Mar 12, 2009

Heathers: The Musical

Yeah, you heard me.



Ugh:
The influential 1988 teen dark comedy, which launched the careers of Winona Ryder, Christian Slater and scribe Dan Waters, is stagebound in a production being developed by Andy Fickman, director of "Race to Witch Mountain," who is making a return to his musical roots.

Fickman, who helmed the musical "Reefer Madness," is working with "Reefer" partner Kevin Murphy, who is writing the "Heathers" lyrics and the book, and composer Larry O'Keefe, who earned a Tony nomination for best score for the Broadway version of "Legally Blonde."

The trio has worked on the production under the radar for some time, even doing readings this week in Endeavor's screening room. The readings saw "Veronica Mars" star Kristen Bell playing the lead and Christian Campbell as J.D., with Jenna Leigh Green ("Wicked"), BrokeDown Cadillac lead singer Corri English and Christine Lakin (the CW's "Valentine") as the three Heathers.

[...]

The project has the blessing of [Heathers Writer Dan] Waters, who controls the underlying rights to the material. [Andy] Fickman said he sat down with Waters early on "to make sure we were on the same page" and that Waters has seen the readings.

"He understood that our goals were to be creatively attuned to his original work," said Fickman, who is repped by Endeavor and Evolution.

The film offered many over-top-moments as well as choice lines, something Fickman is eager to bring out musically.

" 'I love my dead gay son," Fickman quoted. "If you can get that into a song, then that is just perfect."