June 4, 2021 High School Musicals: An Analysis of Song Types and Functions in Heathers: The Musical Heathers: The Musical, an adaptation of the 1989 film of the same name, is a black comedy that pokes at issues of bullying, teen suicide, and sexual violence set in Westerburg High School. We follow the main character, Veronica Sawyer, on her journey to joining the popular squad in school — three girls all named Heather — while developing a romantic interest with “J.D.” Dean, a recently transferred rebel. In this paper, we will explore how Heathers: The Musical employs familiar song types of musical theater in its conveyance of a high school story. We will also draw parallels and comparisons from Mean Girls — another movie adaptation with similar plot lines — and Dear Evan Hansen — a show that deals with similar themes — in our discussions. Opening Number: “Beautiful” The opening number of a musical is known to set the theme of the show. Writer Holly Reed identifies three major approaches seen in successful broadway shows: “Welcome to Our World”, common in shows with historical or fantastical settings that are unfamiliar to the audience, “Meet the Characters”, where each character may be given a verse to introduce themselves, and “This is My Life”, where a character, often the lead, describes their life from an average person’s point of view1. Heathers’ opening number, “Beautiful”, can be seen as a combination of the “This Is My Life” and “Welcome to Our World” conventions. As an 8-minute piece, the number not only lets us in on the inner dialogues of Veronica, but also gives us a rapid rundown of the high school that she attends. The first part of the piece focuses on Veronica and her own perception of her world. The contrast between Veronica’s inner wishes and her surroundings — Westerburg High — is conveyed both through the lyrics and the arrangement. Lyrically, Veronica uses a collective first person when Reed, Holly. “Another Show, Another Opening Number!” MusicalWriters.com, 27 Jan. 2021, www.musicalwriters.com/writing-a-musical/another-show-another-opening-number/#easy-footnote-bottom-1-1394. 1 June 4, 2021 High School Musicals: An Analysis of Song Types and Functions in Heathers: The Musical speaking to some of the changing realities at her school. Lines like “We were so tiny…then we got bigger” and “If we changed back then / We can change again” conveys a collective sentiment in Veronica’s world. However, she suddenly switches to first-person singular with “But I know, I know / Life can be beautiful / I pray, I pray / For a better way”. This sudden change of pronouns draws our attention to Veronica and how she has specific hopes for her life. This lyrical shift is accompanied by the orchestra. When Veronica is talking about the collective “we”, the music follows a pop-rock rhythm with a steady drumbeat. However, when she switches to “I”, the beat suddenly halts along with most instruments. This relaxes the tension that was building and highlights how Veronica has wishes of pureness and peacefulness. The second part of “Beautiful” introduces us to Veronica’s classmates, which orients the audience in Westerburg High, a school filled with bullying, homophobia, and immaturity. As Reed points out, “Welcome To Our World” opening numbers tend to be used for exotic or fantastical settings that are unfamiliar to the audience. While high school is not necessarily a strange concept, surveying the world in the opening number makes sense as Veronica sings “This is no high school / This is the Thunderdome”. Through the opening, the audience realizes that Westerburg is not another regular high school and becomes drawn to how the story might unfold. When we are introduced to the popular trio of Heathers, the writers use a subtle form of pastiche to elicit a contrast between the Heathers and the regular students. The number follows a steady pop-rock style until we are introduced to the Heathers, when the tone of the piano becomes majestic and almost magical. The ensemble also starts to sing in gospel-like harmonies as they continue to chant “I love (hate/want/need) Heather, Heather, and Heather”. This not only magnifies the entrance of the trio, but also pervasively conveys their god-like status at the school as Veronica tells us how the Heathers “float above it all”. June 4, 2021 High School Musicals: An Analysis of Song Types and Functions in Heathers: The Musical A similar technique is used in Mean Girls when we first meet the popular trio from the show nicknamed “the Plastics”. The music changes styles as soon as “the Plastics” enter, slowing down into a rock & roll for Regina George’s verse, going into a Bossanova-feel double time for Gretchen Wieners, and becoming a soft-shoe comedic style for Karen Smith. Along with the lyrics, the audience immediately understands Regina as the ruthless dominator, Gretchen as a nervous follower, and Karen as a stereotypical “dumb blonde”. Using musical styles to elicit characteristics helps the audience differentiate among the three popular girls. Act I Finale: “Our Love is God” The final number in Act I usually comes in at a turning point in the show and aims to create a cliffhanger for the audience. “Our Love is God” functions exactly as so, presenting itself as J.D. secretly plans to kill both Kurt and Ram, two jocks who spread fake rumors about Veronica, and tries to convince Veronica that it’s the right thing to do. The number uses both lyrical and harmonic techniques to