#and the girl who played Chandler in 2018 heathers is also in You

[llynnl2]

Ok I’ve been working on my heathers reboot video essay but I also just saw beetlejuice beetlejuice and can I just point out

Same guy different fonts

[manunkinda]

So, I’m watching the Heathers 2018 reboot to take notes. I plan to do a video essay after I finish the series.

I regret starting this.

Anyway, here are a few my notes so far.

Heathers (2018) Notes:

⁃ I can’t believe I’m paying for this shit.

⁃ Wait, why is the pilot TV-14 when everything else is TV-MA?

⁃ Also, every single title of each episode is a quote from the movie. I don’t think “Hot probs” was though? Unless I’m missing something? I’ll have to watch the movie AND the musical after this to cleanse my brain.

⁃ Also why is the second episode $20 for HD?

⁃ THE RED SCRUNCHIE. SHANNON DORHERTY (who played Heather Duke in the original) IS IN THIS.

⁃ Yup, Shannon plays his mom. She’s waving and he’s waving back.

⁃ What the hell is this intro?

⁃ [ethereal electronic music]

⁃ Okay, so this is Veronica... Who should really be a Heather.

⁃ I can’t stop laughing at the Khloe Kardashian quote.

⁃ [moody electronic music]

⁃ See, the thing is, is that Veronica had sturdy morals from the beginning. She had a sense of who she was, just not what she wanted. J.D. manipulated her into briefly losing her morals. So, it doesn’t make sense for Veronica to not know who she is.

⁃ I’m pretty sure you can’t ask a student if they’re a hermaphodite. Most colleges don’t care about that anyway.

⁃ Jason Dean’s in the background staring her down during the locker scene and they haven’t actually introduced him.

⁃ Betty’s in this apparently, but not Martha? Because since Chandler is plus-sized, that whole thing wouldn’t work anyway, right?

⁃ [moody finger snaps]

⁃ I can’t believe there’s a song where the lyrics are: “Picture this, I’m a bag of dicks.” “I will punch a baby bear in his shit.”

⁃ Okay, while I clearly appreciate LGBT+ and minority representation in the media, Heathers is the wrong story to use it. In this, the representation is villainized while two white people try to kill them off. That’s complete missing the mark and the lesson of the original, and hell, even the musical.

⁃ Chandler would get dress coded for that outfit. Middle finger choker AND those fishnets, yup.

⁃ “How Banana Republic.” whAT DOES THAT MEAN

⁃ KURT SEEING THE HEATHERS WITH RAM AND NOPING THE FUCK OUT OF THERE IS ME.

⁃ “Remington Squaws.” Look, Ram would also get dress coded for this.

⁃ Also, the reason why “mean girls” like the Heathers and the Plastics were popular is because they were nice to your face, and then would talk shit about you behind your back.

⁃ the finger snaps are rotting my brain already.

⁃ “I’m gonna get a soda.” Proceeds to get a bag of chips.

⁃ oh god JD approached Veronica. What the fuck are they saying by the way? “Meet the new boss?” WTF?

⁃ “I’m not a rebel, Veronica.” The original JD would disagree with that.

⁃ He ends up calling Veronica “my dear” within the first two minutes.

⁃ Heather Duke would be an interesting character if he wasn’t named Heather Duke.

⁃ snappy snack shack looks like a discount Snappy Snack Shack.

⁃ Heather McNamera with their teacher? In public? In the car? No one would be so obvious like that about banging their teacher.

⁃ “Great hummus, but I gotta Tesla.”

⁃ “Such an UGG boot latte sometimes.”

⁃ Did she and Jacob hook up in his car? Idk, all I see is leg and Veronica is checking Chandler’s insta. She did end up posting the pic of Ram in the Remington shirt, but I don’t think he was smiling.

⁃ “What is your father wound, Heather?”

⁃ Veronica just shoulder checked her, which honestly isn’t the same as throwing up on someone’s shoes.

⁃ Chandler got fake drain cleaner from an art thing all over her dress.

⁃ “Lick it up, fatty. Lick. It. Up.” Is nothing compared to the original line. Also, fat-phobic much?

⁃ “My dear” again. That’s twice now and it’s already getting old. The thing is, in the original, JD and Veronica never called each other pet names, except for one time. For JD, it was right before Veronica broke up with him. “Chaos is what killed the dinosaurs, darling.” And for Veronica, it was right before she shot JD in the boiler room. “You know what I want, babe? Cool guys like you out of my life.”

⁃ “Let’s snort Adderall, make out, and get slushies.”

⁃ So is Kurt actually gay in this or?

⁃ This JD and Veronica has no chemistry whatsoever.

⁃ I dare JD to throw a better party at the discount Snappy Snack Shack where the cashier won’t yell at you.

⁃ Also, this JD reminds me of Riverdale’s Jughead, but if his personality was the weirdo monologue.

⁃ Those are some weak ass slushies. They’re so watery.

⁃ I was not expecting the fucking bubble gun.

⁃ His dad collects Nazi stuff apparently. Big yikes.

⁃ What are the dolls in Chandler’s room? Why are they on her shelf like that and organized by skin color?

⁃ “Prince Harry me as revenge.”

⁃ Where was that table she fell into in the other shots?

⁃ He gave her the suicide pills by mistake, Big oops.

⁃ “I’m going to be experimenting with lesbianism in San Quentin instead of Sarah Lawrence.”

⁃ “That’s my girl.”

Director: Do a proud smile!

⁃ Duke posted the photo of McNamara with the teacher because they were arguing who would give the eulogy.

⁃ “Isn’t hating on someone for being a murderer equally as rude?” No, it’s not.

⁃ Why is JD wearing sunglasses inside? That just makes him even more guilty.

⁃ Betty is trying to stake her claim on Chandler’s position.

⁃ I honestly wouldn’t mind if the Heathers were Betty and these two girls originally.

⁃ “Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw.” THEY USED THE LINE and not in a great context.

⁃ And we meet JD’s dad.

⁃ Also, he’s using the Shake Weight and I can’t stop laughing. I’m so distracted by it.

⁃ “Well, son, your presence here has been lovely as usual, but if you don’t mind, my girlfriend and I would like to start having sexual intercourse now.” Right in front of my salad?

⁃ [somber bell music]

⁃ Heather Chandler’s still alive?! Holy shit! She’s been laying there the whole day. She would’ve been dead by now!

⁃ Oh gross, vomit.

⁃ And her phone’s blowing up. Pun intended.

[bus-trash]

Veronica Revisited: Normality vs. Violence

I’ve had a few thoughts since I wrote that long blogpost. One was, “Do I really have enough free time to obsess this much about Peathers Veronica?” Others included, “I can’t believe people on tumblr read that,” and, “Is the idea behind Veronica really that fucking complicated?”

I questioned that when I watched Peathers creator Jason Micallef in this promo talk about the basis of Heathers 2018’s philosophy: It’s a story about American violence.

https://youtu.be/Zjnd-oUOwdw

Under that lens, Veronica’s characterization becomes a lot clearer. While I think it’s true that she wants to transcend labels through love but is unable to do so due to the damaging system of labeling surrounding everyone in Westerburg, Veronica makes more sense when thought of not according to her emotional arc but when you consider the character herself as a criticism of America.

Veronica is indecisive. Heather Duke’s analysis of the three remaining characters in Hellscape episode 9, while comedic, says it all:

Veronica Sawyer… “Question mark?” What can I say? Rich and pretty can only get you so far when you don’t have anything in your heart. At least J.D. and Heather pretend to have depth. Veronica can’t even decide between cold-hearted psycho or basic bitch! … She’s “Leave it blank.” … Remember, Veronica, everyone’s gotta be something. Have fun being nothing. Thanks for fixing my casket angle though. Love you.

There’s no better way to put it. Veronica practically has no personality, but what she does have is contradicting: Is she someone normal, boring, ordinary, or is she an individualistic, psychotic killer? And exactly why is the answer both?

If Jason’s blueprint when creating Heathers 2018 was the issue of American violence, doesn’t it make sense that he would examine this most closely through the main character? J.D. is the most outwardly violent, and the Heathers are certainly emotionally violent. But it’s Veronica at the end who reconnects that bomb—even though she’s the only one really concerned with being a good and normal person. If she’s the most violent, what is that saying?

I’ve heard it said that America is a country that has an overly idealistic view about its own morality—that it feels it’s wholly good in a way that no other country is. Yet it’s also true that American philosophy (and I don’t say this as a jab) is in some ways the most selfish and individualistic. We care less about society than what you as a person are saying with your existence. Are you happy, rich, successful? And with a high value in capitalism we encourage people to compete for these titles. And it’s no secret America started with a hefty dose of violence. To be independent, we took land from the natives and conquered them to do it. (Consider the graffiti’d “ESKIMO!” in the episode six intro, harkening back to the Moby Dick story, as well as tales of General Westerburg’s morality even as we see him behead a Native American and hear of him raping one at Butcher’s Bridge. Heathers wants us to remember America’s bloody beginning.) It’s part of our history and that influences who we are. A large number of recent shootings today is certainly part of the American violence Heathers wishes to examine. So America is a country that considers itself wholly “good,” while also always wanting to be individualistic and different, at times (according to the show’s worldview) resulting in extreme violence. Sounding a little like someone you know?

