REVIEW: Playhouse Stage Company Takes Head of the Class with Heathers
Photos by Shawn Morgan
“Disturbing content, but off the charts, thrilling talent.”
These are dark and disturbing times and it’s only fitting that our art should reflect the confused reactions we are having to wildly contradictory actions taken by our federal government. When up is down and right is wrong, Heathers: The Musical – a trip back to the “morning in America” ‘80s – is here to tantalize, captivate and horrify us in a smashing Playhouse Stage Company production at Cohoes Music Hall.
Heathers: The Musical is the 2014 Off-Broadway hit musical with music, lyrics and book by Kevin Murphy and Lawrence O’Keefe based on the influential cult classic, 1989 film written by Daniel Waters and starring Christian Slater and Winona Ryder.
The star power that drives director Chuck Kraus’s “can’t be bettered” production comes from the Capital Region’s own Playhouse Stage Academy where many of the cast of 18 have studied for years. This is a fantastic show for these kids to tackle, with eight big teenager roles and a really active ensemble. It is quite something to see children who shined in Honk tackle this hysterical, arsenic cookie of a show. We are so lucky to have Playhouse Stage Academy in the 518 theatre world.
Veronica Sawyer is the outcast in a prairie skirt at Westerberg High when she catches the eye of the three chic, color-coordinated, Reagan girls, the Heathers: three students, all named Heather, that everyone wants to be. Nora Miller, Ava Papaleo and Vandy Benson are sensational from their backlit, smoke filled entrance. They rule the high school and Music Hall with style, authority and perfect pitch. Each has a standout moment alone and they grab it with authority.
Molly Kirby is truly wonderful as Veronica. She is the confused teenager navigating her desires to fit in and stand for her beliefs simultaneously…like most of us every day, recently. She is our entree into this twisted, thorny tale where she wants the pop pleasures of belonging and it becomes more and more difficult for her to stand up for her individuality, like when she is challenged to punk her childhood friend Martha Dunnstock cruelly nicknamed Martha Dumptruck. Harper Silvestri as Martha pierces the heart with “Kindergarten Boyfriend.” The cast amazes again and again with their powerful voices!
Veronica meets JD (Keith Dubois) at the local 7-11 picking up corn nuts on the way to the football team’s kegger. They share a “meet cute” song about the joy of numbing pain while sucking a Slurpee called “Freeze Your Brain.” The ‘80s nostalgia is strong with this one.
Keith Dubois is dynamite as JD. His voice rocks the Hall and he has a dangerous sidewinder’s cool charm that barely masks a deep mournfulness which is very attractive to an audience. He builds on his success in Spring Awakening which ruled the Cohoes Music Hall in this slot last year. I’m looking forward to seeing what he does next.
Brandon Jones is the superb Music Director. The show sounds fantastic and there were many audience members singing “Seventeen” out on Remsen Street on the way home. Other stand-out earworms are “Candy Store” and “Dead Girl Walking.” Choreographer Ashley Simone Kirchner keeps the show moving with MTV angles and energy. Marc Christopher did great sets and David Heguy did lights which had a lot of really cool boxes and neon outlines that changed through the course of the show. The rolling stairs were a great idea but seemed unstable.
The costumes by Catherine Fitzgerald and Grace Fitzgerald are tremendous. Neon, lace, micro miniskirts and shoulder pads…it’s a fantastic looking flashback!
Nick Martiniano, fresh off his A Christmas Story: The Musical triumph, scores laughs in at least four separate roles (I might have lost count) and launches Act II with the comic anthem “Dead Gay Son.” PSC diva with too many indelible credits to count, Molly Rose McGrath, wafts in as the hippie, healing, hilarious Mrs. Fleming and raises all of our consciousnesses. Lance Douglas tickles us as JD’s topsy turvy, deconstruction father who inverts all his relationship monikers with his old man.
Heathers: The Musical can be a very disturbing time capsule as JD precedes, and seemingly inspires, the Trenchcoat Mafia and The Heathers would fit right in as Cabinet Secretaries today.
Disturbing content, but off the charts, thrilling talent. Playhouse Stage once again scores with their A+ production of Heathers: The Musical and takes head of the class for producing locally grown, extraordinary theatre!
Heathers: The Musical presented by Playhouse Stage at Cohoes Music Hall runs Thursday through Sundays until 3/9. Tickets: www.playhousestage.org
