Melbourne Reviews

High school is tough. Navigating the emotional rollercoaster of biological changes alongside shifting social structures is bad enough, but when your fellow peer is a budding mass murderer the stakes become inevitably more deadly.

Heathers The Musical takes its inspiration from the 1989 film starring Winona Ryder, Christian Slater and Shannon Doherty. Brimming with the kind of darkly satirical content of the GenX era, Heathers’ complex comment on society is bound in witty one-liners and catchphrases that live on 30 years later. The musical expertly adapts the tone of the film in an over-the-top camp stage production, pushing the original concepts into new territory with maximum effect.

Led by the extraordinary Emma Caporaso as Veronica Sawyer, the musical theatre debutante proves she has the acting chops to match her powerhouse vocals in her first professional musical theatre role. As the moral and narrative centre of the production, Caporaso’s performance is a captivating portrayal of the highs and lows of popularity.

The deeply intense J.D. played by Conor Beaumont is pitch perfect. Beaumont delivers a performance that tips over the edge of brooding into dangerously violent, with just enough softness to make him redeemable.

And then there are The Heathers, the original mean girls of Westerburg High, sitting at the apex of the social pyramid. Heather Chandler, played by Calista Nelmes, is a teenage-dream-ice-queen with a penchant for dominance and destruction. A commanding presence on stage, despite her early departure from this earthly realm, her continued contribution to the plot is a welcome device. Bidding for the title of Queen Bee is Amélia Rojas as Heather Duke and Abigail Sharp as Heather McNamara. Rojas is perfectly villainous in her obvious ambition, while Sharp is more calculated in her obliteration of reputations.

The supporting cast is an impressive ensemble of not-so exaggerated characters from high school. The butt of the jokes, Martha, played by Mel O'Brien, is performed with sweet sincerity, bringing gravitas to the high jinks, particularly during her solo song Kindergarten Boyfriend.

Nic Van Lits as Kurt and David Cuny as Ram raise the bar on what it means to be the epitome of a misogynistic high school jock. Behaving in a truly heinous manner, the pair are deliberately and wonderfully disgusting in fully fleshed-out characters that somehow don’t fully deserve their fate.

Alongside the cast, the designs by David Sheils leap off the stage with bright preppy abundance. The iconic Catholic schoolgirl outfits in primary colours worn by each Heather contrast spectacularly against J.D.’s military greyness.

Held at the Playhouse in the Arts Centre, the relatively small set is functional and impressively representative of the 1980s in its design, immersing the audience into the world effortlessly. The score by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe has been a fan favourite since its off-Broadway debut in 2014 and continues to delight in 2026 with Australian audiences finally being able to experience the epic so-wrong-it’s-right songs, My Dead Gay Son and Big Fun.

Capturing the essence of its predecessor, Heathers The Musical is an absurdly comic production that doesn’t just walk the line of polite society but plans to blow it all up with reckless abandon. From nostalgic nods to 1980s counterculture to the connected performances of the ensemble, this high school experience is best enjoyed as a voyeur.