But Veronica’s character being criticism in part isn’t a reason to dissociate from her. She’s the protagonist, and at the times the show’s philosophy really seems to see things from her side. Regardless of what people on here will tell you, Heathers 2018 isn’t didactic. It examines issues in a satirical way and doesn’t tell you what to think. I think somewhere in the girl who blew up Westerburg there still is that “good person” she hopes exists.

Compared to the other characters, she’s not. The most “good people” of Peathers are the victims, the stereotypes like Trailer Parker and Dylan who don’t try to fight back against the system but still resign themselves to its violence. Even Heather Duke and MacNamara make the cut for prom heaven. Veronica to the show is perhaps the worst person, ending in a horrific afterlife. But I argue in some ways that she’s still “a good person.”

In a very specific way, she is more of a good person than anyone else on the show.

When we first meet Veronica, she’s friends with the Heathers because it beats being at the bottom, but she clearly hates the way they abuse their power and hurt others. Heather Chandler’s character assassination of Ram is what causes Veronica to finally lash out at her after fantasizing about burying her in the ground. J.D. convinces her to get revenge with the helpful assurance, “Don’t think of it like we’re hurting Heather Chandler. Think of it like we’re helping everyone else.” I would argue Veronica goes after Heather C. in part because she longs for a Westerburg where everyone can be free. And she’s clearly disgusted when Betty Finn continues the cycle of abuse after Heather Chandler is gone. When Betty offers her a seat on the council of the “new Heathers,” Veronica wants no part in it.

While the show moves on from Heather MacNamara’s death rather quickly, it’s clear that it remains in Veronica’s head more than in any other character’s (Heather Duke comes second in this regard). Heather M. haunts Veronica in a daydream, and Veronica gets pissed when J.D. skips out on her funeral. Moreover, in episode 4, she murmurs in the car, “I was thinking about Heather, Heather M. Like if there was more I could have done. … Like if I had sent a text at the right moment or something.” The show also makes a point of referencing Heather M. both in Heather Chandler’s finale speech and Veronica’s whirlwind epiphany after, as if to say Heather MacNamara falling victim to Westerburg’s vicious cycle plays a big part in why Veronica did what she did at the end. We’ll cover Veronica’s crazier episode 4-6 antics in a minute, but Heather MacNamara’s memory also plays a huge role in episode 7. Until the finale, the only time Veronica herself knowingly kills someone is to avenge Heather M.’s death and make sure Mr. Waters can’t take advantage of any more girls. And it’s after this she tells J.D., “No more.” For her, the nightmare involving Heather M. is largely over, and she feels free and normal in that moment. She’s free, until more trouble with J.D. arises.

In episodes 9 and early 10 we can also see how her ideals of goodness totally counteract whatever feelings she might have had for J.D. But she does give us a surprising move in episode 8 when she recommits to the Heathers—obviously stressed over the possibility of the Heathers finding out her violent past but seemingly more frustrated by J.D.’s nonchalance about prom.

So you can argue that Veronica is in some ways a good person. While J.D. distributes vigilante suicides and the Heathers fight to remain on top, Veronica when she’s not busy gaslighting her boyfriend is actually trying very hard to be good. So where does she go wrong, and how does she end up the most violent?

The way I view Veronica, at her core she is an ordinary, carefree girl. She wants to live a normal teenage life, happy and average. She wants to fall in love with a boy who adores her completely. She wants to do well in school. She wants to grow up and have a decent future. She wants to be unremarkable.

But she lives in a culture where to be unremarkable is to be nothing. The world of Heathers is one that labels relentlessly, and exposes youths to the psychological violence of perfectionism and constant judgment. Even as a young girl she as frustrated. As a teenager, she is totally miserable. In a world where everybody’s gotta be something, it is impossible for a person who wants to be ordinary to be happy. They will always feel the pressure of a violent society.

In my interpretation, it’s this knowledge that causes Veronica to fall in love with violence—in herself and in her boyfriend, J.D. Her kind and normal heart is what draws her so much to Ram. But her knowledge of how the world really works is what makes her lust after J.D. A life with Ram would never really work. But J.D., J.D. represents individuality and enacting change. Combining an ordinary soul with the sort of cutthroat psychological environment Heathers seems to be depicting is America, you get someone who needs to express their individuality and enact violence just to be normal. There’s no hope in normalcy—but Veronica doesn’t give up. By shaking things up—killing Lucy, killing Heather, killing Westerburg—maybe Veronica will find another life where she can just be herself. She doesn’t. But, she tries.

Veronica’s love for violence blooms in the society that celebrates it. When she expresses her “real self,” she is “nothing” in their eyes. And when she finally gives in to the realm of violence, she finally has society’s approval as they hail her the engineer of the mass suicide. Yet paradoxically, she commits the act of violence for herself, as an individual. She does it because she can’t see any other way to be happy.

When I don’t keep this in mind, Veronica’s love for violence becomes puzzling. Her erratic actions against J.D. in episodes 4-6 seem illogical—doesn’t she see that J.D. represents violence, a way out? But for her it’s not as simple as that. She doesn’t only want a way out—such a fundamental part of her wants to be normal, to have a faithful boyfriend, to have fun with her best friend Heather Duke, to go to prom with J.D. But it mixes with how fucking pissed off she is at the whole damn world for its bullshit—she ends up lashing out at anybody to express herself. She wants to be a good, happy person and she will cut up anyone who stands in her way. Her psychopathic tendencies always serve the underlying motive of her wanting to be normal and happy in a society where no one else wants that—everyone’s busy with their plotting and power plays. Even when Veronica discusses wanting to be different “from all of them” and how J.D. and she have something unique and special, I still think that’s mostly because that’s how it feels to deep down want such basic desires at a school where everyone’s so backwards and self-obsessed. Veronica’s bloodthirst, her need to be an individual, it’s all because this school doesn’t recognize her. People need to impose their will most when they’ve been erased, and there’s no room at Westerburg for Veronica’s innocence.

Veronica is no saint. In fact, she’s the worst person on the show, singlehandedly pulling the trigger on a high school full of innocent students. But also, when you really think about it, Veronica is the only character on Heathers who’s entirely focused on being a good and happy person, even though she does insane things in the name of that. When I watch her in that way, when I stop trying to figure out what’s going on in her head and realize she’s the most straightforward person on screen, her emotions are entirely evident. She’s not trying to create some big change or even to become number one. In a country that says it isn’t enough to be human, Veronica is trying not to be nothing, to break away from violence through violence. Her trademark color blue, unnatural and tightly clung to, yet even somewhat cliché, represents this fixed hope: that she’ll move beyond the chaos and aberrant conformity around her, somehow find peace without compromising for anybody. Everyone is ready to answer the question, Who is Veronica Sawyer? But if you shut up, Veronica would tell you. She’s just her.

Bus Trash

[kit-reviews-gay-lit]

Kit Reviews:

My Nana got my brother and I into Shakespeare at a very young age.

That, and our Scottish heritage from granddad, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of my eagerness to read this book.

Sure, I knew going into it that it wouldn’t end well, but when you’re as starved for Sapphic Shakespearean content as me, beggars can’t be choosers.

Instead of waiting for my birthday next month, I bought it myself, and finished it in three days.

You might want to get comfortable, I have a lot of thoughts.

As I Descended by Robin Talley

Published: 6th September 2016

Read: May 2018

POV: Third person

Target age: 16+

Genre: Horror, Young Adult, Shakespeare retelling

LGBTQ+ characters: The two leads: Maria and Lily; as well as Maria’s best friend, Brandon, and Brandon’s boyfriend, Mateo.

Lily, Brandon and Mateo are all gay. Maria is bisexual.

Personal rating: 4/5

Favourite character: Lily, if I had to name one.

As I Descended is a modern Sapphic retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Instead of Scotland, the story is set in Virginia, at the fictional boarding school of Acheron Academy. Maria and Lily wish to continue their secret relationship into university, but a prize that gets you into the school of your choosing is certain to go to their rival, Delilah. If you know your Shakespeare, you’ll have a fairly good idea of what happens next.

However, don’t go into it thinking you’re going to get Macbeth, but modern. The story is heavily based on the play, as the book will constantly remind you, but the plot takes different directions to its source material, so there are still elements of surprise.

