Few High School Musicals guarantee as much dark and twisted fun as Heathers: The Musical, a terrific talent showcase for the Musical Theater BFA majors who’ve made Cal State Fullerton their pre-professional training grounds.

Triple-threat junior Amanda Neiman stars as seventeen-year-old Veronica Sawyer, whose talent for forgery (report cards, permission slips, absence notes) scores her a place at the most coveted lunch table at Westerburg High, the one occupied by Heathers Chandler (Lauren Louis), McNamara (Beth Roy), and Duke (Carly McLaurin), even if this means abandoning her childhood bestie, the cruelly-if-aptly nicknamed Martha Dumptruck (Yadira Del Rincon).

Only trenchcoat-sporting Westerburg newbie Jason Dean (graduating senior Anthony Vacio) sees through the bullying and the bullshit, and before long J.D. has Veronica not just sharing Slurpees and sex (her first taste of both) but serving hungover Queen Bee Heather Chandler a Draino-laced hair-of-the-dog that sends her straight to hell.

Let the killing spree begin.

Moviegoers (and Netflix subscribers) will recognize Heathers’ trio of identically-monikered mean-girl protagonists, their initially devoted protégée Veronica, and incendiary antihero J.D. from screenwriter Daniel Walters’ 1988 darkly comedic cult classic, though unlike the movie’s nonstop nihilism, Heathers: The Musical (book, music, and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy) opts for a campier tone, songs like the epic show-opening “Beautiful,” the girl-groupy “Candy Store,” and the bawdy, ballsy “Blue” proving as catchy and clever as 21-century show tunes get, if more than a bit (too) reminiscent of the score O’Keefe co-wrote for the Broadway hit Legally Blonde.

There aren’t many musicals out there with more age-appropriate parts for college-age kids than Heathers, expertly directed by Professor James R. Tauli, who successfully navigates the juxtaposition of second-act gravity in Heather McNamara’s anguished “Lifeboat” (“I float on a boat in a raging black ocean”) with the homolicious “My Dead Gay Son” (“I know God has a reason for each mountain and each flower, and why he chose to let our boys get busy in the shower.”)

In addition to Heathers’ teen-movie humor and occasional camp, the problems its archetypal characters face as they navigate rough high school seas give it a depth you might not initially expect from a musical that features Football Jocks Ram Sweeney (Dillon Klena) and Kurt Kelly (Marlon Magtibay) alongside a Blow-Dried Preppy (Matthew Ollson), Clean-Cut Cheer Dude (Jeff Garrido), Bitter Geek (Riley Mahorter), Hipster Dork (Steven Ruvalcaba), Stoner Chick (Jessica Pierini), Young Republicanette (Megan McCarthy), New Wave Babe (Brianna Clark), Drama Club Boy (Kaden Narey), Goth Girl (Gabrielle Adner), and Vintage Funky Girl (Abigail Heilman).

Neiman rocks the bobby socks off Veronica, revealing dramatic chops to match her Broadway-caliber vocals, and Vacio does revelatory work as the dark, dangerous, and damaged J.D.

It’s hard to imagine a more sizzling trio of antagonists than Louis’s ice queen Heather, Roy’s still-waters-run-deep Heather, and McLaurin’s dumb redhead Heather, Del Rincon makes for a heartbreakingly bullied Martha, and Roy and Del Rincon sing the living daylights out of (respectively) “Lifeboat” and “Kindergarten Boyfriend.”

Klena and Magtibay are hunky doofus hoots as Ram and Kurt and Sarah Bloom is a dippy, power-piped delight as “Shine A Light” Ms. Fleming.

Big-voiced Jack O’Leary earns some of the evening’s loudest laughs and cheers for Ram’s Dad’s celebration of “My Dead Gay Son” opposite a terrific Gabriel Manley (Kurt’s Dad), the twosome making for the manliest of fishing buddies, with Bloom, Garrido, Manley, O’Leary, and Ollson doing double and triple duty in assorted cameos as well.

Choreographer Courtney Ozovek’s high-energy dance moves and David Jayden Anthony’s adept musical direction give Heathers’ multitalented cast abundant opportunities to strut their song-and-dance stuff on the Young Theatre’s thrust stage.

Scenic designer Todd Faux’s nifty movable set pieces take us swifty from football field to gym to bedroom to backyard (aided by Colby Nordberg’s flashy projections), Sierra Sky Roberts-Lopez has designed a bevy of nostalgic, big-shouldered, character-defining ‘80s costumes complemented by Nicolette Woodard’s groovy makeup and hair designs, and Clayton Fournival lights it all with explosive flash.

Sound designers Paisha Bleich and Adam Sack ensure that every sung and spoken word gets heard crystal-clear above Jennifer Schniepp’s accompaniment, and Michael Polak choreographs some rip-roaring high school fights along the way.

Jacob Cropper and Gloria Perez are assistant directors. Aaron Cruz is associate musical director.

Russell Mackensen and Bill Meyer are technical directors. Denise Kha is stage manager and Cassy O’Brien, Kaylee Mesa, and Madison Walsh are assistant stage managers.

Only a handful of musicals give college-age students the chance to act their age. Grease is one. The 2015 CSUF hit Carrie: The Musical is another. Completing the trifecta is Heathers: The Musical, a killer showcase for some of the most talented kids in town.

Young Theatre, California State University Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton.
http://www.fullerton.edu/arts/theatre/events/td_productions.php

–Steven Stanley
April 20, 2019
Photos: Jordan Kubat Photography

Tags: Cal State Fullerton, Kevin Murphy, Laurence O'Keefe, Orange County Theater Review