In his program note for the show, Trevor Ashley wrote about why he chose HEATHERS THE MUSICAL as his first musical to direct:-

“This catchy, witty and fabulous score  had more hit songs to it than almost anything to come out of Broadway over the past ten years. It was sassy, energetic and just a little bit wrong. Everything I love.”

Ashley is  spot on. Very sassy, super energetic and more than just a little wrong/left field sums up the kind of experience that you will have if you head to the Hayes.

The musical, an off-Broadway hit put together by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe, has been adapted  from the 1998 film written by Daniel Waters and starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater.

HEATHERS takes us into the  competitive, highly charged and very hormonal  world of senior high school students at Westerberg High. The spotlight is on misfit Veronica Sawyer, played by Jaz Flowers, who tries to mix it with the cliquey trio of Heather girls with Lucy Maunder playing the Queen Bee, Heather Chandler, but in the end gives up on them and falls for DJ, played by Steven Madsen, the dangerously sexy new kid in  the school, courting even more conflict.

Ashley shines in his debut gig as director. He has a strong creative team to flesh out his vision for the play with Emma Vine designing the set, Gavan Swift coming up with a great lighting design, and Angela White some very flashy costumes. Cameron  Mitchell’s fast paced, bold choreography works well as does Bev Kennedy’s musical direction.

Ashley wins good performances from his cast with Jaz Flowers, Lucy Maunder and  Steven Madsen in the leads well supported by a fine ensemble cast.

Recommended, HEATHERS THE MUSICAL plays at the Hayes theatre, 19 Greenknowe Avenue, Potts Point until Sunday 9th August. Times: Evenings: Tues & Wed 7pm | Thursday – Saturday 7.30pm. Matinees: Saturday 2pm & Sunday 6.30pm Tickets: $55.00 Bookings: hayestheatre.com.au | (02) 8065 7337 or Ticketmaster.