Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Kokandy Productions - one of several fairly new Chicago musical companies that mine hot young talent - likely will have a solid hit this spring with its edgy, raucous and snarky production of "Heathers: The Musical," the 2010 adaptation of Michael Lehmann's 1988 movie about a group of high school mean girls in Ohio who are so tyrannical that their slacker antithesis decides they'd all be better off dead."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...The show's score has formidable drive, passion and variety. And the offstage band - led by keyboardist Charlotte Rivard-Hoster, with Kyle McCullough on guitar, Zach Lentino on bass and Isaac Stevenson on percussion - is a true powerhouse that ideally complements the clarion voices of the cast."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...while Heathers: The Musical will sometimes make you cringe, it will mostly (mostly) make you laugh. This is no small feat given the subject matter, and this Chicago production definitely earns the show some extra credit."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...At the end, when Veronica, now wearing Heather Duke’s talismanic red scrunchie, proclaims “There’s a new sheriff in town,” we suddenly realize that goodness mandates its own control freaks. Anyway these four years were supposed to be the end of childhood, not a crash course in the malevolence to come. Still, it’s hard to believe in an innocence we never saw. Westerberg rules!"
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Veronica and J.D.’s story is interesting enough to sustain a musical (and Beaudry keeps it easy to follow), but what makes this adaptation of Heathers work so well is the viciously clever humor, and the peppy songs used to deliver it. The Heathers, looking great in Robert Kuhn’s costumes, brilliantly deliver the 80s synthetic pop “Candy Store,” while the impossibly stupid jocks croon the hilariously filthy “Blue.”"
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...Jacquelyn Jones is a powerful Heather Chandler, the ring leader who lets nothing slip. She is terrifying even as a ghost. Hayley Jane Shafer is a Heather Duke you love to hate, and Rochelle Therrien finishes off the unholy Trinity with a purposeful Heather McNamara."
Around The Town Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...As I drove home through the snow amid the detour for the tearing up of the famous overpass on Western Avenue (from Roscoe to south of Belmont), I thought about what the book or story by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe (they also wrote the lyrics and music) really taught us. I felt “nothing”. I did not like most of the characters. I felt sorry for many others and the story itself was not one that I felt comfortable with. The talent was solid, though."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...While the musical may not speak to everyone, there’s much to admire and recommend in this production. There are stellar performances, dazzling choreography and terrific singing. The acting is appropriately broad and stylish, taking the darkness of the film one step further. The musical numbers \extend the dialogue, define the characters and help drive home the themes of bullying and intolerance. And, under James Beaudry’s skillful direction, this is a show that, like Veronica, blossoms into a musical that may “Freeze Your Brain.” However, with Veronica as the “New Sheriff in Town” this play do much to “Shine a Light” on many of the problems in today’s world."
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...HEATHERS: THE MUSICAL is a hysterical look at high school persecution. Kokandy kills it! The laughs come easy! Not only is it an over-the-top lampoon, it gets funnier the further I get away from my own high school days."
Chicago Theater Beat - Somewhat Recommended
"...In all, Kokandy falls way short of passing with Heathers. Even given the flawed material, this is a show that could be both deliciously campy as well as a Lady Bic-razor-burn scathing commentary on the horrific tyrannies of high school. But it’s as if the director himself had Drano for breakfast or something. Like “fetch” (to quote another teenage classic), it’s just not happening."
Chicagoland Musical Theatre - Highly Recommended
"...There is nothing to keep living Chicagoland musical theatre patrons from experiencing this brilliant production. And experience it they should."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Mack’s Veronica is scrappy and smart, a survivor of the school jungle. Jacquelyne Jones as Heather Chandler is vicious, twitching like a flesh-faced mannequin. The whole cast treats these characters with sensitivity. They never minimize the pain that they’re suffering despite how petty it may seem, even when adults say it’s not so bad."
