REVIEW: Heathers at The Alexandra Birmingham

Dark, camp and completely unstoppable! Heathers seems to be the phoenix of the musical world: a non-stop conveyer belt of endless cast changes and new UK tours; rising from the ashes and getting stronger with each new lease of life. This current touring production is no exception. 

Based on the late ‘80s cult film of the same name, Heathers is a black comedy centring around three popular girls at high school – all named Heather. Like every cliché stereotype of an American, bitchy teenage girl, the Heathers rule the school and go out of their way to ruin the lives of others: think Mean Girls but before the internet era. Our protagonist Veronica, an intelligent misfit with hopes of going to Harvard, gets sucked into the soulless pit of adolescent power and gains a superficial friendship with the Heathers in exchange for her talent for forging handwriting. In the commotion of hiking her way up the high school hierarchy, Veronica stumbles across the new kid at school; a brooding, literary-quoting teenage boy with a mysterious and seductive flare. JD – as he calls himself, entices Veronica into a series of dark actions, resulting in multiple murders, disguised as suicides. 

REVIEW: Heathers at the New Wimbledon Theatre

Your school years are said to be the best years of your life, but are you living your best life if you're not befriending the popular people (The Heathers - Maddison Firth, Lizzy Parker, Merryl Ansah), getting caught up in boyfriend Drama (JD - Simon Gordon) and killing off your classmates… Sounds like a day in the life of Veronica Sawyer (Rebecca Wickes). 

With the touring cast overcoming the challenges of recent cast illnesses and having to reshape a show with understudies in previous performances, It’s a reassuring sight to see everyone back to their best. That said some members of the cast began very tamely but eventually grew into their role, whereas other members of the cast instantly hit the ground running.

Wickes’ and Gordon’s relationship was enjoyable to watch, they both complimented each other, allowing the pair to create a relationship that helped to showcase their chemistry through their acting abilities. Though they both appeared to hold back through their first few songs (Gordon’s ‘Freeze Your Brain’ still a soft and easy on the ears joy to listen to and Wickes’ ‘Dead Girl Walking’ a gritty and vocally tremendous well performed and acted number). They both grew into the roles and by the end, each showed just how talented they both are. 

REVIEW: Heathers at the Sheffield Lyceum Theatre

For many, your school years are the best years of your life. For others it’s a constant battle with teenage angst and the struggle to achieve popularity, but just how far will you go to be popular?

For Veronica Sawyer (May Tether) only one thing can ease the high school struggle, become friends with the top of the social food chain, the Heathers (Maddison Firth, Lizzy Parker, Merryl Ansah). 

The show itself, though laden with understudies for Ram (Callum Connolly), Martha (Bayley Hart) and Veronica (May Tether) was faultless. A special mention to Rachel Rawlinson and Aimee Hodnett who came up from the West End cast to cover their respective roles in the tour. Not a single actor looked out of place and a huge nod to the unsung heroes within the cast ready to jump in when called upon. 

COMING HOME: Maddison Firth, about to head out on tour with Heathers the Musical

Pocket Size Theatre and Liza Heinrichs (Captured by Liz) have teamed up again and created our new series 'Coming Home'. In this new piece, we look at the reopening of Theatres in London and around the country and celebrate our industry coming back. We got together some performers who will be some of the first to return to theatres and created this piece to bring some positivity to the theatre industry which has been through one of the toughest years in our lifetime. Whilst it is important to acknowledge the hardships we've all gone through, it's important we pull together as a community and celebrate our beloved industry finally coming back!

In the return of theatre, one of the shows that has come back is Heathers. The hit Off-Broadway show made its London debut in a staged concert at the Other Palace which lead to a fully staged production at the same theatre and then transferred into the West End. The show is now back in London at the same theatre it transferred to, the Theatre Royal Haymarket, and the production is launching its first UK tour opening on the 28th July 2021 at the Leeds Grand Theatre. 

Maddison Firth will be starring in the UK tour of the show as Heather Chandler. She was a swing for the Cruise production of SIX The Musical and was actually due to play Katherine Howard in the same production but this was cancelled due to the pandemic. After many self tapes and Zoom auditions, the disappointment of a cancelled job soon went away when she was offered the UK tour of Heathers! A few push backs later, Maddison couldn’t be more excited to be heading back into a theatre. “Knowing so many people will be back in jobs they love, and back spreading that love to audiences across the country brings me so much joy.” 

COMING HOME: Joaquin Pedro Valdes, about to open in Heathers at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

Pocket Size Theatre and Liza Heinrichs (Captured by Liz) have teamed up again and created our new series 'Coming Home'. In this new piece, we look at the reopening of Theatres in London and around the country and celebrate our industry coming back. We got together some performers who will be some of the first to return to theatres and created this piece to bring some positivity to the theatre industry which has been through one of the toughest years in our lifetime. Whilst it is important to acknowledge the hardships we've all gone through, it's important we pull together as a community and celebrate our beloved industry finally coming back! 

