Heathers: The Musical.
Press night at Leeds Grand Theatre!
This week, I attended the Press Night performance of Heathers the Musical at Leeds Grand Theatre, and what an energetic, dark and completely chaotic evening of theatre it was. Thank you so much to Kelly and the team for the invite!
September 1st 2026... Dear Diary...
Westerberg High has arrived in Leeds, bringing killer friendships, teenage rebellion and a seriously addictive soundtrack with it.
Based on the cult 1988 film, Heathers takes us inside Westerberg High, where popularity is everything and Veronica Sawyer is desperate to escape life at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Her opportunity arrives when she attracts the attention of the school's most powerful clique: Heather Chandler, Heather Duke and Heather McNamara.
Suddenly Veronica is popular, protected and discovering that getting everything you thought you wanted isn't necessarily quite as wonderful as expected.
Then JD arrives.
Mysterious, rebellious and immediately intriguing to Veronica, he initially appears to offer an escape from the cruelty surrounding her. Unfortunately, his solution to Westerberg's problems proves considerably more murderous than Veronica anticipated.
I went into this one completely blind. I hadn't seen the film, knew nothing about the musical and didn't know any of the songs, so I genuinely had no idea what I was walking into. Even before the show started, though, I got my first indication of just how loved Heathers is. The queue for the merch stand was honestly the busiest I think I've ever seen at a theatre!
It didn't take long for me to understand the hype. The costumes were an easy 10/10, the soundtrack is ridiculously catchy and there was such a buzz around the theatre. By the end, I felt like I'd somehow had major FOMO for however many years Heathers has been around. How had I managed to know absolutely nothing about it?!
I really enjoyed how unapologetically dark Heathers is. It tackles bullying, suicide, sexual violence, popularity and teenage isolation while somehow combining those subjects with huge musical numbers and some genuinely ridiculous comedy. On paper, that combination shouldn't work nearly as well as it does.
Gerardine Sacdalan as Veronica Sawyer was my standout of the night. I recently saw Gerardine in & Juliet, where she was also a standout for me, so I was really excited to see her taking on such a different role. Veronica has so much to carry throughout the show, going from someone desperate to fit in to gradually realising just how badly things have spiralled out of control, and Gerardine was brilliant throughout. Her vocals were incredible, but I also loved the comedy and personality she brought to Veronica. She was easily my favourite character.
Then, of course, there are the Heathers themselves.
Liberty Stottor as Heather Chandler, Jessica Ibadin as Heather Duke and Lou Henry as Heather McNamara were basically Mean Girls on steroids. They completely ruled Westerberg High and had that perfect combination of being absolutely horrible while also being ridiculously entertaining to watch. Each Heather had her own personality rather than the three simply blending into one mean-girl clique, and together they were such a strong part of the show.
Liberty Stottor absolutely commanded the stage as Heather Chandler. She had exactly the sort of presence you'd expect from the girl at the top of the school hierarchy, while Jessica Ibadin brought a different energy to Heather Duke as the dynamics between the girls began to shift. Lou Henry's Heather McNamara gave us another side to the group entirely, particularly as we started to see what was going on underneath the perfect, popular exterior.
Louis Hearsey's JD was probably the character I changed my mind about the most. He arrives with all the mysterious new-boy appeal and you can immediately understand why Veronica is drawn to him, but it doesn't take long for the red flags to start multiplying. Louis managed that transition so well, taking JD from intriguing and rebellious to increasingly unsettling as his idea of fixing Westerberg became more and more extreme. His chemistry with Gerardine was also a huge part of making their relationship work.
The whole production feels BIG. The energy barely drops, the choreography is full-on and the costumes were easily a 10/10 for me. The Heathers' iconic colour-coded looks immediately tell you exactly who they are, even if, like me, you've somehow managed to avoid knowing anything about them until now.
And then there's the music. Going in without knowing a single song meant I had no idea which numbers everyone else was waiting for, but I very quickly understood why the soundtrack has such a following. There are some massive vocals in this cast and songs that get stuck in your head almost immediately.
What surprised me most was just how funny it all was. This is a show dealing with some incredibly dark subjects, yet there were moments when the entire theatre was laughing. It is outrageous, exaggerated and completely aware of what it is, which is a huge part of why it works.
I genuinely can't believe Heathers has somehow passed me by for this long. I arrived at Leeds Grand Theatre knowing practically nothing about it and left finally understanding why that merch queue was quite so ridiculous. Consider my Heathers FOMO officially activated.
Heathers the Musical is at Leeds Grand Theatre from the 1st of September to the 5th of September 2026. You can purchase tickets here.
