has an incredible cast including Carrie Hope Fletcher as Veronica. Tickets start at £25 too!
Now onto the actual night itself. We went on a Monday night and it seemed pretty much full to me, we had great seats on row M of the stalls and could see everything. I didn't expect to be as close as we were at all but absolutely no complaints. The theatre itself is beautiful too, inside and out.
Whilst I knew this had a massive fanbase, I definitely didn't expect it to be quite as loud as it was. First of all, people were dressed up as their favourite Heathers and then as soon as the show started and Carrie Hope Fletcher appeared, people loved it, and it just carried on throughout. The Heathers got a huge reaction and by the end of the show we were both actually a little bit deaf which has never happened before at a show. The last time we saw Wicked there was an incredible atmosphere due to it being Rachel Tuckers's last show, and Kinky Boots gets cheers every night but they were both absolutely nothing like this. People absolutely adore the show but there's just so much to love about it!
The cast are amazing, I don't even know where to start. Of course Carrie was brilliant as Veronica, she seems to just get the character, sung all of the songs beautifully and worked so well with Jamie Muscato who plays JD. He was probably the standout performance for me, the way he could switch from this insanely cool boy in love with Veronica to someone actually crazy ready to blow up the school was amazing and he acted it perfectly. I really hope I get to see him in more shows in the future as he's incredibly talented. Jodie Steel as Heather Chandler was another one who stood out to me too though. Her voice is insane, she had perfect comedic timing and just stole the show whenever she was on stage. All of the cast were so energetic and buzzing, clearly having the time of their life and there wasn't any weak links. Everyone really did sound and look brilliant, it's such a strong cast so if you get chance to see the show, there is no doubt about it, you will have a great night.
It was so good to hear the songs live, I definitely have some new favourites now including Shine A Light (Rebecca Lock is genius as Ms Fleming, she deserves an award) and there were also some new ones that I'd not heard before too which fit in and work so well. It exceeded my expectations in every way and I just wish it was staying for longer so I could see it again! I thought I'd enjoy it but I didn't think I'd leave loving the story and music so much more than before.
If you get chance to see this before it goes, go for it! I'm really hoping it will come back again in the future or at least do a tour at some point, I personally think it's one of the best shows on the West End at the moment and just such a fun night out.
Have you seen Heathers the Musical? Are there any other shows you recommend?
Similar posts - Kinky Boots at the Adelphi review // Wicked at the London Apollo Victoria review
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