Heathers the Musical, Based on the ‘80s Movie, Set for World Premiere in Los Angeles

Are we going to prom or to hell?! The long-in-the-works musical adaptation of Daniel Waters’ 1988 dark comedy film Heathers has set a world premiere run at Los Angeles’s Hudson Backstage Theatre. Written by Laurence O’Keefe (Legally Blonde) and Kevin Murphy (Reefer Madness), the show will play a limited engagement on the weekends from September 21 through October 6.

Andy Fickman (She’s The Man) will helm the high school-set musical, which tells the story of a rebellious girl named Veronica Sawyer and her clique of popular, wealthy girls—all of whom are named Heather. When Veronica meets and becomes fascinated by a sociopathic outsider named J.D., teenage social politics are turned upside down as accidental murder and revenge become intertwined with the tragic truths of high school popularity.

The cast of Heathers in Los Angeles will feature Barrett Wilbert Weed as Veronica, Ryan McCartan as J.D., Sarah Halford as Heather Chandler, Kristolyn Lloyd as Heather Duke and Elle McLemore as Heather McNamara. The ensemble includes Katie Ladner, Jon Eidson, Evan Todd, Rena Strober, Rex Smith, Zachary Ford, AJ Meijer, Zach Bandler, Cait Fairbanks, Charissa Hogeland, Trevor Shor and Rachel Flynn.

Heathers will be choreographed by Marguerite Derricks, with musical direction by Ryan Shore, set design by Francois-Pierre Couture, costumes by Genvieve Tyrrell, orchestrations by Ben Green, lighting by Jeremy Pivnick, sound by Jonathan Massena, video design by Kaitlyn Pietras and prop design by Michael Courville.

The cult favorite movie was released on March 31, 1989 and starred Winona Ryder as Veronica, Christian Slater as J.D. and Shannen Doherty as Heather Duke. The musical made its New York debut in 2010 at Joe’s Pub with a concert reading (also directed by Fickman), starring Jeremy Jordan and Annaleigh Ashford.

Below, watch a clip from the Joe’s Pub concert performance of “Dead Gay Son,” one of the pivotal moments from the movie (which also blessed the world with the cynical one-liners “What is your damage!?” and “Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?”).