This past weekend, the WHS Theatre Department took the stage with Heathers: The Musical: Teen Edition. Complete with stunning costumes, show-stopping performances and an incredible set-design, the cast and crew of Heathers: The Musical did an excellent job with the performance as a whole.

Heathers: The Musical follows Veronica Sawyer, played by senior Rachel Klemm, through her battle with high school romance, cliques and drama. Veronica joins the popular clique of three girls, known as the Heathers, and she quickly realizes how awful they are. In the mix, she falls in love with the troubled new kid, JD, played by senior Skyler Lipkind, who leads Veronica to accidentally do some terrible things to the people around her. The show deals with heavy topics, such as suicide and bullying, which makes it important because it is raising awareness for real-world issues teenagers face.

The cast put on a great performance. Lipkind captured the role of the emotionally-troubled JD and his vocals were stunning. Klemm’s stage presence was incredible, and she was able to portray the whirlwind of emotions that Veronica goes through.

Right off the bat, the costume designs were incredible. The musical is set in the ‘80s and the costume crew showcased that well. Not only were the costumes accurate to the original show and the time period, but they were all different. Ensemble members wore bright-colored skirts and dresses with fun up-dos. All three of the Heathers’ costumes were almost identical to the ones seen in the original musical and JD wore a black trenchcoat as well. The show also included a few costume changes which added to how great it was.

Lighting played a role throughout the musical with the iconic yellow, green and red spotlights often illuminating the three Heathers. Not only that, but the lighting during scenes with gunshots or slow-motion moments were always in sync with the music and dancing going on around it, really adding to the professionalism displayed throughout the night.

Klemm said, “Our past couple performances have been successful because of everyone’s hard work that they put into it because we all just want to make the show amazing.” No aspect of the play could take away from the chemistry and talent shown by the cast. The singing was professional and the show was packed full of emotional and energetic performances like “Our Love is God,” “Candy Store,” “Meant to Be Yours” and “Beautiful.” The choreography that accompanied these numbers was entertaining, fun and concise with bits of slow-motion spread in to add humor.

Director Daniel Devlin reflected on the talent of the cast, saying, “[Heathers: The Musical is] exactly the type of show that we needed to do because we have so many talented people [in the department] and there are so many opportunities to show that to everyone.”

Devlin hopes the audience not only recognized the talent of the performers but the message they were trying to send throughout their performance of Heathers: The Musical.