This brings me to one of the most noticeable changes: there are no witches. The girls converse with ghosts, who tell them prophecies, but there are many of them, not just three main ones. This came as a slight disappointment, because even if you don’t know Macbeth, you will most certainly know about the witches. Then, when I thought about it, I realised it works in the story’s favour, because you learn from the get-go that you don’t entirely know what’s going to happen.

The motivations of the two leads are also somewhat different. Where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth simply wanted power, Maria and Lily start off as just two teens in love who desperately want to be together.

This feels like a good time to talk about Lily, there’s a lot to unpack:

As you have probably already figured out, Lily is Lady Macbeth’s counterpart.

In the play, Lady Macbeth’s need for power is very much arguably because, as woman, she’s seen as her husband’s lesser half. In becoming queen, she would be able to puppeteer her country as well as Macbeth.  

Lily is slightly more complex. She wants to stay with her girlfriend, but she also yearns for a sense of power over her peers who only see her disability. I think this was clever on the author’s part, because the themes of power, and the corruption that comes with it, can live on despite the changes of context.

I also found that Lily reminded me of my first girlfriend who, while arguably having good intentions, could be very emotionally manipulative and selfish. When you’re young and in love for the first time, especially as an LGBTQ+ person, it’s so easy to see the world through rose-coloured glasses, and to want everything to work out. Unlike Maria, I eventually realised the relationship did me more harm than good and ended it.

But Macbeth is a tragedy, and that translates into this novel.

I usually get (as my mum once described it) very motherly over characters in books. In a story where most characters slowly act less and less human, that becomes difficult. That’s not to say I don’t like them, I just find them interesting as characters rather than likeable as people.

Having said that, I’d like to quickly bring up the girls’ initial antagonist: Delilah. Antagonist. Not villain.

The girls see Delilah, not just as a threat to their future, but also as a dishonest bitch. Delilah has cheated her way to her queen bee status at school, as is described in a way not unlike one might describe Hollywood mean girls like Heather Chandler or Regina George.

What I like about her though is that, along the way, it becomes clear to you as a reader that Delilah is far more nice and complex than the girls give her credit for. After all, by the end of the novel, they have done things far more unforgivable than Delilah ever did. In the end, the girls become hypocrites.

It would have been so easy to just make Delilah a one-dimensional popular girl, and I’m glad that wasn’t the case.

I think what’s really special about this book is that Shakespeare fans can enjoy its familiarity along with the unique ideas presented, and non-Shakespeare fans can enjoy a gothic tale of ambition spiralling out of control. It may even encourage more people to get into the original story, which I find very exciting.

There’s a reason Shakespeare is the world’s most famous playwright, and intentionally or not, his plays have influenced writers forever.

Whoever you may be, I sincerely think you owe it to yourself to give this book a try, and indulge yourself in something wicked.

[sickofyourfandombullshit]

Heathers 2018

So when I saw @princess-has-a-pen​ post about the new Heathers remake I had to look it up for two reasons:

1. I’m a huge fan of the Movie and Musical and 2. I had to see the fucking horror show that Spike TV was no doubt going to turn it into.

Now Princess asked in their tags the exact same thing I asked myself when I saw the post:

“Why?”

Well friends, strap yourselves in cuz I’m about to take you for a fucking ride.

Why remake Heathers? A movie that has solidified itself as a cult classic for it’s gritty, fucked up story and characters that took pretty much every kid who went to high school in the 80′s (or any time really) life and amped it up to 11?

Cuz the original Heathers is full of 'problematic' things and they can now remake it to be more 'progressive' while snagging a new audiance of younglings who know about Heathers because of the musical.

Now my friends, as I stated before, I love both the movie and the Musical, but as a mature, rational fan over the age of 30, I can look at something I love and point out it’s flaws and believe me, when it comes to the source material, Heathers the Musical is stuffed full of flaws and that creates some problems.

I am pretty sure all the Tumblrinas who idolize ‘Heathers’ have only seen the musical because honestly, the ‘date’ scene where Heather McNamara gets raped in the background would be enough to make them REEEEEE all the way to the fucking bank.

Like legit, she is literally struggling under her date (and not in a fun way) to make him stop and Veronica just fucking leaves her there. We don’t see her get away or anything, so you can only assume that that whole thing didn’t end well, especially given how miserable McNamara is in the movie to begin with.

The Muscial made light of a lot of the grim parts the movie worked to highlight, specifically bullying and suicide and the dangers of giving into pressure and just  being a fucking terrible human being. Not to mention it twisted things in a way that actually reinforced some harmful tropes. Specifically with the two main characters JD and Heather.

JD in the movie is a completely sociopath who physically and mentally abuses Veronica for almost the entire thing and in the Musical they gave him the stereotypical ‘troubled boy who wanted to make the world better but it just got out of hand’ treatment. Like “Oh yeah, he murders three people and tries to blow up a school but his dad’s a jerk and his mommy committed suicide so you can’t blame him! Deep down he’s just a tortured soul who really loves Veronica!”. Spoilers! He doesn’t love Veronica, at least not in any way that should be even entertained as any sort of ‘love’. He and Veronica’s relationship coupled with his ‘sacrifice’ at the end of the play made me cringe extra hard because it felt like it was romanticizing abusive relationships and in all honesty it was. A specific scene from the Musical where I thought they were actually going to address the toxicity of their ‘relationship’ (at the end of the ‘Our Love is God’ musical number where Veronica seems to have a mental break down as she screams ‘Our Love is God’ over and over again as if to drown out the fact that she just assisted in the murder of two people), was brushed under the rug the next scene and seemingly forgotten about till something ELSE big happens and then it’s fucking Ground Hogs Day apparently.

Veronica in the movie joined the Heathers before the movie even began because she wanted to be popular and due to her skill in forgery is pretty much made their pet project. She’s not as much of a cunt as Chandler or Duke but she's still pretty fucking bad. She kills Kurt herself, blows off her actual best friend in exchange for shallow popularity, laughs over Heather Chandler dying and only turns on JD when the suicide note she writes for Heather Chandler backfires and causes people to glorify Chandler as a saint. This as well leads her to realize that it’s pointless to kill people because someone else just takes their place as “The Mythic Bitch” ala Heather Duke’s transformation (also because JD straight up slaps her in the face for trying to back out on him). She only ever does anything semi sweet at the VERY end after JD gets blown up. In the Musical she is portrayed as a sweet innocent little buttercup who is super besties with Martha and sticks up for the little guy and never meant to hurt anyone and was just dragged into everything bad by bad people. She feels constantly guilty for it and seems unable to make any actual choices herself outside of breaking into JD’s house to fuck him. She’s totally innocent guys. Totes.

And before you say “C’moooon it’s a fuckin’ Muscial!” you need to go watch you some Dear Evan Hansen or Les Miserables because those two Musicals are heavy as fuck and had no problem in showing how fucked up serious shit like war and suicide was through flawed characters.

Now with this new series coming out it seems destined to fail. It has only been releasing Instagram videos to promote the show and already it’s hitting all the same old PC points while being SO EDGY at the same time. It’s Riverdale all fucking over again.

“The terrible trio is more like a set of outcasts who have taken over Westerberg High School.” -EW article

Like really? Fuckin’ really? The Heathers were all popular girls due to their wealth (McNamara), beauty (Duke) and over all exuding of confidence and attitude backed up by all of the previously stated assets (Chandler). They weren’t a bunch of outcasts. They took pride in how they looked and how people saw them. I don’t understand this fucking need to make every kid nowadays an ‘outcast’ in an effort to make them ‘relatable’. They did it to every kid in the Power Rangers remake and MJ in Spider-Man: Homecoming and it’s starting to  get fucking annoying. Oh well, gotta get them kids with all that EDGE!

So let’s look at the ‘Heathers’ (I can’t bring myself to not put that in quotation marks when talking about these piles of hot garbage):

Heather Chandler is a plus-sized, Skrillex haired edge lord who looks like every Tumblr Feminist/Suicide Girls reject and literally gives off no aura of power or fear at all. She just comes off as some fat bitch who found the HAAS RadFem movement on Twitter and used it to fill herself with enough undeserved self importance to justify being a cunt to everyone. Yes, where the original Heather Chandler got her power and reputation through sheer intimidation and personality, this Heather Chandler looks like the type of girl who will physically assault you in the bathroom and threaten to sit on you till you die.

Gee golly, I see Heather Duke is a sassy gay male now (and a white one at that). Wow, it’s not like that hasn’t been done a billion fucking times. Funny that he’s a white dude whose character in the movie and play turns out to capitalize on Heather Chandler’s death to raise their own status to the ‘queen bitch’ of the school. That’ll do GREAT for gay stereotypes I’m sure.

Aaaaand Heather McNamara, our possibly Asian possibly Latinx butprobably just party bag of mixed race token character who is the literal punching bag of the group. At least that seems to have not changed but I am sure it’ll help add shallow sympathy since now it’s not a bunch of white kids beating up on a little white girl, it’s a bunch of white kids beating up on a little minority girl. Goodie goodie.

