Readers and Thespians alike

For those of you who have been following my blog, welcome back! For newcomers, welcome to Words Of Worlds! In my last post I said that this week's topic was going to be a surprise, so without further ado the surprise topic is...Reading and Performing.

I know what you are probably thinking, “wait a minute, that’s more than one topic.” I know. I originally planned to do something entirely different, however these topics have been playing on my mind a lot recently so have I decided to address them both in one post. Let’s begin by discussing Reading first. Before we begin... NO SPOILER ALERT THIS WEEK! But DEEP CONVERSATION ALERT! 

I recently had the opportunity to go to a university open day and whilst I was there, I had the chance to listen to a talk about English literature with creative writing. The professor asked the very same question that I was asked over summer, “Why do you/we read?”. To some people there may be a very straight forward answer but I have to be honest. To me it isn’t black and white, it’s incredibly grey. I have so many answers to this question.

My initial response was “I don’t know although I should, why have I been asked such a complex question?”. If you couldn’t already tell, I couldn’t use this to answer a homework question. I had to explore it more, so I decided to let the question sit in my mind for a couple of days. It was during those days that I read more books than I had during most of the summer holidays, which inspired me to come up with my second response: to kill time.

At this point in the holidays, I was staying with relatives who live on a 50 acre estate. This means two things. 1. You can’t walk into town and 2. The WiFi is extremely temperamental. Sure, you could argue that I could be spending my time in the woods or gardening in the walled garden (I’m aware of how pompous it sounds). I am nowhere near as outdoorsy or adventurous as I used to be. My idea of bliss is sitting with a dog, reading a book, which is exactly what I did. I spent hours sitting in the conservatory, reading with my relative’s Doberman, Hugo. I managed to get through a total of 6 books: “Toffee” by Sarah Crossan (one of my favourite authors), “The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, “Alexander Hamilton Revolutionary” by  Martha Brockenbrough, “Letters to the lost” by Brigid Kemmerer, “The miseducation of Cameron Post” by Emily M. Davenforth and “Birthday” by Meredith Russo. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed myself immensely, but it was a mistake to read so many books in such a short space of time. My brain turned to metaphorical mush because it couldn’t process such a plethora of books in an instant. As a result, I had to take a break from reading. 

It was at this point that I fell down the rabbit hole by asking myself why I read the books I did. The practical answer is that I can’t borrow books from the library because I always end up with a lot of expensive library fines. Subsequently I had to scour my 3 bookcases and select the only books on the shelves that I hadn’t already read. The meaningful answer is that I read what I felt like, which drew me to my third response to the initial question: I read to feel different. 

This conclusion still wasn’t the right one for me as I knew that it didn’t apply to every situation. After spending some more time thinking, I was able to write my final answer to the homework and respond to the professor: “I read to escape”. 

Now we have reached the point where we can transition from talking about reading to discussing performing. You could ask me “why do you perform?”. I would give you the same response: “I perform to escape”. By changing the verb in the question, we have changed the meaning entirely and (in theory) your reaction. When “reading” was the subject, I had to thoroughly explore the question because the answer wasn’t straightforward, However, to you it may have looked very straightforward. Now that “performing” is the subject, to me the answer is very straightforward, but to you it may be very complex. 

A new question arises, “How do you escape when you are in front of an audience?”. My answer to this is by escaping into your character. The way I see it, if you come onstage as yourself, you aren’t acting. This is why it’s essential for an actor/actress to lose their inhibitions. 

I first experienced true escapism onstage when I played “Cousin Curdle” in a local production of “The Addams Family Musical”. The company and I had been rehearsing for a month but the majority of us still felt self conscious and weird. I think you would too, if you and a group of mostly strangers were trying to portray dead ancestors. Our director had to keep reminding us to relax. I came to realise that relaxing wasn’t the only thing required, we had to stop being afraid of looking stupid and commit to our characters. Our director had only given us character names and had decided to let us create our characters. It took about three months of meticulous work but I was eventually able to turn "Cousin Curdle" into a mad scientist, with a hunchback and a raspy voice. Opening night eventually arrived and I was a nervous wreck before I stepped into costume. Once I looked like my character and completed vocal and physical warm ups, I was lost in her. For 4 hours a day, for 4 days straight, I was able to escape from everything that wasn't related to the show. It was the best feeling. 

You are probably wondering "Why do you want to escape?", either that or you're thinking about social media or food. The short answer is life is complicated and confusing so it's a good way of coping with it. The long answer is in itself, complicated and confusing so I'm going to give you a general answer and leave you to fill in the blanks.

I don't watch the news because it's mostly really negative and in the UK, incredibly heated. This means I currently live in a bubble because I only know about what people tell me, even then people don't talk about politics with me because I find it too confusing. Another reason why I refuse to talk politics is that the conversation always becomes incredibly heated. My refusal to watch the news and discuss politics is a form of escapism because I don't want to hear the negative side of current affairs. I understand that bad, immoral and scary things happen in the world, but forgive me if I don't want to be confronted by it. I am happy in my bubble.

