Insider
Theatre
Heathers!
Broadway, west end,
what's different?
In the past few decades
the production of musi-
cals have increased in
both
popularity
and
quantity. We have seen
re-runs of classics like
Willy
Russel’s
‘Blood
Brothers’ and the classic
‘Les
misérables’;
but
recently we have seen
the creation of newer,
more modern musicals
like ‘Dear Evan Hansen’
and of course ‘Heathers’
come into the spotlight.
The difference between
the two, other than the
locations of course, is
that the West end seems
to be more reserved
than Broadway when it
comes to the new era or
musicals, only accepting
‘Heathers’ after not only
being a Broadway hit,
but also by succeeding
by itself at ‘The Other
Palace’. Other than this
we can see a cultural dif-
ference with the west
end production adding in
new songs and adding
their own little twists on
the script to fit with the
London trends.
Heathers west end, end of song
“Beautiful”
The first, most notable
difference between the
two is the obvious addi-
tion of the song “Never
Shut Up Again”, given to
the
character
Heather
Duke as well as the origi-
nal song “Blue” being
changed to the new song
“You’re Welcome” this
along with a few script
changes has not taken
away from the plot; if an-
ything has made the story
more developed. Firstly
the new song belonging to
Duke gives her the reason
to take over the role of
‘head Heather’, making
both character and plot
more developed with a
sense of empowerment at
the end of the song. The
same can be said for the
adjustment
of
“Blue”.
“You’re Welcome” as its
been changed to, takes
absolutely nothing away
from the show and pre-
sents veronica with the
same development and
empowerment that Duke
is given with her interac-
tion with Ram and Kurt,
instead, she is seemly
more fearful for her situa-
tion rather than the an-
noyance shown in the
Broadway production; the
song therefore provides
an easier understanding
of why the two boys lie
about the encounter with
Veronica later, since she has
humiliated them, once again
developing
the
storyline
from the original. The style
of these new songs howev-
er, do fit in smoothly and
seamlessly with the musi-
cals
original,
consistent
style despite being written
for a different audience and
after the original Broadway
production; this is probably
down to the songs being
written by the original duo
Kevin murphy and Laurence
O’Keefe. The last addition is
a new song called “I say
no”, once again the song
follows the same style as
the original songs, but It al-
so provides more depth to
the character Veronica, it
basically portrays the epiph-
any veronica has about the
actions of her and JD that
was only briefly visited in
the Broadway. The additions
and changes made to the
west-end production seem
to be great improvements to
the original Broadway and
continue to do the cult
classic justice.
Poster for Heathers west end production
The College magazine online: sixthformmag.blogspot.co.uk