The rest:

JD literally gets nothing to show from his video except one speaking line where he is telling Veronica that she’s “Not like Heather Chandler” she’s “better” while quick cutting a bunch of random shots from the show that mostly seem pointless and just confusing with one flash of him apparently running the flat of a knife on his palm behind his back? So we get nothing from our poor, tortured sociopath. I can just hear the producers of this show now: “We can’t show him being too soft or the old fans might not watch it and can’t show him being a psychotic asshole or the Musical fans won’t watch it, so make it just as cluster fucking and confusing as possible so no one will ask questions and just be drawn in with all the cheap visual click bait!”

For Veronica we again get nothing. One line of “Dear Diary, I hate my friends but that doesn’t mean I want them DEAD!” followed by more random cuts of shots from the show, many of bloody scenes and hints of violence but a lot more of just weird confusing scenes that make no sense. It’s kind of funny for the sheer reason that they seem to be banking on people just already knowing who these characters are ala the original movie but at the same time are trying to pull in new audience members with all the vague quick cutting which they seem to have mistaken for ‘mystery’.

And last  but not least, we have Betty Finn. What’s that? “Who if Betty Finn?” all you fans of the Musical ask? Well you wouldn’t know who Betty is unless you watched the MOVIE cuz Betty is who Martha Dump Truck replaced in the Musical because Betty wasn’t fucking sad sacky enough and they didn’t want to clutter the script with such a minor character. Betty was smart and an actual good person, the only good person in the movie honestly, who was Veronica’s friend since they were in diapers. She didn’t have a huge part in the movie outside of providing some blackmail material for JD to use against Heather Duke and trying to get Veronica to stop being such a moron (which failed). Now she’s appears to be the stereotypical side character that will be prominent in the show, probably as a comic relief character or plot device to be used against Veronica at some point.

Now, there is a huge question you have to ask:

Where is Martha? Will Martha even be in the series? Alright, it’s two questions but you get the point.

I have two guesses;

1. Possibly

but more than likely

2. No. Absolutely not.

Why do you ask? Because Martha’s character served as a plot device in both the Movie and the Musical to show how awful the Heathers really were and how their bullying was actually dangerous. Martha was a fat, slow, ugly dump of a girl. Problem is, you can’t make fun of that anymore. It’s not ‘progressive’ to make fun of people with those flaws. As well it wouldn’t make sense, Heather Chandler is fat in this remake. Unless they’re going to go full retard with some kind of ‘internalized fatphobia’ shit it wouldn’t make sense to make fun of Martha for that. Heather McNamara is the stereotypical ditzy airhead which doesn’t seem to have changed in this remake so to make fun of someone being ‘slow’ while laughing at an Air-Head-of-Color would just be super duper mean!

If they DO put Martha in, she will either have to still be dumpy, slow and fat and end up being the most popular character in the end for ‘not giving into societies beauty standards’ or some shit, OR she will have to actually flat out die from her suicide attempt to push the EDGE and drive plot.

Either way this whole thing is going to be a train wreck that will either take off at the idiotic rate in which Teen Wolf and Riverdale did or be an utter failure.

I seriously hope for the latter. Sorry this is so long and there are probably some spelling and grammar errors. It’s literally 2:30 in the morning and the Monster I drank is starting to ware off so I’m running on fumes.

[alexandradavisonlma32]

Heathers Rehearsals: The Me Inside of Me and Blue

The Me Inside of Me 

The Me Inside of Me is a turning point in the show, as it’s the number that happens after Heather Chandler is killed, and the song after J.D has persuaded Veronica to forge a suicide note from Heather Chandler to cover up her death. It’s the reading of Veronica’s words as Chandler’s suicide note with the police involved and Ms Flemming also wanting to bring the pupils together to heal and feel the loss and the severity of suicide.

We had a different tutor for this session, and we followed inspiration for choreography from a video. It was a nice challenge for me to be able to try and think ahead to what our tutor would like, and use my initiative on what intentions I wanted to put behind my acting decisions.

Heather McNamara comes on later, when the school comes together during Ms Flemming’s healing moment and reading of Chandler’s letter and I felt my character would be quite reliant on Duke to look to as she’s probably very confused that the person who was her rock has gone due to pain, as she thinks its suicide, but she’s still living even though she doesn’t feel strong enough individually. One of my lines is “her world seemed like a perfect place” which made me want to act confused, as I would have thought that she had it all together and if Chandler doesn’t then McNamara feels like she couldn’t possibly either. 

When we all come together for the choreography its in a choir like group and we all have the same movements, which are a lot more cheerful than you would expect considering they’ve all lost someone that they used to worship, and on Ms Flemming’s lines about healing together, on the ‘oohs’ we all pretend to be hippie like and do yoga poses as if to make fun of Ms Flemming.  

This number was a lot of fun as it gave me a lot to think about and also at how I could portray my character to the audience and start to put little things in which will make sense when McNamara tries to commit suicide later in the show, so it isn’t out of nowhere.

Blue

Blue is a song that is sung by the Jocks and it is essentially about wanting to have sex with Veronica. In the scene previous to ‘Blue’ starting, my character asks Veronica to help her with an emergency in the cemetery, and what my character is actually doing is luring Veronica there to save herself from a drunk and passed out Kurt (one of the Jocks). As Veronica describes it, “you avoided date rape by volunteering me for date rape” and to which Heather McNamara replies “God, you make it sound so ugly”. I knew this line could’ve been said in a comedic way, but I decided to play on my stupidness that I have built with McNamara by making this sound like a revelation to her, as if she couldn’t tell what was right or wrong in this moment. I soon scurry away though, when Kurt starts to wake up, and move to the rostra where Duke joins me soon after. We’re sitting in a car but there is no car, so we have to make it believable and obvious that we’re getting into a vehicle, and so opening and stepping into a car, sitting and closing the door as you would in a real car. This took some concentration, but I think I made it look believable. 

Below is a link for a section of ‘Blue’ vocals that I especially struggled with, but after a night of practise the next day I went back in and was able to sing the harmonies correctly. There are a lot of ‘ooh’s in this song, and it’s important to differentiate between them and know which one comes where.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we5APxBD_ao&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR21PrQcWXymrwYhN6uinMN29ugz8gV2j67OkeAvV6brurA8iDeXybYJyL0

The dance routine in ‘Blue’ was something that I felt I picked up quite well. It’s quite floaty and dainty, and we’re supporting what’s happening on stage and offering no help to Veronica who is being harassed by Ram and Kurt and so I am smiling with the occasional quirk of an eyebrow to show that it’s a mean girl move. The ensemble dances around us, and we are still on the rostra watching what’s happening in the safety of the car.

Blue Research

There was a problem with how people started to receive this number. For many, this number was fun and was an entertaining watch but, according to Playbill (2018) “Others were offended, feeling we were treating date rape as a laughing matter”. This is a controversial topic and for that reason the decision was circulated to replace ‘Blue’ with another song called ‘You’re Welcome’ as the writers Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy in a song breakdown agreed that this song was lazy and that “the fact that the number often plays successfully makes it dangerous. It plays into the lie that sexual harassment or assault can be trivialized as “locker room talk” or “boyish antics.” (Playbill, 2018). This means that they never felt like it was taken seriously enough, and even though Heathers has a notorious dark humour, this was a number where the audience has to sense that there’s a problem with what is happening on stage, and the humour produced by the Jocks hides that. It is said that the new track “Unlike “Blue,” “You’re Welcome” doesn’t shy away from showing that Veronica is in real danger”.

Playbill, (2016) go on to say that Laurence O’Keefe said this about the number: ““We set up a slightly scary situation, and then we did not have the boys acting as you’d expect them to do,” says O’Keefe. “We didn’t follow the logic all the way to the end. These kids are alone with a girl. They are inappropriate. … So we replaced the song ‘Blue’ with a song called ‘You’re Welcome,’ and it’s now my favorite song in the show. Instead of being like, ‘Ha, ha, you make my balls so blue,’ the premise of the song is, ‘Hey Veronica: Once you were a nerdy nobody, but now you are hot enough to be macked on by us. You’re welcome.” and he believes it highlights the danger Veronica’s in more and the audience are more aware of how the Jocks are viewing her. This helped me in my performance is it is a nasty move, and that means I can play it to that. 

