Musical Theatre / Heathers the Musical, Canberra Theatre until August 23. Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

The cult film favourite, Heathers, satirises 1980s high-school films.

Writers Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe and director Andy Fickman have softened the 1989 film’s plot for this musical adaptation, in which outsiders Veronica and JD kill their tormentors.

While the predominantly youthful audience gave the musical an enthusiastic reception on opening night, some found the uneasy blend of comedy and cruelty, disturbing viewing in a world where High School massacres, youth suicides and school bullying are becoming the new norm.

Heading the mainly young cast, Emma Caporaso, in her professional debut, performs with confidence. Her character, Veronica, having been unexpectedly welcomed into Westerberg High’s powerful trio of Heathers, falls for troubled newcomer JD, becoming implicated in deaths staged as suicides.

Caporaso makes Veronica’s shifting loyalties believable, moving from uneasy mean girl to thrilled insider, devoted girlfriend and, finally, a young woman strong enough to confront JD.

Conor Beaumont brings a restrained, unsettling presence to his characterisation of JD. Glimpses of the character’s pain emerge through his intense outbursts. Beaumont keeps JD dangerous without reducing him to a stock villain, bringing a convincing edge to his songs, Freeze Your Brain and Our Love is God.

Each Heather has her own distinct brand of polished cruelty. Calista Nelmes is cool and cutting as Heather Chandler, Amélia Rojas gives Heather Duke fierce ambition, and Abigail Sharp exposes the insecurity beneath Heather McNamara’s confidence.

Sweet voiced, Mel O’Brien balances sadness and humour as the rejected Martha, and while David Cuny and Nic Van Lits work well together as Ram and Kurt, winning their fair share of the laughs, their characters’ menace never feels entirely comic.

Among the older characters Zoe Gertz brings strong comic timing and impressive vocals to her rendition of Ms Fleming’s misguided anthem, Shine a Light, although it was Ellis Dolan who achieved the most enthusiastic response of the night with his song, My Dead Gay Son.

The enthusiastic ensemble works hard delivering Gary Lloyd’s slick retro music-video inspired choreography with admirable precision.

David Shield’s impressive two-level school set, teamed with the excellent lighting design of Ben Cracknell, allows the action to flow seamlessly, but it is his cropped jackets matched with red, green and yellow tartan skirts that give the three Heathers the production’s clearest visual identity.

This production of Heathers the Musical delivers copious laughs, songs that are enjoyable rather than memorable, and a deliberately unsettling exploration of teenage anxiety, reinvention and rebellion. But perhaps best to leave grandma at home for this one.

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