Heathers (High School Edition)

Old Nick has been able to present a Hobart Summer school every year since 2005. The last three have been darker coming of age stories, with the 2021 offering a macabre and surreal twist on the high school musical in the form of Heathers.

The original movie is 30 years-old but the musical is of quite recent genesis and some of the contemporary social ills highlighted in Heathers can be uncomfortable viewing. The themes are dark but ameliorated, to some degree, by quirky humour, particularly in the form of the ghosts of murdered characters. These apparitions continue to plague the conscience of the protagonist during the second act.

The ghosts may have stolen the show were it not for the fact that so many individual performances were outstanding.

Petrea James was a strong choice for the lead of Veronica Sawyer. She is an assured vocalist and confident actor, and she is able to inveigle the audience her emotional journey from insecurity to love and revelation.

Amelia Howell as Heather Chandler may, however, have stolen the show from James. Howell adopted the right tone as a living bully but moderated the horror of the second act with her resurrected comic presence and commentary.

Milla Chaffer and Emmerson Spencer, as the other two Heathers, made a formidable triumvirate. Their “Candy Store” choreography was tight.

Deklan Haas as JD twisted the tropes in a very convincing manner as he transformed from the darkly interesting love interest to psychopathic killer. Like much of this musical, what emerges is not what audiences have come to expect.

Jorgja Geeves as Martha Dunstock found the right tone for her role which made her song “Kindergarten Boyfriend” especially poignant.

The audience enjoyed “Dead Gay Son”, but this felt, curiously, like the most dated song of the show. The biggest audience response was elicited by Gabriella Vavoulas as Ms Fleming in the song “Shine a Light”. Vavoulas gave her all.

A great deal of the humour (and menace) of the show was provided by Flynn Gorman and Finlay Underwood as Ram Sweeney and Kurt Kelly respectively.

The ensemble was also strong with highly individualised characters making an invaluable contribution.

There was no orchestra for this production with sound provided by backing tracks. This worked perfectly well and the audio quality and balance with singers was very good. Familiarity with the recordings may have given the performers greater confidence.

The straightforward set gave the ensemble room to move while the atmosphere was intensified with lighting and effects. These aspects supported rather than competed with the very strong performances.

The finale, “Seventeen”, remined audiences of everything that being young ought to be about. It evoked a tender yearning for a time when life was less beleaguered by pandemics, climate change and school shootings.

Congratulations, Old Nick, on seventeen unbroken years of strong work.

Anne Blythe-Cooper