[paigemoonlma32]

Development within Heathers

Throughout the years of Heathers, the musical has been adapted through different performances, For example: 

"You're Welcome" from the 2018 West End Production of Heathers the Musical replaces "Blue," a song on the World Premiere Cast Recording (Heathers The Musical - "You're Welcome" (Unknown, 2018). "You're Welcome" was initially written by O'Keefe and Murphy for the High School edition, but was added to the official show beginning with the 2018 London production. O'Keefe and Murphy preferred "You're Welcome" as they had come to feel that "Blue" was a bit lazy, and had inadvertently trivialised the lead character's fears (given that Veronica is cornered by two drunk, entitled high school football stars who refused to hear the word "no"). While "Blue" contained no dialogue for Veronica, by contrast, "You're Welcome" allows Veronica to express her fears and solve her problem, defeating her assailants decisively. As well as providing a more empowering alternative for Veronica, the new song remedies the way that "Blue" was often considered as "treating date rape as a laughing matter" and presenting sexual assault or harassment as "boyish antics", due to the comical nature of the song (Heathers: The Musical, 2020). 

While researching about the change I came across a thread on the social media app Reddit titled “Removing Blue from Heathers was stupid” (deleted, 2019). Straight away this proves that some of the audience members were not pleased about the change. Other comments within the post stated “It made no sense for people to be offended by Blue, but not by literally the entire rest of the show, which presents a lot of dark/serious topics in a humorous way, because it's a Satire!” (Derp_8, 2019). “It is disturbingly rapey” and “It sounds nothing like a Heathers song. They're all supposed to sound like 80's songs but this sounds like 90's” stated another user (Goth2002, 2019).  Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy stated in a ‘PLAYBILL’ article on March 22nd 2018: “Some thought “Blue" was wonderful and all in good fun. Others were offended, feeling we were treating date rape as a laughing matter (O’Keefe and Murphy, 2018). After listening to both songs and watching multiple performances of both I personally prefer ‘Blue’. My reason is that ‘Blue’ is a very comedic song. As much as they are singing about wanting sex and how much Veronica makes their balls blue, Kurt and Rams interactions are mainly to each other. During the majority of the performances for ‘Blue’, you will find Veronica standing up stage looking whilst discussing what they are singing. However in “Your Welcome”, Veronica is stuck in the middle of the boys which is why she is thinking about getting out of the situation (Heathers, 2019). For me personally, “Your Welcome” implys more of a serious date rape senorio over two boys singing to eacher about the desire to have sex. I presume my opinion could be different if Veronia was stuck in the middle again, however, she is normally at a safe distance as previously stated (Heathers, 2017). 87 fans of Heathers the musical took to vote to say whether or not they liked the song change. 5.7% of the fans liked the change of the song, however 94.3% did not like the change and still prefer “Blue” (Thoughts On Heathers Replacing "Blue" | Heathers Amino, 2017). 

A new song for Heather Duke, "Never Shut Up Again", was also added for the London run, replacing the "Blue (Reprise)". For the 2017 workshop, there was a different song to replace "Blue (Reprise)", which became "Big Fun (Reprise)", part of which is now included in "Never Shut Up Again". Never Shut Up Again is the first time we really hear from Heather Duke and how she felt about being treated badly. Duke sings the Lyrics “I bit my tongue so long, I learned to count to ten” which gives the impression of how long she has let the anger build up inside of her due to Heather Chandler never letting her speak. In the next verse, Duke compares Heather Chandler to the ‘Wicked Witch of East’ from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ when she sings “A house dropped on her head, The witch is dead! Ding Dong!”. After research I also found that it is a reference to the line “Killing Heather would be like offing the Wicked Witch of the West. Wait East. West” which is a quote from the original 1988 film of Heathers where Veronica is writing in her diary about how she wants to kill Heather Chandler (Barry, 2019). The chorus of this song that gets repeated is “I will never shut up again”, this is because Duke from the beginning of act 1 is told repeatedly to shut up by Heather Chandler. However, now that Chandler is dead, Duke is rejoicing that she now has the power that chandler had. This is symbolised by Heather Chandler's red Scrunchie (Heathers, 2019). 

In the last week at The Other Palace, the authors added a new song after "Shine a Light (Reprise)" called "I Say No", in which Veronica finally dumps J.D. when he proposes a return to murdering. In this she tells him "you need help I can't provide" and walks out on him. The song remained in the show for the Haymarket run and was released on February 15, 2019. One audience member stated “This is EXACTLY the type of song this show needed. I am ALWAYS here for giving Veronica more backbone, and calling out JD on his shit. It gives ‘I Am Damaged’ a whole new meaning now, which it DESPERATELY needed. Now he’s like movie JD: he doesn’t actually love her. He loves her means to an end” (Alabba, 2019). Throughout this song Veronica is realising that JD has been using her emotions as excuses for what he has done. For example, she sings “But you’re still using me to justify the harm you do”, this is linking back to the scene where JD has just killed Kurt and Ram, and then he asks Veronica “Did they make you cry? Well they can’t now”. He also states “You wanted them dead” to make Veronica feel more guilty so that he can comfort her again (Rios, 2018).

With Heathers having such a teen based audience there has also been a “Heathers (High school Edition)” released. “After seeing the Off-Broadway production several times, we knew that Heathers would have a cult following among teen audiences and fans of the motion picture, due to its focus on the important issues of bullying and teenage depression.” says Samuel French executive director Bruce Lazarus. “We believe that Heathers 101: High School Edition deals with these themes in a meaningful way, which will resonate with our high school audiences” (GIOIA, 2016).  Changing songs such as ‘Blue’ to ‘Your welcome’ is one of many ways to make the musical more suited for the high school edition. However, certain songs such as Dead Girl Walking stayed just directed with a different intention. ‘Dead Girl Walking’ changed to be less about a teen girl’s final sexcapades and more about “a girl driven to say, ‘To hell with it!’ by despair and fear” - brought to light the show’s themes, which function as important lessons for the high-school students (GIOIA, 2016). An article from The Atlantic stated “Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the Broadway version really gets the genius bleakness of the original. An early preview of the musical Heathers reveals that Veronica’s monologues are now big numbers about how high-school can be suffocating. None of the songs have the film’s creative profanity, or even a tinge of satire. It’s a sad thought, Heathers turned into a mere Glee episode about suicide” (Zilberman, 2014).

Fun Facts about Heathers:

The actress who played Heather Chandler in the original film of Heathers died at the age of 32 from a brain tumor. “Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?” is one of the most famous sentences that comes from Heathers. There is a true meaning behind the sentence, and it appears to be an “unfortunate twist of fate” (Arnold, 2020).

The movie was originally supposed to end with J.D. blowing up the school and then everyone would have prom in heaven while drinking blue punch. Apparently, the studio rejected this ending because they thought it was too grim (Arnold, 2020)

The initial script featured more violence. When Waters finished his first draft of Heathers (which was the first script he'd ever written), it was 200 pages long, which would have roughly amounted to a three-hour film. The body count was higher, too; not even the editor of the school newspaper survived. Waters admits that the first draft of the script shows how Veronica was originally more twisted than she is today. The reasoning for the slight change of character is because Winona Ryder, who played Veronica, delivered something slightly different in the auditions by adding “warmth and empathy” to the character (Cormier, 2015).

Westerberg High was named after The Replacements' singer-songwriter Paul Westerberg. At one point in the film, Christian Slater's character J.D. says “color me impressed,” which references a song by The Replacements (Cormier, 2015).

J.D. tells Veronica that the “ich lüge” bullets he'll use to scare the school jocks will do just that - scare them - when, in fact, they're intended to kill them. ‘Ich luge’ is german for ‘I'm Lying’ (Cormier, 2015).

The movie of Heathers was becoming a TV series to premiere in March 2018. However, the series was shut down due to the event which took place at Parkland, Florida, which became a “challenging subject” because of the shooting and using gun violence in the series (Cormier, 2015).

[antonialivingstonelma32]

AUDITIONING

How prior knowledge helped me to succeed in the auditions.

In regards to the auditions, I felt I had an advantage in the way of approaching the show material given to us in the audition pack. I already knew the shows soundtrack, and I was aware of the different characters and the roles they played in the show. “Heathers is not an ordinary nostalgic teen comedy flick. Murder lurks around every corner in the film, but the emphasis is on black humour, not violence.” (Huering, 1988). What I found useful in understanding the story was initially watching the movie of Heathers from 1988 and then proceeding to watch a bootleg of the off-Broadway musical and comparing characters. I wanted to get to terms with the raw story that audiences are presented with in the original movie. Rao (2018) explains that the act of Veronica and JD staging Heather Chandler’s death as a suicide, they unintentionally make the act popular which highlights the dangers of group-thinking and disregard suffering. 

In the off-Broadway show the dark humour needed to be translated into live theatre effectively, in order to keep the true heart of Heathers alive. Understanding which part of the show allows room for dark humour helped me in my audition process as I was able to read this hidden message in the dialogue.

THE AUDITION PROCESS

The audition process for Heathers was different to any other audition that I’ve been in before.  We were treated like professionals in a way which principal characters were auditioned first and other supporting roles were seen after. Each individual audition was held for an equal amount of time which took pressure of following auditionees.

