Heathers: The Musical - TRH / The Other Palace / @sohoplace

We saw this last night.

Do you know what, I went in knowing next to nothing about Carrie Hope Fletcher beyond her infamy and the reputation of her fans, and while I was apprehensive about potential bad behaviour going in I have to say that this was one of the best-behaved audiences I’ve ever been a part of on the West End. No chatting, no phones, and while one moron yelled “go Chris” when the jocks first stripped I’ll take one idiot yelling a stupid thing and impeccable behaviour otherwise over the constant thrum of mumbling and sweet wrappers that I normally get.

Interestingly, Fletcher got no reaction to her introduction but the roof nearly came off when the Heathers themselves were introduced. The crowd generally was extremely boisterous and met the end of every song with thunderous applause.

Having never seen Fletcher in anything, I thought she was terrific. She’s a true star and no matter what is said about her persona offstage, I don’t normally give two hoots about what performers get up to out-of-hours and I have no doubt the stage is where she belongs.

This is the third show I’ve seen Jamie Muscato in and he somehow finds ways to impress me more and more every time, he’s got to be the most underrated and unappreciated leading man in the West End. His chemistry with Fletcher is up there with the most natural and convincing I’ve ever seen and he kept the entire audience in the palm of his hand throughout.

The rest of the cast, particularly the three Heathers, were also in very good nick and it’s clear they’re all having the time of their lives. I don’t think the material is the best and doesn’t give the ensemble much of a chance to shine but what they were given, they did very well.

Going back to the material… Eh, I thought it was okay. Certain bits are really great (love the relationship between JD and Veronica and the possibly inadvertent barb towards 13 Reasons Why), otherwise some scenes went on for way too long and I found myself feeling really bored, particularly during the guidance counsellor’s scene which felt like it went on forever. With a couple of exceptions (Brain Freeze and Dead Girl Walking), the songs all kind of blended together in one for me and I can’t recall any of them now. The crowd loved the Dead Gay Son song but to me it felt like a rehash of There Right There from Legally Blonde.

Overall I had a really great night, but I think this is one of those shows where the cast elevates the material beyond its worth. I’d certainly recommend it!

Red Heather doesn't just deserve entrance applause, she deserves a parade through the stalls to get to the stage, she's marvellous.

Green Heather on the other hand should just follow quietly behind until they adjust the score so that she can sing it. She's pretty funny at the acting bit though, I will give her that.

Red Heather is everything. She just is.

Watch her be nominated for a Supporting Actress Olivier come 2019.

Looks like it’s now a “thing” to throw colour matching scrunchies at your favourite Heather at the curtain call. 🙄.

Very young, loud but impeccably behaved audience tonight. A bit of “in joke” unnecessary laughter but not enough to be an issue.

God that set is ugly and basic for West End prices. No trouble to tour that. You could load it in a transit van. Cheap.

I thought all of the performances were good but the music is very forgettable. It was shouty in many places too, and they were pretty much all guilty of that apart from Martha Dunnstock.

Sorry I cannot let it pass that red heather is way too old to be playing 17. She was very good but seriously???

And Carrie. Dear dear Carrie. She certainly pulls focus doesn’t she. Undeniably talented and waaaaay better than the half assed performance I saw in Addams Family. It’s all head voice though, or back of throat voice to be more precise. She barely breathes and it sounds strained at times. She’s going to kill her throat if she carries on like that.

⭐️⭐️.5 glad I didn’t make a special trip for it.

Any idea who replaces him? He plays a lot of roles in the show

Brandon Lee Sears, who was a swing in Motown until last week. I believe Nathan Amzi will start doing his full track (adding Ram’s Dad to the roles he’s already playing) next week too.

Oh cool. Thanks

It’s a “Kenwright thing” apparently. The same was said when Evita had that short run at the Phoenix with a 7:45 start (although that makes more sense, being a shorter show). No idea why he actually does it, maybe just to be awkward.

I always presumed it was for either one of two reasons:

* Less latecomers as most will be conditioned to 7:30
* Option to buy last minute tickets to a slightly later start.

Well, the level of fan adoration for this one is really something else, isn't it. I was at the Saturday matinee, when the young fans were out in full force and I've never felt so old in a London theatre before. The Heathers got entrance applause, but so did Carrie on her second entrance (in the blue Heathers outfit), there was quite some whooping during "Dead Girl Walking" and when the boys took their kits off.

I was dealing with a cold and headache, so didn't enjoy the show and the atmosphere as much as I had hope, but that's entirely my (body's) fault and not the show's. I didn't know Carrie Hope Fletcher from her social media activities at all, but I thought she was fabulous and it was great to see a normal-sized girl in a leading part (especially in this show which draws so many young female fans). Most everyone else was great, too, though while I'm fine with twenty-something performers playing teenagers in general, I thought Jodie Steele - great as she was - was just a smidge -too- old to get away with it. Glad I got to see it after all thanks to the transfer and I can't fault a show that brings a new young audience into the theatre!

I am not one to normally discuss an actors personal life but Jodie’s age keeps coming up over and over again. I’ll admit that I don’t know too much about her but I assumed she was 27/28ish. What age is she actually to say it keeps being brought up. I thought Sophie Issacs (who is 30) is the eldest of the heathers.

Completely agree... an example: Clare Halse is in her mid 30's but is playing Peggy in 42nd Street who is 18-20. No one bats an eyelid. I actually think green Heather is the one who looks way too old but all three are believable through their performances.