signal to the audience that the story in Act II will have a much darker and freakier undertone. Lyrically, the usage of war-related and religious vocabulary reveals J.D.’s twisted view of his world. Compared to the innocuous image created in “Freeze Your Brain” as he sings about drinking Slurpees from 7-eleven to forget about his problems, J.D.’s overly dramatic word use in “Our Love Is God” reveals his darker side. He alludes to creating a new world order by claiming “we’ll burn away that tear / and raise our city here” and “we’ll burn it down and then / we’ll build the world again”. In addition to continuously repeating the phrase “our love is God”, J.D. eventually compares the couple themselves to God. In the first chorus, he starts out with “They died because God said they must”, which becomes “They’ll die because we say they must” in the last chorus. The language use in this number introduces an unexpected twist in J.D.’s character and creates a sense of suspension as Act I comes to an end. June 4, 2021 High School Musicals: An Analysis of Song Types and Functions in Heathers: The Musical The arrangement also builds out much tension to supplement the effect created by the lyrics. The number begins with a major second on the piano that slides into a minor second interval, immediately signaling danger from the outset of the piece. We then move on to a somewhat standard verse-chorus format, during which we hear mostly consonance. However, following the first chorus, we hear a brief interludes that again introduces dissonance and reminds us that this is not a harmonious situation. The piano begins in with chords involving major sevenths, and then starts to leap in major seventh intervals. June 4, 2021 High School Musicals: An Analysis of Song Types and Functions in Heathers: The Musical As the number comes to a climax, J.D. and Veronica continues to sing “Our love is God” in rounds and begin to harmonize, signaling a superficial alignment between the two. However, this is completely debunked by the arrangement. As soon as the melody resolves to the tonic on the down beat, the D on the left hand immediately follows on the off beat, creating tritones with the G# on the right hand and highlighting the hypertension of the situation. June 4, 2021 High School Musicals: An Analysis of Song Types and Functions in Heathers: The Musical “Our Love Is God” uses contrasting messages between the lyrics and the orchestration to create a sense of suspension underneath the “big finish” to Act I. Interestingly, this contradiction between the lyrics and the arrangement is commonly used in what Viertel coins as the “conditional love songs”, where the lyrics continue to indicate there is no romantic interest whereas the melody lines harmonize perfectly to signal repressed attraction. “Our Love Is God” reverses the roles and instead conveys a sense of unresolved conflict beneath the apparent concordance. Comic Relief: “My Dead Gay Son” As the show progresses onto darker subjects about violence and teenage suicide, the writers place a comedic song in the middle of Act II to release some of the tension before moving onto another emotional number, “Seventeen”. We hear from the fathers of Kurt and Ram, whose children had just seemingly committed suicide for their forbidden love. “My Dead Gay Son” is humorous on two levels. First, the song uses simplistic comparisons like “The good Lord made gay penguins / And bonobo chimpanzees” and exaggerated imagery like “They’re up there disco dancing to the thump of angel wings” to showcase the fathers’ naive understanding of homosexuality and a superficial effort to show their empathy. Additionally, the context of the plot creates dramatic irony, as the audience knows two dead children did not truly die for their romantic interest in one another. We hear the two fathers praise their son’s greatness in dying for freedom while knowing the truth about how they were shot and killed. For shows with a heavier theme, it is common to insert a piece that lightens up the mood between intense numbers. Dear Evan Hansen, which deals with teenage suicide and mental illness, also uses a comedy song to release the tension around the death of a character. “Sincerely, Me” talks about Evan’s process of forging his email interactions with Connor Murphy, who had just committed suicide. Although the main characters involved in the forgery are Evan and his friend Jared, the song is largely sung by Connor. The two teens continue to put June 4, 2021 High School Musicals: An Analysis of Song Types and Functions in Heathers: The Musical words in his mouth as they try to come up with fake emails. As Connor sings “If I stop smoking drugs” or “I miss talking about life and other stuff” — phrases that are clearly out of place for a rebellious character like Connor — the audience enjoys a high-energy number filled with humor before moving on to a much more serious piece, “Requiem”. Conclusion Heathers: the Musical takes advantage of many familiar song types in order to tell a story set in a strange high school with plot twists that the audience may not expect. Through a strong establishing opening number, a dissonant Act I finale, and the strategic placement of a comedy number, the audience is constantly on the edge of their seats as the story of Veronica and J.D. unfolds. The combination of lyrical and orchestral techniques successfully accompanies the dramatic elements in the plot line to deliver compelling storytelling.