Whenever I go for an audition I always prepare the best I can by learning all sides and lyrics for any songs required. I had focused mainly on the character of Veronica Sawyer as I was interested in her progression through the story. I didn’t want the pressure of learning different character’s audition pieces to stray me from putting all my efforts into the role I was the most interested in. 

The only two characters I auditioned for were Veronica Sawyer and Heather Chandler. I know that my type cast is usually characters similar to Heather Chandler hence why I auditioned for her in attempts to broaden my chances of being cast. 

THE CHALLENGE OF VERONICA SAWYER

I knew that Veronica’s solo vocal track was one that I would need help with. I understand as a performer, that my belting in a high register isn’t my strongest skill. Due to this, prior to the audition I sang ‘Dead Girl Walking’ to my singing teacher and she then helped with technique. Using my ‘join’ (the area between my soft and hard pallet) creates a thicker fold for myself in order to reach a high belt without straining. Problem solving issues like this prior to the audition then helped me to perform without worrying about my sound. 

As Veronica is the lead, it made sense to audition for her first. All those auditioning for Veronica had been given sides for her scenes and the song ‘Dead Girl Walking’. When asked into the room; we had to perform the song first, and if anyone knows Heathers, they’ll know it is quite a promiscuous show at certain points. With this song being near the beginning of Veronica’s journey through the show, I knew I needed to show a side to her not yet seen and a side she has never seen herself. For this song you really have to let all inhibitions go and just forget the outside world and truly believe you’re that character. It was a challenge for me as I am usually very self conscious when performing without much rehearsal so this was quite a big achievement for me. 

Fig 2. VERONICA SAWYER

Once I performed the song, we followed with the 7-11 scene where Veronica has her first real conversation with JD. I performed this scene and received the same feedback that I always get when performing which is to more theatrical. When I think I’m being big, I need to 100x more than what I am already doing. I was told I had the context of the scene and acting choices correct however an audience of 300+ may not be able to read me from the back.

Following this feedback when I was recalled to do the scene alongside other people, I ensured that I was being bigger in all aspects of my body. 

Workshopping

The next stage of the audition was very informal and relaxed. All Veronica’s and JD’s were called in together to read through the same 7-11 scene so that Lucy, the director, could see the chemistry between the different people.

This type of auditioning is very helpful as you can take inspiration from other people’s performances and adapt some things they do that you’d like to incorporate. However this style can also be unnerving as the director can be seen to enjoying someone else’s performance more than your own which can dampen confidence.

Each Veronica auditioned alongside each JD to see who looked like they had potential chemistry that could read on stage to an audience. The main part of a performance is the story-telling which needs to be believable. Experimenting with different performers to see who possess the most chemistry will in turn make the performance believable which leads to a level 6 show. 

The Final Two

It eventually came down to the final choices for Veronica which was myself and Ellyse. I know Ellyse personally and I know she is extremely driven, passionate and very talented. This in a way could make it harder for me and I could be discouraged to try my best because of a negative mindset however knowing Ellyse’s level of talent, this made me fight even harder for the role. I knew I needed to push the boundaries and test myself as a performer and doing anything I was asked to without hesitation.

This audition process was very positive in the way it was approached by the director and students. No one was made to feel unwanted or talentless as each performer brought something different to each character, it was hard to tell what the director was wanting. 

[elisharaymondgibsonlma32]

History of ‘Heathers’

Figure 2. Performance picture from the Off-Broadway production of ‘Heathers,’ from ‘The Guardian,’ 2014.

In 1989, ‘Heathers’ burst onto screens, unfortunately it was not to everybody’s taste and was originally considered a box office flop.

‘Needless to say, not everybody in 1980s America saw the funny side. Heathers was not a box-office hit. “People were outraged: ‘How dare you make a comedy about teenage suicide?’ Well I didn’t make a comedy about teenage suicide,” says Lehmann (nobody in Heathers actually commits suicide). “There were plenty of people at the time who thought the humour was irresponsible, and that the choice of subject was not something that should be put up for satire and, you know, I just rolled my eyes and said the most horrific topics should be the ones that are best suited to satire.”’ (Rose, 2018).

In the absence of a regular crowd, Heathers was forced to take a back seat to other box office hits and as a result of this, the producers lost so much money that they halted future production.

‘If only more people had caught it in the cinema. Heathers made just $1.1 million back on its $3 million budget. It was the last film released by New World Pictures, which closed weeks after the film’s release.’ (Brady, 2018).

Despite its lack of success back in 1989, it was later adapted into a musical.

‘As well as capturing its time, Heathers caught something universal, then, but bringing it into the modern day has required some adjustments. Heathers: The Musical is a brighter, more optimistic proposition than the movie, with more of a female self-empowerment theme and less in the way of transgressive satire. The sexual assault incidents have been removed, fewer guns are waved around, Veronica no longer burns her hand with a cigarette in self-loathing. It hits the spot with fans, but others have likened it to “a mere Glee episode about suicide”.’ (Rose, 2018).

So in 2010, Heathers made its off-Broadway debut and it featured a few changes.

‘The movie’s pitch-black comedy has been brightened somewhat on its journey to the 21st-century stage, with the addition of musical numbers such as Freeze Your Brain (on the transformative properties of 7/11 slushies) and My Dead Gay Son (in which a double funeral becomes an anthem to inclusivity).’ (Rose, 2018).

In 2018, Heathers was revived in an off-West End production.

‘The show, which transfers to the West End in September, was raucously received. As a Heather would say, it was very.’’ (Rose, 2018).

Due to the success of the off-West End previews, Heathers finally achieved the recognition that many believed was overdue and deserved as it moved to Theatre Royal Haymarket in the West End.

‘Heathers: The Musical premiered in 2014 and will transfer to London’s West End this September.’ (Brady, 2018).

After it finished its run on the West End, it was announced that Heathers would be embarking on a UK Tour.

‘With music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy, the adaption has had productions across the world including a recent West End run starring Carrie Hope Fletcher. Produced by Bill Kenwright and Paul Taylor-Mills, the musical is now embarking on its first UK tour for 2020.’ (Darvill, 2020).

There have been many productions of Heathers ranging from amateur high school shows to Riverdale and a TV series of the same name.

‘The musical is not the only recent repackaging of Heathers; there is also Heathers the TV series. Set in the present day, it is billed as “a satirical comedy that takes creative risks in dealing with many of society’s most challenging subjects, ranging from personal identity to race and socio-economic status to gun violence”. The show makes some drastic changes to the original set-up: the new Heathers of the piece are no longer all thin, privileged white girls; instead, one is a plus-sized girl, one is a black lesbian, and one is a genderqueer male (Veronica is white and blonde). Thus, the original film’s political satire is turned on its head. It was applauded by far-right commentators, which was probably not the intention.’ (Rose, 2018).

The TV show was cancelled due to a tragedy in America which clashed with its timing of release.

‘A TV reboot was scrapped by the Paramount Network last June following the Parkland shootings. In this new version, which is now expected to land with one of the streaming sites, Heather McNamara (originally played by Lisanne Falk) is now portrayed by Jasmine Mathews and is written as a black lesbian. Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty) is played by Brendan Scannell, who identifies as genderqueer and Heather Chandler (Kim Walker) is now played by Melanie Field – a plus-sized actress.’ (Brady, 2018).

The TV series may have been cancelled but Heathers lives on, it has inspired many adaptations.

‘In its absence, some of that Heathers legacy has percolated down through the generations, in teen movies such as Clueless, Mean Girls and Election, or this year’s Thoroughbreds, about two privileged white girls who coolly plot a murder.’ (Rose, 2018).

Many believed that Heathers was an inaccurate representation of High School but others worry that it is far too close to reality.

‘Now Lehmann wonders if we’re not actually living in a Heathers sequel: “I watch the American political news and I can’t believe how much it’s like high school!’ (Rose, 2018).

Figure 3. A poster advertising the ‘Heathers’ inspired episode of ‘Riverdale,’ from ‘Entertainment Weekly,’ 2019.

[healthcaretipsblog]

/Film had a one-on-one interview with Jason Micallef, developer and showrunner of the Heathers TV adaptation, after his Television Critics Association panel. We’ll bring you that full interview when the show premieres in March, but during out conversation, Micallef revealed that episode four would have a Kill Bill style fight scene with croquet mallets. One of the croquet fighters is Betty Finn (Nikki SooHoo). Micallef also said that Heathers would shoot full R-rated language for streaming and digital. It will only be bleeped when it airs on the Paramount Network and he confirmed the line “F––k me gently with a chainsaw,” made iconic after the original Heathers movie, is in the show.

During the TCA panel, Micallef and the show’s cast spoke about updating the 1989 film for 2018.

“I thought now was the perfect time for it. I think the original film was released in 1989 at the end of the Reagen era and in a time of transition,” Micallef said. “Now we’re in another clearly political time with transition.”

