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So a few weeks ago I was made aware of the existence of Heathers: The Musical. And, like the misfit child of the 80's I am, I absolutely HAD to go see it. I figured it would either be awesomely good or awesomely terrible, but either way I had to find out.
And I am lucky enough to have a dear friend with the interest, enthusiasm, planning skills, and New York City area knowledge to make this happen. So this Friday![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
umbran, jadasc, and I headed down to catch an evening show.
Verdict? It was amazing.
I admit, I think I probably enjoyed it more than the rest of our party, but ultimately everyone liked it. I just... loved it. They had to make some changes from the original movie, of course, both for the new genre, time constraints, staging and cast limitations, and just for creative reasons. Luckily, the changes were in directions that made it even more appealing to me.
Turning almost anything into a musical, in my experience, adds a level of emotional depth that just isn't achievable in a regular movie. The musical also fleshes out Veronica's history, gives her a bit more agency, makes JD less of a sociopath, fleshes out one or two of the background characters, and makes the romance between JD and Veronica a lot more powerful and believable.
It's still a black comedy, but most of the humor is in the musical numbers, with the story in between being a little bit more serious. And it's still a story about how much high school sucks and about misfit heroes and how much people can hurt each other... it's just also a romance, and a story about internal pain instead of external pain. In short, it pushes all of my angst-bunny buttons while still making me laugh until I bounced up and down in my seat and couldn't breathe.
I've pre-ordered the soundtrack, and while I'm not quite ready to make another trip to go see it in the basement of the off-Broadway theater it currently occupies, if it ever makes it to actual Broadway, or on tour, I'll be there in a heartbeat.
(Also, apparently the night after we went to go see it, Neil Gaiman was in the audience. Of course. My taste is impeccable, but my timing needs work.....)
And I am lucky enough to have a dear friend with the interest, enthusiasm, planning skills, and New York City area knowledge to make this happen. So this Friday
umbran, jadasc, and I headed down to catch an evening show.Verdict? It was amazing.
I admit, I think I probably enjoyed it more than the rest of our party, but ultimately everyone liked it. I just... loved it. They had to make some changes from the original movie, of course, both for the new genre, time constraints, staging and cast limitations, and just for creative reasons. Luckily, the changes were in directions that made it even more appealing to me.
Turning almost anything into a musical, in my experience, adds a level of emotional depth that just isn't achievable in a regular movie. The musical also fleshes out Veronica's history, gives her a bit more agency, makes JD less of a sociopath, fleshes out one or two of the background characters, and makes the romance between JD and Veronica a lot more powerful and believable.
It's still a black comedy, but most of the humor is in the musical numbers, with the story in between being a little bit more serious. And it's still a story about how much high school sucks and about misfit heroes and how much people can hurt each other... it's just also a romance, and a story about internal pain instead of external pain. In short, it pushes all of my angst-bunny buttons while still making me laugh until I bounced up and down in my seat and couldn't breathe.
I've pre-ordered the soundtrack, and while I'm not quite ready to make another trip to go see it in the basement of the off-Broadway theater it currently occupies, if it ever makes it to actual Broadway, or on tour, I'll be there in a heartbeat.
(Also, apparently the night after we went to go see it, Neil Gaiman was in the audience. Of course. My taste is impeccable, but my timing needs work.....)
