Scona Alumni Theatre,
BYOV 25: Strathcona High School,
10450 72 Ave. (entrance on north side of high school, parking on the east side)
August 17 to 20, 22 to 26, 9 p.m.
95 minutes with no intermission. 

4 of 5 stars

This is one weird gem of a large-scale musical.

You have to hand it to artistic director/Scona drama teacher/Scona Alumni Theatre producer Linette Smith. 

She fears not controversy, has the resources to mount a large-scale musical – 17 performers and a six-person band, and has a reputation such that her best recent graduates from Strathcona High School in the song-and-dance department are only too happy to be part of the Alumni Theatre’s Fringe show.

Controversial?

HEATHERS is a spectacular musical and cult movie that failed to become a household name:  Maybe because, as the  note on the program cautions, the show set in an American high school circa 1989 contains “strobe lights, nudity, violence, profanity, sexuality, gun shots and loud noise.”

HEATHERS is a dark comedy, a suspense thriller, a musical psycho drama that’s worthy of mention in the same breath as Carrie, Twin Peaks, Mean Girls, Rocky Horror Show and so on.

The plot starts with a standard high school bullying scenario but quickly dives into the most interesting, weird and bizarre detours. By the show’s end you are thoroughly perplexed about who are the good kids and who are the bad kids.

The acting in this production is uniformly excellent, and all these young adults can sing to professional standards.    Every one of the lead characters – Emilie Rogers as Veronica, James Kwak as JD, Abbey Schwarts as Heather Chandler – are terrific musical actors, dynamic and charismatic.  The next rung of supporting actors are equally strong, and this show gives each one his or her star turn.

Yes, HEATHERS does contain everything within its cautionary note, and perhaps should be avoided by those who prefer soft entertainment to hard-hitting drama. 

But the nudity is nothing more than stripping down to underwear, the sexuality is tame simulation and all is necessary to advance the show.