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Heathers musical script1/1/2023 There’s a handful of standout performances in the show, and lots of new faces in the theatre scene to look out for. Fifield looks – and definitely sings – the part, but much of her text was lost on me, all her lines delivered in the same cadence and rhythm. Tamara Fifield plays the queen of the Heathers, a foremother of Regina “Why Are You So Obsessed With Me?” George. It’s no easy task to step into the role of a beloved character from pop culture, and I don’t know how I’d fare walking the line between audience expectation and authentic character development. I did miss the hateful dryness of Winona’s Veronica, but I feel that has more to do with how the film was adapted, than performance. I left the show wondering “who is this dope artist and how long can we keep her in Halifax?” Having missed the more recent Shakespeare by the Sea seasons, this was my first experience seeing the heralded “Googs” onstage, and she was, as the Heathers would say, very. She is a fresh presence in Halifax’s theatre world and a much needed combination of earnestness and vocal prowess. Melissa MacGougan’s Veronica is a delightful departure from the infamous Winona Ryder performance. It’s clearly an ambitious feat for the company, and their production has plenty of brilliant moments. This hybrid leads to a somewhat uneven production: a mix of excellent performances and affected greenness, kick-ass musical direction and rock star voices with underdeveloped staging ideas that squish a large cast onto a tiny stage. Directed by Emily Jewer, the production merges brand new actors with upcoming professional artists, and uses the framework of community theatre. Halifax’s Whale Song Theatre has brought Heathers: the Musical (book and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy) to the Bus Stop Theatre this week. – the embodiment of toxic white masculinity. Eventually Veronica’s “teen angst bullshit” starts racking up “a body count” and she must choose between saving her classmates, or her dark and broody boyfriend J.D. Heathers follows teenage Veronica’s journey from misfit outcast, to high school royalty, to an unwilling albeit lovestruck revenge artist. This movie isn’t Clueless, it’s Clueless “fucked gently with a chainsaw.” Rather than glorifying the high-school underbelly, Heather blows the ugliness up, creating darkness and discomfort and earning itself an R rating. And it provided a satisfying yet chilling critique of teenage life. It was Jawbreaker - remember Jawbreaker? - with worse behaviour and better writing. It was my beloved Mean Girls, but meaner. I was 21, crammed in a tiny living room drinking cheap Dep wine from the bottle. The first time I saw 1988 cult classic Heathers, it was midnight in a pre-gentrified Saint Henri.
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