Heathers the Musical, known colloquially as Heathers, is a musical by Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy, based on the 1988 film of the same name written by Daniel Waters. After a sold-out Los Angeles try-out, the show moved Off-Broadway in 2014, with US producers including J. Todd Harris, Amy Powers, RJ Hendricks, and Andy Cohen.
In the United Kingdom, a workshop of the musical at The Other Palace, London, held 5 sold-out presentations in the Studio from May 30 to June 3, 2017. The workshop featured Charlotte Wakefield as Veronica Sawyer and Jamie Muscato as J.D.
The show had its official London premiere in the Theatre at The Other Palace from June 9 to August 4, 2018, starring Carrie Hope Fletcher as Veronica Sawyer and Jamie Muscato as J.D. Produced by Bill Kenwright and Paul Taylor-Mills, directed again by Andy Fickman and with choreographer/associate director Gary Lloyd, the London production transferred to the West End at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, running from September 3, 2018, to November 24, 2018. A new song for Veronica, "I Say No", as well as a few script changes to Act 2 were added for the transfer. A West End cast recording was released on Ghostlight Records on March 1. The album debuted at No. 24 on the Official Albums Chart. The production won the 2019 WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Musical. Carrie Hope Fletcher also won for Best Actress in a Musical.
The musical returned to the West End with performances beginning on June 21, 2021, and ran at the Theatre Royal Haymarket until September 11, 2021. Heathers the Musical re-opened for a record-breaking season at The Other Palace in November 2021 after Bill Kenwright Ltd acquired the venue, where it ran until September 2023. The production toured across the UK and Ireland in 2021, 2023, and 2024 and returned to the West End in 2024 for a strictly limited season. BK Studios (the film and television company of Bill Kenwright Ltd) and Roku released the pro-shoot stage capture of the show, shot at The Other Palace in 2022, on their streaming service in the US in 2022, and it was released under Village Roadshow Pictures and Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment in the UK in 2023.
The musical returned to New York City at New World Stages in 2025. Originally a limited run scheduled to close September 28, the production has been extended four times, with a closing date of October 11, 2026.
The show is a high-energy black comedy and involves dark subject matter, including murder, bullying, teen suicide, sexual assault, and school violence.
Synopsis
Act One In 1989, seventeen-year-old Veronica Sawyer despairs at Westerberg High School's hellish social hierarchy, where students like the heavyset Martha Dunnstock, Veronica's best friend, are tormented by jocks Ram Sweeney and Kurt Kelly, and the school is ruled by a clique called "the Heathers"; weak-willed cheerleader Heather McNamara, bulimic and petty Heather Duke, and "mythic bitch" Heather Chandler. When Veronica's talent for forgery gets the Heathers out of detention, they give her a makeover and elevate her to their inner circle ("Beautiful").
Three weeks later, Chandler orders Veronica to forge a love letter from Ram to Martha, threatening to return her to being a nobody when she hesitates ("Candy Store"). The mysterious, poetry-quoting new kid, Jason "J.D." Dean, criticizes Veronica for betraying her friend. After J.D. wins a fight against Ram and Kurt, Veronica finds herself unexpectedly attracted to him ("Fight for Me"). Veronica's parents express their disapproval over her friendship with the Heathers, but Veronica insists on staying with them so she can survive high school ("Candy Store (Reprise)").
Veronica flirts with J.D. at a 7-Eleven, leading J.D. to open up about his struggles and explain how he intentionally gives himself brain freezes to numb his grief ("Freeze Your Brain"). At Ram's homecoming party, Veronica gets increasingly drunk ("Big Fun"). When the Heathers cruelly prank Martha, Veronica angrily resigns from the group and vomits on Chandler's shoes. Chandler then vows to destroy her reputation. With nothing left to live for, Veronica breaks into J.D.'s bedroom and has sex with him ("Dead Girl Walking").
After being tormented by Chandler in a nightmare, Veronica, with J.D. in tow, heads to her house to apologize. While mixing a hangover cure for her, J.D. adds toxic drain cleaner to a mug and tries to convince Veronica to serve it to Chandler instead. Veronica refuses, but accidentally grabs J.D.'s mug anyway, with him noticing this and only wishing Veronica "good luck." Chandler refuses to accept Veronica's apology and drinks the drain cleaner, only to drop dead. Veronica panics, but J.D. convinces her to forge a suicide note, which paints Chandler as more complex and misunderstood. This fictionalized version of her wins everyone's sympathy and she becomes even more revered in death than she was in life ("The Me Inside of Me").
McNamara summons Veronica to a cow pasture, where she and Duke are stranded with a drunk Kurt and Ram. Upon Veronica's arrival, Duke reveals Kurt and Ram would only leave them alone if they brought Veronica, and the Heathers abandon her. Kurt and Ram unsuccessfully try to rape Veronica, though she manages to embarrass them and escape ("You’re Welcome"). The next day, Chandler's ghost appears to Veronica, warning she kept Kurt, Ram, and the other Heathers in check, and that with her gone, things would only get worse. Duke assumes Chandler's status and symbolic red scrunchie, becoming even more of a tyrant than Chandler was, while Ram and Kurt tell everyone they had a threesome with Veronica ("Never Shut Up Again"). Veronica is branded as a slut, and when J.D. attacks the jocks to defend her, they savagely beat him.
