Book, Music & Lyrics: Kevin Murphy & Laurence O'Keefe. At: Kokandy Productions at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. Tickets: 773-975-8150; www.kokandyproductions.com; $38. Runs through: April 24
Kokandy Productions looks to have a hit with Heathers: The Musical. Many performances are already sold out for the Chicago premiere of the 2014 off-Broadway adaptation of the cult 1988 teenage film comedy that starred Winona Rider and Christian Slater.
Musical adaptors Kevin Murphy ( Reefer Madness ) and Laurence O'Keefe ( Bat Boy ) have sharply tapped into the dark high school satire of Heathers. For many a teenager growing up in the 1980s, Heathers must have been an extreme wish fulfillment fantasy where the cool-kid bullies get bumped off—though not without the moral repercussions and deadly violence that unfortunately feels timely today.
Murphy and O'Keefe's 1980s-styled pop-rock score dovetails nicely into the heightened emotions of the show's vicious teenagers and their ever-clueless teachers and parents—particularly in a tastelessly funny production number like "I Love my Dead Gay Son" or the touchingly reflective anthem "Seventeen."
Yet the whole enterprise can't entirely shake the whiff of being yet another unnecessary screen-to-stage adaptation—especially when Murphy and O'Keefe's work feels constrained to the plot mechanics of Daniel Waters' original Heathers screenplay.
Yet that probably won't matter to die-hard fans of the film who will delight to see their favorite bitchy and moody characters in the flesh. It also helps immensely that Heathers director James Beaudry has assembled such a vocally strong and comically adept ensemble that more than delivers the goods. They all also dance up a storm to Sawyer Smith's gyrating choreography in costume designer Bob Kuhn's comical 1980s fashions.
Courtney Mack stars as Veronica Sawyer, a complex senior whose forging skills with hall passes helps her to infiltrate the popular power clique known as "The Heathers" ( Jacquelyne Jones in red, Haley Jane Shafer in green and Rochelle Therrien in yellow ). Yet the Heathers turn on Veronica when she calls out their nasty bullying of their unfashionable classmate, Martha Dunstock ( Teressa LaGamba ).
Veronica finds love and solace with the trench coat-clad loner J.D. ( Chris Ballou ), who bravely fights off the jock bullies of Ram Sweeney ( Denzel Tsopnang ) and Kurt Kelly ( Garrett Lutz ). Yet J.D. isn't all he initially seems to be, much to Veronica's later guilt and horror as she's haunted by the ghosts of her former adversaries.
The camp quotient of Heathers: The Musical goes off the charts many times, particularly when Veronica Garza shows off her comic and belting skills as the emotional touchy-feely teacher Pauline Fleming. But as the other various adults, Diego Colon and Casey Hayes have a harder time of wringing out the comedy of their sketchy characters.
Heathers: The Musical unquestionably bursts with talent in its energetic Chicago premiere. And despite a few quibbles, it should be unapologetically campy catnip for the original film's legion of fans.
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