Review: HEATHERS: THE MUSICAL at EPAC

In 1988 a film by Michael Lehmann, with Winona Ryder in the lead, flopped big. But wait, it really was funny, in a dire sort of way, and maybe it did make a few points, like about the losers who become big shots by being the Popular Kids in their schools. And so, like many other brilliant flops, it became a cult classic, also inspiring things like MEAN GIRLS and CLUELESS along the way. And like some other cult films whose ideas and emotions are too big for mere speech, HEATHERS became HEATHERS: THE MUSICAL. HEATHERS: THE MUSICAL had its first readings in 2010, opened Off-Broadway in 2014, and has been fun ever since.

Like any fun musical, HEATHERS takes on serious themes. But not to worry, it's only high school, right? On the other hand, it's got bullying, teen suicide, homophobia, and gun violence, the stuff of which humor, and some years' election cycles, seem to be made. Maybe high school isn't the best years of our lives after all. But HEATHERS is possibly one of the best two hours and fifteen minutes of an audience's life, and it's on stage at Ephrata Performing Arts Center, where the teen psychopathy deserves a look and a listen. Director Ed Fernandez, with a mostly younger cast, shows off some of the area's younger talent to great effect.

The musical opens with Veronica (played by an insanely lyrical Martha Marie Wasser, who also displayed that talent in CABARET and ASSASSINS) lamenting that there's nothing the matter with high school that graduating and getting into an Ivy League university can't help. Her enemies, then frenemies, are The Heathers, Chandler, McNamara, and Duke, who are the school's popular girls. The trio is played, to audience delight, by Maggie Shevlin, Corina Raine Connelly, and Meghan O'Neill, who introduce themselves and the trials and tribulations of their success in a nicely-choreographed "Candy Store."

It's nice to see Michael Roman on stage again in his own skin - he's been the leading Donkey in SHREK around the area for a bit. As the charmingly psychopathic JD, he brings both great chemistry with Wasser and some kickass performances in "Freeze Your Brain" and "Seventeen." Though AVENUE Q may have surmised that schadenfreude makes the world a better place to be, JD finds selective murders fill that bill, and that Veronica's forgery skills produce great suicide notes.

The theory almost pays off, especially when JD gets Veronica to help kill jocks Ram (Brian Viera) and Kurt (Drew Boardman) and their forged suicide note leads to the show-stopping "My Dead Gay Son." The performance of that number by Kevin Fisher and Bob Breen as the boys' parents is one of the highlights of the show, and what sounds like a four-alarm "how homophobic will this be" song from its title proves to be a far better than average plea for understanding.

Also noteworthy is Niki Boyer Swatski as Ms. Fleming, the leftover hippie chick teacher who loves nothing more than candlelight marches and long choruses of uplifting songs, and who has decided to tackle the scourge of teen suicide head-on at school, receiving all of the usual respect that can be anticipated at high school assemblies. It's a nifty little role, and Swatski is perfect in it. "Shine a Light", with Ms. Fleming and the student ensemble, can easily hit home, and has for the EPAC audience.

The show is very 80's, though, so beware of big, big hair that can cause injuries, hair scrunchies, leg warmers, and outfits that you thought were only for evenings at a nightclub being street and school wear. If you're too young to have lived through Suzanne Somers and Farrah Fawcett, you may need to consult interpreters of a certain age. But Kate Willman's costumed it accurately in many details, so watch out, if you're older, for hair and fashion flashback trauma of the funny kind.

Serial killing has never been funnier, or better-composed musically, while the nightmare that is high school for the unpopular crowd has rarely been tackled better. Again, as with many shows of this sort, the musical is often better than the movie because the huge ideas and huge emotions have a musical outlet. Authors Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy deliver a pleasant musical score and lyrics that, while not long-memorable for the most part, has two or three stunning numbers, delivered perfectly by the EPAC cast despite a few sound issues that obscured some lyrics.

Through November 5 at EPAC. Visit ephrataperformingartscenter.com for tickets and information. Next season will start with a total change from HEATHERS - a LION KING JR. and then KING LEAR, so get the adult comedy now.

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