Heathers introduces a new variety of popular Heathers at Westerberg high. Heather Chandler (Melanie Field) is plus size and still the leader.

“Particularly in the area of social media, which is a huge topic on our show, there’s always a new app or platform for marketing yourself, the version you want the world or your peers to see,” Field said. “It’s changed the way people, particularly high school students are interacting. There’s a lot of really one-sided conversation. She’s created her own brand. She pretty much doesn’t give [a damn] what you think about it. She created that for herself. Her peers idolize her for it and fear her for her confidence. She has her own brand of style and unapologetic way of living that is paired wit h her social media presence. She’s social media famous.”

Heather McNamara (Jasmine Matthews) is a black woman with a black father and white mother. Heather Duke (Brendan Scanneli) is a gender fluid man.

“One of my takeaways from the movie and we talk about on the show is power corrupts,” Scanneli said. “Everyone at their core is kind of an asshole. The movie, we have these three beautiful white women who you wouldn’t expect to be wreaking havoc on the school. That was new and hadn’t been seen before. Our modern retelling of it, we’ve got traditionally marginalized communities, a black Heather, a plus sized Heather, a queer Heather, these communities that still face discrimination but in our show are turning it on their head, using the power of the internet and pure self confidence to trash everyone around them.”

Grace Victoria Cox plays Veronica, and James Sculley is J.D. Original Heather Shannen Doherty cameos as a new character, who appears in the very first scene of the premiere episode.

“[Doherty] is in three episodes, cameo style,” Micallef said.

Hallmarks of the movie get a twist. The rock band Big Fun’s hit song “Teenage Suicide (Don’t Do It)” is now the title of a high school musical Westerberg High is performing in episode three. Martha “Dump Truck” is still a target of the Heathers, but no longer for being overweight, but rather for being poor.

“Martha Dump Truck’s character’s been slightly altered, but she does exist,” Micallef said.

In a post-Columbine world, Heathers’ brand of satire dealing with high school violence and teen suicide may seem taboo. Micallef felt it was important to tackle such persistent issues head on.

“It’s not responsible,” Micallef said. “It’s dark, it’s edgy, we’re trying to show them as they really are. We do get every hot button issue including suicide. Because we are a TV show, unlike the film, we have a lot more time to get into what makes these characters click. In the original movie, Heather Chandler is just simply a monster. On our show, because we have more time, we’re able to go behind that, see what’s that about, is she really a a monster. I don’t view the Heathers, in the movie or our show, as the villains at all. I view them as victims in their own right. They just manage to, through self-confidence, take that. We’re able to explore that because we’re a television show. Yes, the Heathers are aspirational, I think even more so. They have all the best lines. When you watch the original movie, they’re the people you want to be, fortunately or unfortunately.“

The 2018 update gives Veronica a more active role in the killings. In the movie, J.D. sets up the first two as accidents, and then Veronica tries to put a stop to it.

“We have the opportunity to explore it differently,” Cox said. “You go from two hours to 10. People get to see a different side to their relationship and them as characters.”

Sculley appreciated the more even two-hander. “A really interesting thing is in the movie, I feel like Christian’s doing a lot of the pulling sort of until the final act,” Sculley said. “Veronica is doing a lot of the following. Because we have 10 episodes, I think the give and take nature of the relationship becomes a lot more intense and interesting.”

More specifically, Veronica will make some different choices in the show. “That was one of the main changes,” Micallef said. “The first problem I had everyone tackle was it’s 2018. No one’s going to watch a girl for 10 episodes follow a guy around murdering people and whining about it. We crafted some very, very, very major character changes for Veronica Sawyer that come in later in the series.”

The parents of Westerberg also bear responsibility for the students’ dysfunction.

“We were very conscious of making sure all the adults are completely not seeing these kids at all,” Micallef said. “Some are trying, some are not trying, but they’re all not seeing. All the adults, when we film them we do that low angle look so they feel more distant and remote. The season obviously ends in some very dark places. Everyone’s to blame but certainly the adults, the teachers and law enforcement shoulder a lot.”

Fans of the movie may anticipate the fates of Heather Chandler, Kurt (Cameron Gellman) and Ram (Cayden Boyd). Micallef said a lot of the cast does not make it through the first season.

“Yes, people do die,” Micallef said. “It is Heathers. Somewhere, more than one and less than five of these people [on the panel] are going to bite the bullet at various different times.”

In success, Micallef suggested that a second season of Heathers could tell new stories in the world of Heathers as an anthology.

“We have to get picked up for a second season,” Micallef said. “The idea is to take the spirit and then reset and run with it. The first season is really a jumping off point using the original film and then we’re totally rebooting. It’s a completely different show than the original movie. Heathers was like my Star Wars. This show is like a love letter to the original movie. Your viewing of it will be so much more enhanced if you watch the original movie beforehand. There are so many easter eggs and lines twisted and turned. Even little things hidden in the set. I am excited to reinvent every year.”

Look for /Film’s interview with creator Jason Micallef when Heathers premieres March 7, 2018 on Paramount Network.

The post ‘Heathers’ TV Show Will Have a ‘Kill Bill’-Style Fight With Croquet Mallets, F-Bombs And More [TCA 2018] appeared first on /Film.

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Heathers Rehearsals: Candy Store and Script Work

The next number is ‘Candy Store’ and this song is the moment that really highlights to the audience how much bullying and nastiness the Heathers are capable of. It is a number that I am heavily involved in, as I am a Heather and so I did some research, self reflection and a lot of practice to help me achieve this number successfully. Our tutor told us that we would have to get the movements into our bodies as it’s quite an intricate dance routine with isolated positions and bitty sections where we swap and change and very rarely do the same movement at the same time except small sections, but if done right this routine will be very effective.

Script 

Before the number begins, there is a section of script that happens between the Heathers, Veronica and the Jocks. We are at the front of the stage at this point, not long after ‘Beautiful’ has ended, so it  is important we continue the mean girl approach while still getting our individual characters across to the audience. This part of the script is where Heather Chandler, who now knows of Veronica’s forgery skills after ‘Beautiful’, orders Veronica to write a note to Ram pretending that its from Veronica’s best friend Martha as Martha has had a crush on Ram for such a long time and the Heathers know it will bring a lot of embarrassment for Martha as they know that Ram has no feelings for her. Veronica’s hesitance is what starts the number, springing the Heathers into action of peer pressuring Veronica into the task. A part of the script I have is “oh my God, I totally forgot, Ram kissed Martha Dumptruck, it was disgusting”, and the way I deliver this is with a high pitched and ditsy voice, making sure to emphasise the purposeful mispronunciation of the name to highlight the bullying that the audience members have probably seen many times in their real lives and triggering a potential memory. 

There is an interesting moment between the Heathers, Heather Duke collects Veronica for Heather Chandler, and when she arrives back to Chandler and McNamara, Heather instructs Duke to bend over so she has something to write on, which made me even more sure that there was a definite difference between the treatment of Duke and McNamara, which continues throughout the number also. This lead me to continue playing my character as if she is stupid, as it works for her and means that Duke is always the one who gets mistreated as opposed to McNamara, but this could also mean that McNamara is cleverer than she lets on. When this happens and Duke has bent over for Chandler, I decide to shift on my feet and look away from what is happening after shooting Chandler a scared look from behind her and stepping backwards, as McNamara has an ongoing battle with her morals, without fully knowing how to handle them yet.

Vocals 

When learning the vocals, this number is especially finicky as there are many chops and changes as to who is singing and when, which sounds fantastic but took a lot of learning, focus and practice. In an earlier post I discussed our timetable, and this was very useful for me for this number as I could look ahead and learn as much as I could to ensure that the harmony work could go smoothly and I could focus on learning the vocals without having to worry about the lyrics, and this will also make it easier for my tutor and the rest of the cast to continue moving forward to work on bigger ensemble pieces. 

All of the Heathers were placed on the melody, so we could keep up with adding lots of character and producing a strong routine, and our version of the show has been amended to have all of the cast added onto the harmonies to make the vocals stronger, and to support us through the number and I think it makes a good improvement on the number. The final high note riffs have also been changed and we have created an innovative idea and other cast members do the high notes and form their own group of Heathers for a split second before the original Heathers wave a hand and they cut off. There was one particular part that I struggled with in the vocals, however, as on the last set of ‘it’s my candy store’s I am on the middle harmony, and was really struggling to match it without clashing to the track. To overcome this is took a lot of repetition and practising with the soundtrack to hear other voices and continue to stay on my harmony and slowly this started to improve and I now can produce the harmony successfully. Below is a link that takes you to a video where I have included the final section and the bit I was struggling with.

