Heathers: The Musical - U.K. Tour (Again!)

and lots of familiar faces from recent ArtsEd and Mountview graduating classes!

Does it look like there are any swings?

Wow, you really do have a problem with that don’t you? I suspect that if it was your money paying to have spare cast members sat doing the ‘heat’ crossword across the country, you may feel differently? 😬🤷‍♂️

Because if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. The show might fly by the seat of its pants far too often, and the producers commitment to spending as little as possible in no way puts its customers first; but it is still open, is about to go out on its second tour and has a very happy fan base. I was under the impression that its more zealous fans actually enjoyed the roulette-like jeopardy of who they might see. Gives them something to bitch about on twitter…

I thought Jacob Fowler had a lovely voice in the Hope Mill Cinderella, so it’ll be nice to get a chance to see him in this. The only other name I recognise is Morgan Jackson, who I remember as one of the lads in Mamma Mia when I finally got around to seeing it.

I went over to Windsor last night to catch the tour and found it excellent. It will give the show a new lease of life.

It is odd to watch this with almost all new faces in the cast (other than Jacob Fowler and Billie Bowman returning to roles I've seen them in previously). This is a very strong cast all around, the strongest I would say since Ailsa left the London product (but I haven't seen the new cast who joined the London production this week yet). Jenna Innes is perfect as Veronica, full of charm and most important, she doesn't overact. She is also the first Veronica I've spotted who has managed to eat a whole stick of liquorice! Jacob Fowler has always been on the strongest JDs (possibly the strongest, it's a close call between him and Ben). He still sounds perfect and he's added a new dimension to his performance too.

Speaking of sound, the musicians were in the pit and the sound was the best I've ever heard it. There were parts of the score I'd never picked up on before.

The set is bigger than in The Other Palace and fits perfectly on the Windsor theatre stage. There's a lot more space for acting. The stage wasn't as full as it could have been though, as they were already down to three female and one male ensemble, with Liam Dean on in his cover role as the Dads/Principal Gowan. They've also reverted back to the original script in several places where it had changed at The Other Palace.

Great to see several recent graduates I recognised in the cast, including Verity Thompson, who was an excellent Julie Jordan when I saw her at Mountview, and was equally excellent here as Heather Chandler. I also have to point out Morgan Jackson excelling as Ram, who put everyone else on the stage to shame with his dance moves.

The Circle was closed so everyone was in the Stalls. It was a well behaved crowd but rather quiet and there were several times when I was the only person clapping for a few seconds after the songs had finished. The second half had a more enthusiastic audience and good applause at the end.

They picked a Steve in the front row, which is unusual (the opposite end of the front row to me).

All finished just after 22:00, but too fine to make the 22:05 train, so there are always a load of theatregoers who end up on the 22:25. This included many of the cast, who I presume are commuting in from homes around London. Anyway, do see this in Windsor if you get chance, as it's a perfect venue. This should tour well, but some other venues may be a little on the large size for this to work as well.

Saw this on Friday and was shocked at how poorly this had sold. To say it was half full would be optimistic when in reality it was probably more like a third full. The crowd did a great job of elevating the atmosphere though and somehow it played like a full house ! It's a shame - I didn't look at how it had sold for the rest of the tour but that isn't a good sign.

As per the previous poster Jenna Innes is fantastic in the role (I was dubious of seeing anyone after Ailsa Davidson) and it was great to see Jacob Fowler as JD - he makes everything look effortless whilst giving the role an authenticity for the reasons given above. Kingsley Morton is also excellent as Martha Dunstock.

My only gripe with the performance was the sound mix was absolute trash up in the circle in band A seats (we bought cheap seats and moved forward when it was obvious that we could else I would've probably complained) the ensemble and band were both drowning out the leads to the point that most of the time you couldn't make out 90% of the words and had I not listened to the soundtrack so much I wouldn't have had a clue. I don't think it helped having the band forward of the stage in the pit instead of on and above the stage and Jenna Innes had to fight really hard to get her vocals across in I say no (she managed it fine but she shouldn't have had to) - it was like the sound techs hadn't listened to the mix from anywhere else but their booth

Saw this twice this week in Dublin as I was over for some work. Jacob Fowler is UNBELIEVABLE. Genuinely worth going to see him alone. If you are a regular visitor to TOP or have only seen it once or twice, this touring cast is really, really good.

A couple of small observations for the regulars: 'Myriad, nice' still isn't getting the attention it deserves. I'm always the only one laughing at it. Oh well. There's a new emphasis on 'Sword fight in her mouth' which is excellent as it sometimes gets lost in the madness. 'Kindergarten Boyfriend' is paced differently, first half is quicker than usual to allow some extra time during the pause for the actress to really do some cool work. Crowd super silent for this both nights which was worth the pay off when it ended. Only a small change but a good one.

Crowds in Dublin were really good. Not sold out as the Bord Gais Theatre is bloody massive. Lots of younger people out for fun and a lovely atmosphere as a result.

It's coming to my home town of Malvern soon and I'm there every night!

After all this time travelling to see Heathers, it's finally come to my very doorstep. Going every night here in Malvern. Will be interesting to see the reactions as it's a very 'settled' crowd that come here. Looking around now there's a few young faces but nothing like at TOP or in Dublin earlier on the tour. Excited!

Dare I dream that dream? I'm Steveing as hard as I can here during the interval in hope.

I know the press release for the Heathers London run ending says Wimbledon is the final date of the tour but it’s actually Windsor isn’t it? Just checking I’m not going mad?

Tour stop at Wellingborough castle theatre has been cancelled. No mention of RAAP and everything else seems to be unaffected so I suspect poor sales. Thought it was a random venue, and the prices were high across the whole theatre.