Heathers: The Musical falls into a long line of movies-turned-musicals that have taken over the Great White Way. While it never made its official Broadway debut, that hasn’t stopped fans from celebrating the musical that reminds us that high school is hell. We follow as Veronica Sawyer gets in with the popular group of girls, all named Heather, but when Veronica joins up with a boy named JD, things turn dire for everyone involved.
Director Andy Fickman has been with the show a very long time and clearly loves the product. It isn’t hard to see why, given how much fans have taken to the story. Based on the movie from 1989, the musical hits on similar themes, with songs that capture the musical fan in us all. I’d know; I often drive around singing “Dead Girl Walking” in my free time.
In preparation for the release of the filmed staged version of Heathers: The Musical, I spoke with director Andy Fickman about bringing the musical to life for fans, and he shared a lot of excitement about the project—including making sure we all got the best seat in the house.
“I think, because a lot of what I do in my day job because I’m a film and tv director, so I was able to use a lot of different sides of my brain. Having watched Heathers come together since, we started in 2005 putting it together, so by the time we got to LA, New York, and then London, we’ve had so many variations,” Fickman said. “But I think the approach was ‘How do I make Rachel (me) have the best seat in the house?'”
What was so fun about our conversation was that Fickman talked about the musical and the reception to it a lot, mainly in that the cast has seen the TikToks that go around celebrating the songs from the show. A popular one online is JD’s song “Meant To Be Yours” where fans act out the lines “Veronica, open the open the door please” and it was nice to know that Fickman and company appreciate the love for the musical.
You can see our whole conversation here:
Stream Heathers: The Musical on The Roku Channel now!
(image: The Roku Channel)