Dance Routine  and Acting Through Dance

The dance routine I found very challenging but I was determined to get it right and do it to the best of my ability because I understand that this number is one of the well known numbers and also the one that asserts the Heathers power and so it can’t be shaky or unsure in any way. I have to include an effortless sense of dance, that this is something that comes easy to McNamara, as she is head cheerleader whilst also adding enough attack, but not so much that it looks too much or overdone. 

I asked my tutor before we started the dance rehearsals what kind of intention she envisioned behind the dancing, as I was aware that throughout the show there has to be a difference in level between Heather Duke and McNamara and Heather Chandler as Heather Chandler is above everyone and my characterisation so far has been klutzy and stupid, and I recognised that this mightn’t be the correct intent for the atmosphere this song needs to create. My tutor suggested that we should all be nasty, sassy, mean girls in this number, and leave individual characterisations at the beginning of the number and pick them back up at the end of it. I really liked this take on the song, as it makes it more threatening and shows the audience why we’re in charge of the school. A big part of the movement of the number is moving in uniformity and as a unit, we move together whenever we move around the stage and try to keep the same triangle that we always come back to. 

In some of the dance sections, the bit I struggled with was retaining all of the movements. It’s very rare for us as the Heathers to do the same movement apart from in some sections which adds to the effect of the dance but I had to use extra focus to remember which move was on which count and not get distracted by the other Heathers and what they were doing. The only thing I found helped me with this was constant rehearsals and making sure that I had the movements well memorised so I could add character on top of this and make sure the movements looked well polished and technically correct. 

For example, the link below contains a video of the dance routine when it was first blocked and is it is a very rough version, but I felt like this helped me see where I need to improve more as it wasn’t clean and perfect. I noticed that I need to be much more muscular in my approach with my arms in certain moves like the motorbike handle section, and I spent a lot of my time off stage and at home practising the way I walk as on the video I realised I move my arms too much and it doesn’t look sleek enough, and so I used the technique from ‘Beautiful’ and made sure to lead with my chest and have my arms relatively still with only natural swing, this actually helped me to stay in character as well as letting some of the Heather McNamara character be present even though I’m quite sassy in this performance. 

A problem that I also encountered was stamina. I realised that throughout this number I was struggling to sing and dance at the same time, and this was picked up on from my tutor and it was discussed that it was something that I needed to improve, which I dramatically agreed with, even more so considering that I have solo lines that have to be delivered in the middle of the song and this song cannot show any flaws it has to be precise for the point of it to be understood. You can see in the link to the video below how out of breath I am for my solo section, and how much the energy drops because of this. To overcome this obstacle my tutor and I discussed in feedback that I should dance and sing completely full out on every run of this number and drop out on vocals where I need to, but be mindful on where that is and try to get further as I progress, and I noticed a definite change and was able to start singing my parts quite well. 

Research Into Candy Store 

Upon research, I discovered that this song had actually replaced a song called ‘Human Connection’. It is said that this version of the song made had Chandler justify her nasty ways with twisted logic that would make the audience question their morals, however, according to Playbill (2018), Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy reveal that “ this approach weakened Chandler’s character. As undisputed dictator of the school, Chandler would have no reason to lie. She fears nobody and nothing, so she readily admits to Veronica that she enjoys hurting people because she can” which confirms that the girls would have a nasty but nonchalant approach to this number because they can do whatever with a click of their fingers. Playbill, (2018) also goes on to say that Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy suggest that this is when ‘Candy Store’ is discovered: “we dug deeper and found a song that makes Heather’s cruelty feel fierce and joyful” which will be a thrill for the audience to watch as it could be confusing as to them as to why they’re thinking its a good number and song when it’s about something so cruel. That will be enticing for the audience as well as “a more retro sound that felt a bit like Ann-Margret and Amy Winehouse were throwing a party with En Vogue. A happy accident and fun to dance to too.” as it is a sound that is quite new for a musical theatre production but one that will be nostalgic and is catchy which makes it a crowd pleaser, and this as well as a good performance is one that is important.

Link To Rehearsal Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvFUI2P0TS4&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1YOobjh4pwCG-Jfim5kFa_EqIlBcz3n9fH12TN1seMgJXar3Vwyf7H4bQ

This is the link referenced throughout this post!

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Audition Process

The audition process for Heathers was a very exciting yet intense experience that stretched over two days of auditioning. Heathers has such big and well known characters that are known across the platform and across theatre and so the adrenaline was high in between auditions.

I decided to audition for a range of roles, to really challenge myself and try my hardest to get a part within our final show. I know how important ensemble is, I always value being a part of the ensemble and enjoy it incredibly but I was already a fan of the show and after researching the show after the revelation that it was going to be Heathers, found I connected to a lot of the roles which helped my decision of who to audition for.

Veronica

The first role I decided to look at was the main, Veronica. I found that Veronica was a very strong acting role which is an area I can succeed in, but it was also a challenge vocally with her high notes and belt songs and my nerves are known to interfere with my performances when it comes to singing. Upon my research I found a lot of characteristics that would come in useful when delivering song and script: “her smart and compassionate aura, her growing trust in listening to her conscience, and her desire to become comfortable in her own skin” (Myers, 2014). 

I discovered that Veronica has a strong sense of self, and is confident while being brainy and full of sarcastic wit, and I also sensed that in her delivery she comes across quite monotone and unbothered by a lot as she sees a lot of things as beneath her and not true problems. Some research I carried out also suggested that Veronica’s uniform is blue to represent her deep and contemplative personality. When practising the audition song ‘Dead Girl Walking’, I had to amend some notes that I couldn’t hit in my chest and belt to a lower riff that still had some power, and apart from my nerves playing a part in the audition room, the amendments of the notes helped my performance. 

Heather Chandler 

I also auditioned for Heather Chandler and Heather McNamara, with consideration for Heather Duke. The Heathers are such monumental roles I felt I had to try out for them despite them being quite far from my type cast which is usually the more eccentric characters. Heather Chandler is the Queen B of the school and rules over all the students and teachers, seemingly, alike. The audition piece was ‘Candy Store’ and the scene I auditioned with was an excerpt of dialogue in the opening number ‘Beautiful’. Before doing further research, I first watched a clip of Heather Chandler I noted that she was a bully, but enjoyed being a bully. She loved the platform she was on, and wouldn’t have changed for anyone. Heather Chandler’s effortless control over an entire school is something that is noticed upon her every entrance onto the stage, and she demands to be watched with ease. Amino (2018) suggests that “She’s very demanding, self-aware, cold-hearted” which confirms that her demeanour would be quite effortless as she is so self aware.

 A note that I was given in the audition room was to be so effortless when it come to speech, hand gestures and stance. I was to let the audience see that people carried the tasks Chandler insisted upon for her, and she didn’t ever need to lift a finger, she just exudes control and power over people without even trying. I found this difficult as I recognise theatre to be quite over exaggerated, but I managed to channel what I could through the eyes. Amino (2018) continued to highlight that “She’s associated with the colour red symbolising that she rules the Heathers and Westerburg high, as red associates with power.”

Heather McNamara 

The second day of auditions consisted of a lot of useful workshops to see how your chemistry is with other people. I was asked to read in for Veronica, the Heathers and was asked to look over some of the hippie teacher’s, Ms Flemmings, song and lines. 

One of the characters I read in for a lot was Heather McNamara and I loved her character when I was researching and watching clips of Heathers, especially the musical. She is in with the Heathers, so can be a bully and nasty when she is required to be by Heather Chandler, and she has moments where she’s petty and makes little nasty comments but doesn’t seem to reach the same extent as the other two Heathers. Heather McNamara can even be nice to people sometimes when it isn’t overlooked by Chandler, and you see an unlikely friendship blossom between Veronica and McNamara later on in the show. Heather Duke is the one that is constantly used as Heather Chandler’s whipping post, whereas Heather McNamara is seemingly left alone by Heather Chandler, and I decided with my own take on the character that this is because Heather McNamara is too stupid to be a threat to Chandler, whereas Duke is. 

Heather McNamara’s character description described her as beautiful, the head cheerleader and also very stupid, and I really wanted to play on the ditzyness that she has. I noticed she wears yellow which is quite a neutral colour, neither on one side or the other, whereas Duke adorns green which symbolically stands for envy which we know further along the story she has for Chandler. 

One of the lines I read in for I decided to play differently when I first read the section of script to what I’d begun to see others do in the audition room when workshopping, which was a risk but I decided to stick to my decision. Her line is “and a symmetrical face. If I took a meat clever down the centre of her skull, I’d have matching halves that’s very important” and I decided to play this as if I was in a trance, widening my eyes and making my voice airy and in the clouds while remaining monotone with not a lot of inflection to really instil that she isn’t the brightest button in the box at all.This earned me some laughs from the panel which meant that it worked on the character and after a few more read throughs and workshops, my tutors told me they didn’t require me to read in for Ms Flemming and  I was given the role of Heather McNamara for our final show Heathers, which I am very excited about!