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Last Night (9/5/23), I was lucky enough to be invited to the regional press night of Heathers the Musical at the Grand Opera House, York.
This show is incredibly powerful, full of laughs, incredible vocals and exciting choreography. With direction from Andy Fickman and ‘beautiful’ songs by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe, Heathers is a nostalgic musical with a cast of incredibly talented performers which last night left the audience on their feet in standing ovation.
The Grand Opera House was decked out with Heathers ribbons around every light fixture and the buzz of excitement rang through the auditorium as the audience found their seats. This show means so much, to so many people and it’s very evident why.
Jenna Innes plays Veronica Sawyer, a teenager who just wants to ‘survive’ high school. Innes’ performance was Incredible, the character just flowed so naturally and brought so many elements of comedy as well as strong emotion. Every interaction with every character is so wonderfully executed and her vocals are mind-blowing.
Jacob Fowler brought a manipulative, creepy but also distant J.D. Fowler’s portrayal of this role was one of the best I have seen. The contrast between moments of his character were brought fantastically and his clean, smooth vocals were the icing on the cake for an outstanding performance.
Verity Thompson not only plays, but embodies Heather Chandler, with strong vocals and hilarious comedy moments which had us practically rolling in the isles!
Heather McNamara played by Billie Bowman was a wonderful portrayal, seeing both sides of her character - both of which were so true and honest - and her performance of ‘Lifeboat’
is an absolute masterclass of Acting Through Song.
Summer Priest, covering the role of Heather Duke, was excellent. The sass and energy Priest brought to the performance was second to none and her riffs were stunning!
Kurt and Ram, played by Alex Woodward and Morgan Jackson respectively were hilarious and had the audience in stitches.
Kingsley Morton played a fantastic Martha Dunstock, pushing the vulnerability of the character and giving a beautiful vocal performance in ‘Kindergarten Boyfriend’.
Miss Fleming was played fantastically by Katie Paine, another comedy performance that was effective and her doing the splits at the end of ‘Shine a Light’ surprised us all!
The show was a whole was outstanding, each performer gave their all to this performance and it really does show! (Shoutout to Lizzie Emery for her Beleaguered Geek and Hipster Dork split track). The effective lighting design by Ben Cracknell and Gary Lloyd’s beautiful choreography paired with a cast of excellent performers really does make a magnificent production.
Heathers the Musical runs at Grand Opera House York until Saturday 13th May, before continuing on with its UK Tour so BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW!
To book for York, follow this link: https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/heathers-the-musical/grand-opera-house-york/
And to see where Heathers is headed next, follow this link:
Wednesday 10th May
Robbie Davies | Robbie’s Backstage Bants