J.D. and Veronica comfort each other and plan a vengeful prank: she will lure the jocks to the cemetery with the promise of a real threesome, then together they will shoot them with ich lüge (German for I lie) tranquilizer bullets to knock them out. Then Veronica and J.D. will leave another forged suicide note confessing Ram and Kurt were gay lovers and humiliate them in front of the school. When they arrive, J.D. shoots Ram but Veronica misses Kurt. As Veronica realizes that Ram is dead and the bullets are actually real, J.D. shoots Kurt dead and proclaims his undying love to a horrified Veronica ("Our Love Is God").
Act Two At Ram and Kurt's double funeral, a distraught Veronica reflects that they could have outgrown their immaturity ("Prom or Hell?"). Grief-stricken, Ram's Dad chastises Kurt's Dad for remaining homophobic, until the latter suddenly kisses the former, revealing their own secret love affair. Ram and Kurt are turned into martyrs to homophobia ("My Dead Gay Son"). Convinced that the murders are for the greater good, J.D. urges Veronica to target Duke next. When she refuses, he complains about doing nothing in the face of injustice. J.D. reveals he witnessed his mother's own suicide as a young boy, straining his relationship with his father and causing their constant moving around. Veronica gives him an ultimatum: give up violence and live a normal life with her or lose her forever ("Seventeen"). J.D. agrees and they reconcile. Martha tells Veronica she suspects J.D. of murdering the jocks, believing Ram's "love note" to her is proof. Veronica, urged by Chandler's ghost, confesses that she was actually the one who wrote it. Martha is heartbroken and runs off in tears.
Ms. Fleming, one of the teachers, holds a televised therapy assembly, where she publicly breaks up with Steve, cutting off their affair ("Shine a Light"). She urges everyone to reveal their fears and insecurities, but only McNamara comes forward; admitting to experiencing grief and suicidal thoughts after losing Kurt and Chandler ("Lifeboat"). Duke mocks her and whips the students into a frenzy, and McNamara runs off crying. Veronica lashes out and blurts out a confession to the murders, but everyone believes she is only desperate for attention. Shortly after, McNamara tries to kill herself by overdosing in the bathroom, while Duke taunts her in her subconscious ("Shine a Light (Reprise)"), but Veronica stops her. J.D., carrying a gun, tries to persuade Veronica to kill Duke once more. Realizing how unstable he is, Veronica breaks up with him ("I Say No").
Furious, J.D. blackmails Duke into making the student body sign a petition to support a school holiday to honor the "suicide victims". Martha, mourning Ram, tries to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge ("Kindergarten Boyfriend"), but survives. Distraught, Veronica rushes home, only to find that J.D. has told her parents she is suicidal. She hides herself in her room as she is taunted by the ghosts of Kurt, Ram, and Chandler, while J.D. breaks in through the window ("Yo Girl"). Veronica barricades herself in her closet as J.D. reveals the petition was actually a mass suicide note, and explains his plans to stage the pep rally as such—using his demolition expertise. He breaks open the closet to find Veronica dangling from a noose. Grief-stricken, J.D flees to the school to enact his plan ("Meant to Be Yours").
Veronica, having faked her death, races to stop him. While the school pep rally is going on, Veronica confronts J.D in the boiler room, but in their struggle, he is shot ("Dead Girl Walking (Reprise)"). Unable to disarm the detonator, Veronica carries it to the empty football field to detonate the bombs out of range of the school. J.D. convinces her to let him take the detonator instead; it explodes, killing him ("I Am Damaged").
Returning to school, Veronica takes Chandler's scrunchie away from Duke, ending the era of social ridicule. Veronica then invites Martha and McNamara to hang out, rent a movie, and "be kids" before childhood is over ("Seventeen (Reprise)").
Musical numbers
Act I "Beautiful" – Veronica, H. Chandler, H. McNamara, H. Duke, Kurt, Ram, Martha, Ms. Fleming and Company "Candy Store" – H. Chandler, H. McNamara and H. Duke "Fight for Me" – Veronica and Students "Candy Store (Reprise)" † – H. Chandler, H. McNamara and H. Duke "Freeze Your Brain" – J.D. "Big Fun" – Ram, Kurt, Veronica, H. Chandler, H. McNamara, H. Duke, Martha, and Students "Dead Girl Walking" – Veronica and J.D. "Veronica's Chandler Nightmare" † – H. Chandler and Company "The Me Inside of Me" – H. Chandler, Veronica, J.D., Ms. Fleming, Principal, Coach, Cops and Company "You're Welcome" †† – Ram, Kurt, Veronica "Never Shut Up Again" †† – H. Duke, Ram, Kurt and Ensemble "Our Love Is God" – J.D., Veronica, Ram, Kurt and Company
Act II "Prom or Hell?" † – Veronica "My Dead Gay Son" – Ram's Dad, Kurt's Dad and Mourners "Seventeen" – Veronica and J.D. "Shine a Light" – Ms. Fleming and Students "Lifeboat" – H. McNamara "Shine a Light (Reprise)" – H. Duke, H. McNamara, and Students "I Say No" †† – Veronica and Ensemble "Hey Yo, Westerberg" † – H. McNamara and Students "Kindergarten Boyfriend" – Martha "Yo Girl" – H. Duke, H. Chandler, Ram, Kurt, Veronica, Veronica’s Dad, and Veronica's Mom "Meant to Be Yours" – J.D. and Students "Dead Girl Walking (Reprise)" – Veronica, J.D., Ms. Fleming, H. McNamara, and Students "I Am Damaged" – J.D. and Veronica "Seventeen (Reprise)" – Veronica, Martha, H. McNamara, H. Duke and Company
† Not featured on any of the cast recordings. †† Songs added to the West End version and all future productions.