Heathers: The Musical

Heathers: The Musical is a rock musical with music, lyrics, and a book by Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy and based on the 1988 cult film Heathers. After a sold-out Los Angeles tryout, the show had a production Off-Broadway in 2014.

Synopsis

Act 1

It's the first day of school, 1989, and seventeen-year-old Veronica Sawyer is frustrated with the hellish competitive social hierarchy at Westerburg High School, where nerds and underclassmen are pushed around by brutish, idiot jocks like Ram Sweeney and Kurt Kelly. After trying to defend her best friend, the cheerful, overweight Martha Dunnstock (cruelly renamed "Martha Dumptruck" by the uncreative Kurt), Veronica longs for the days of elementary school when life was simple and everyone was friends. She wishes desperately to be above the drama, but there is only one elite clique who can do that: the Heathers, the three most beautiful, most popular girls in school. They are the weak-willed head cheerleader Heather McNamara; the sullen, bulimic yearbook committee chair Heather Duke; and the "mythic bitch" queen of the school, Heather Chandler. When Veronica uses her talents as a forger to get the Heathers out of detention, Chandler recognizes her potential and gives her a make-over, elevating her to a member of their inner circle ("Beautiful").

Heathers

Heathers is a 1988 American black comedy film written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann. It stars Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, and Shannen Doherty. The film portrays four teenage girls — three of whom are named Heather — in a clique at a fictional Ohio high school.

The film brought director Michael Lehmann and producer Denise Di Novi the 1990 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. Daniel Waters also gained recognition for his screenplay, which won a 1990 Edgar Award. Despite its high critical praise, the film was not a big hit in the box office but went on to become a cult classic, with high rentals and sales business. In 2006, it was ranked #5 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "50 Best High School Movies" and in 2008, it was ranked #412 on Empire's list of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time".

Plot

The most dominant clique at Westerburg High School in Sherwood, Ohio consists of three wealthy and beautiful girls named Heather: the leader, Heather Chandler (Kim Walker), the quiet, bookish and bulimic Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty), and the weak-willed cheerleader Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk). Though they are the most popular students, the Heathers are both feared and hated. They recently invited 17-year-old Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) to join their group, by association making her a very popular girl as well. However, as the film begins, Veronica has had enough of their behavior and longs to return to her old life and her nerdy friends.

Heathers (band)

Heathers are an indie pop act formed in 2007 in Dublin, Ireland by twin sisters Ellie and Louise Macnamara. They began writing music together in 2007 and in February 2008 recorded their debut album Here, Not There while preparing for their Leaving Certificate. The album was recorded in The Hive Studios in Kilcoole by Eoin Whitfield in a joint release between Irish Label Hide Away Records and US label Plan-It-X Records. The duo is known for their unique blend of harmonies and abstract lyrics mixed with fast guitar and wailing vocals.

They have achieved significant radio airplay with the song Remember When. The song is featured in a Fáilte Ireland advertising campaign which has brought widespread coverage on television, cinema and radio. The band is also featured in the 2008 film "Roll Up Your Sleeves" directed by Dylan Haskins. Before a live appearance on RTÉ's The Late Late Show on 7 September 2012, host Ryan Tubridy introduced them by declaring that DJ and producer David Guetta was interested in working with them.

Musical

Musical may refer to:

See also

Musical film

The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing.

The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate "production numbers".

The musical film was a natural development of the stage musical after the emergence of sound film technology. Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of lavish background scenery and locations that would be impractical in a theater. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater; performers often treat their song and dance numbers as if there is a live audience watching. In a sense, the viewer becomes the diegetic audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it.

Musical films in the Western world

The classical sound era

The 1930s through the early 1950s are considered to be the golden age of the musical film, when the genre's popularity was at its highest in the Western world.

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals.

Although music has been a part of dramatic presentations since ancient times, modern Western musical theatre emerged during the 19th century, with many structural elements established by the works of Gilbert and Sullivan in Britain and those of Harrigan and Hart in America. These were followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the musical theatre works of American creators like George M. Cohan. The Princess Theatre musicals and other smart shows like Of Thee I Sing (1931) were artistic steps forward beyond revues and other frothy entertainments of the early 20th century and led to such groundbreaking works as Show Boat (1927) and Oklahoma! (1943). Some of the most famous and iconic musicals through the decades that followed include West Side Story (1957), The Fantasticks (1960), Hair (1967), A Chorus Line (1975), Les Misérables (1985), The Phantom of the Opera (1986), Rent (1996), The Producers (2001) and Wicked (2003).