The WHS Theatre Department is gearing up for an exciting production of Heathers: The Musical, and has kindly allowed the public into their behind-the-scenes preparation. To generate buzz for the upcoming show, they’ve taken to social media, launching a TikTok page under the username @whstheatredept. Their first video featured sophomore Kelsey Dix, who plays Heather Chandler, the leader of the Heather squad. The clip has already garnered almost one million views, with comments overflowing with compliments such as “she is so good — unbelievable” and “star quality.” The video also caught the attention of Ryan McCartan, who played JD in the original Heathers: The Musical on Broadway.
The popularity of the video was a complete shock to Dix. She said, “I didn’t know I was being filmed for that, I thought I was being filmed on Snapchat or a normal video. All of the comments were so sweet and it’s also really good publicity for the show so that’s a great thing.”
Heathers is a dark comedy that will run from March 14 through March 16. The show follows high school student, Veronica Sawyer, as she attempts to fit in at Westerberg High School. She joins the most popular and powerful clique, led by three girls all named Heather. Veronica falls for love interest JD and as Veronica begins to notice the toxic and manipulative behavior of the Heathers, Veronica and JD attempt to take down the Heathers’ reign over the school.
WHS has decided to put on a teenage version of the show since it features many dark and disturbing themes like bullying, violence and suicide. The show will be a slightly tempered-down version of the original, but the plot will remain largely unchanged.
With WHS’ Heathers gaining so much traction over social media, it seems that the show will be one to remember.