Theatres were some of the first things to completely shut down when the pandemic hit. After the news of Broadway closing, it wasn’t long before the West End and theatres up and down the country followed suit. Joaquin Pedro Valdes was appearing in the UK and International touring production of The King and I. The show had previously had a hugely successful run in America and had subsequently transferred to the London Palladium with this tour following. However, due to the pandemic, the production was shut down in March 2020. 

Joaquin was appearing in the ensemble of the show and was also covering Lun Tha and the Kralahome. After this amazing show being shut down, Joaquin was actually one of the first people to be employed again in a fully staged theatre production, as he appeared in ‘Fanny and Stella’ at the Garden Theatre in the summer of 2020. This was the first stage show to be fully mounted since the pandemic hit. The theatre continued with this success and opened productions of Pippin, Next Thing You Know and Naked Boys Singing, to name just a few! 

COMING HOME: Lizzy Parker, about to feature in the UK touring production of Heathers

Pocket Size Theatre and Liza Heinrichs (Captured by Liz) have teamed up again and created our new series 'Coming Home'. In this new piece, we look at the reopening of Theatres in London and around the country and celebrate our industry coming back. We got together some performers who will be some of the first to return to theatres and created this piece to bring some positivity to the theatre industry which has been through one of the toughest years in our lifetime. Whilst it is important to acknowledge the hardships we've all gone through, it's important we pull together as a community and celebrate our beloved industry finally coming back! 

Heathers is a cult classic in every sense of the word. The 1989 film has a huge following and following the musical version opening Off-Broadway in 2014, the story was suddenly introduced to a whole new audience. Now a cult classic musical in its own right, the show originally premiered in the UK in a public workshop at the Other Palace in 2017 and later opened for a full-scale production run at the same theatre the following year. After a hugely successful run at The Other Palace, Heathers transferred to the West End and played at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, which will reopen on the 21st June 2021 for a limited run until the 13th September 2021. Simultaneously, the show will head out on its first-ever UK tour, opening at the Leeds Grand Theatre on the 28th of July 2021 and is currently booked to go through to December 2021. 

Lizzy Parker is a name you may not know right now, but there's no doubt you will very soon. Lizzy makes her theatre debut in Heathers as Heather McNamara. This being her first show after graduating she’s bagged herself a pretty good job, don’t you agree?! Lizzy only graduated from the London College of Music in 2018, since then she has been featured in the workshop of No Limits: A Song Cycle by Sam Thomas. The show was featured in ‘From the Wings’ with Musical Theatre superstars like Laura Pick and Dougie Carter singing Sams work. Lizzy is featured on the concept album but other than this show, Heathers will be her professional debut. We spoke to her about how she feels about finally getting back to theatre and she is obviously excited, "I can’t wait to be back in a rehearsal room again being creative - it’s been so long. Also, just thinking about being part of an audience, sat waiting for a show to begin gives me goosebumps!”

REVIEW: Together Again with Sophie Isaacs, Jodie Steele and T’Shan Williams on Thespie.com

When Covid first arrived and closed West End Theatres a number of producers quickly put musical content online and began to address the challenges of recording and broadcasting in a new medium. As time has progressed the production values and quality have improved. Thespie.com was set up to help artists and producers sell tickets to their shows (without ticket agent fees), help people find shows that match their interests, and reach remote audiences using live-streaming and filmed performances. Their latest offering is Together Again which premiered on 7th January from the Fiction Studios which looks a bit like Professor Dumbledore's study! 

The Best Onstage Quick Changes in Musical Theatre!

I am an absolute sucker for a quick change and an onstage quick change, I am all for! The little theatre kid in me absolutely LIVES for these in musicals because that's what I used to pretend to do in my bedroom (just me...?). The designers on these shows are incredible and do not get enough credit in general but certainly don't get the credit they deserve for these cool and innovative changes on stage! Take a look at our list and tweet us ones we've missed! 

Mean Girls | Cady Hearon in Revenge Party

Heathers | Heather Duke in Never Shut up Again 

If Heathers the Musical was on 25 years ago...

With all the Heathers buzz thats going around it got us thinking, if this show was on 25 years ago who would be in it? Well, that made our minds go crazy and we had to put our dream casting into an article for you! Make sure you tweet us your thoughts and ideas! @PocketSizeBlog

Veronica Sawyer | Lea Salonga or Linzi Hateley

Carrie Hope Fletcher plays the role in this West End production and does it ever so brilliantly! Instantly we thought of Lea Salonga and Linzi Hateley, both would sing the role incredibly and I'm sure would have played it just as well as Ms Fletcher. 

Jason "J.D." Dean | Norman Bowman or Jason Donovan

The slightly crazy and misguided role is being played by Jamie Muscato in the shows London premiere, but after seeing Norman Bowman and Jason Donovan in countless shows over the years we're sure they would have been a perfect match back in the day!