That being said, I am a bit of a hypocrite as I absolutely love history and will happily have historical debates with people. For those of you who can't see the link between history and the news, they both involve moral debates and politics.

Surely I can't be the only one who prefers to talk to people through a screen sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I do thoroughly enjoy talking to people in the real world but there are times where it's incredibly draining. The idea of having to socialise at a party is absolutely terrifying, hence why I avoid them as much as possible. Yes, I am that really awkward stereotype of the introvert at the party who stands in a corner and waits for the party to be over. I need to be able to escape to the internet and PC gaming occasionally,  in order to spend time with people without the pressure of having to talk to them face to face. Not to mention that I come from somewhere remote, so in order to interact with most people, I need access to games, wifi and phone signal.

There is a major catch to relying on the internet. Namely, I found myself becoming a slave to technology. "Just take a break from technology" I hear you say. In theory it's really easy, in reality it's incredibly difficult because it isolates me. Coming off the internet means that I can't talk to anyone besides my parents and I have to be honest, they aren't conversationalists at all. It also means that I can't keep up with homework because apparently in our day and age, everything has to be online! I think that sometimes we have to accept things as they are and then find ways to cheat the system. For me, I used rehearsals and book clubs as excuses to escape technology. More recently, I retreat into writing, music, books and volunteering. I do acting as part of college but I have stopped going to auditions.

My final reason for wanting to escape is the world, it's overly-complex, it's rules are unclear and as great as it is, it's really stressful. I always find myself playing catch up because everything seems to be moving faster than I am. There have been a lot of changes in my life in such a short space of time, I'm still processing them all and trying to adjust. Things are currently constantly changing, I just want them to stop for a moment so I can get into a routine. I'm fully aware that I'm asking a lot, so I'm doing my best to smile, make jokes and stay positive. I think that sometimes, that's all we can do, even if it forces us to lie to ourselves.

So what am I trying to get at? Every reader and thespian has a reason for reading/performing. Our reasons are specific to us and they can be incredibly simple or complex. There isn't a right or wrong answer to any of these questions that have been mentioned. Life is complicated, stressful and confusing, that's completely okay. It wouldn't be interesting if it wasn't and we wouldn't be able to learn, grow and change if it made complete sense. It's human nature to want what we don't have. Positivity can be incredibly difficult, so I think that sometimes we have to be completely blunt with ourselves. I think that being blunt and admitting that things are difficult and admitting that we need a hug or a helping hand, is as challenging as trying to reach Mars. That's also completely okay. There isn't a rush. These things take time. These things aren't straightforward, so even taking 1 step is a significant achievement.

Writing this post took a while. Although It forced me to confront a small portion of my bottled thoughts, I'm glad I have written it and have decided to post it. Maybe it will be helpful or inspire you, maybe it won't. Maybe it will be really successful or maybe it will become the strange post that gets ignored. Maybe I will look back on this and feel proud or maybe I will ask myself why I have written this. Honestly, nobody knows and that's alright...

That's all for this week, thank you for reading and stay tuned as next week I'll be discussing "The price guide to the occult" by Leslye Walton

Bonjour, discutons "Amelie the musical"

Bonjour nous saluons le retour! I recently had the surprise opportunity to see the "Amelie the musical" uk tour in Southampton so this week we will be discussing "Amelie".

I have multiple confessions to make about this show, the first of these is that I didn't know much about what it was about before I saw it. I tried googling but the synopsis was either too vague or too confusing. At this point you are probably wondering why I was gifted tickets  to see it if I hardly knew anything about the show itself. I looked at the cast list and I was sold! Last year I saw Audrey Brisson play Bella Chagall in Kneehigh's "The flying lovers of Vitebsk" (which is a story in itself), I also saw her play Jiminy Cricket in “Pinocchio” at the National theatre. I was in awe, she inspired me to keep acting when I was going through a bit of a rough patch.

The second is that I didn't know that it had been on broadway last year, I went on itunes after the show to see if there was a cast recording and that's the point when I discovered that, much to my disappointment, there is only a broadway cast recording.

The third is that I discovered that it was originally a film during the interval of the show, I was waiting in line for ice cream and ended up talking to a fan (again) who kept comparing the show to the film. Generally when it comes to theatre that has previously been a film or TV show, I treat the two as separate entities and therefore don't compare them, books are the exception to this rule. I chose not to point this out, which turned out alright in the end as the fan went on to tell me about how much they were enjoying the show and I absolutely agreed.

Basically, this discussion will very much be from the point of view of a new-comer, so let's begin...SPOILER ALERT!!! Also Adult content!!

I love the plot line. It flows like a river with an occasional waterfall, a thing of beauty. From the first song plays, we are drawn into Amelie's world. Paris. Distant parents. A lie. The supposed heart defect that her parents diagnosed her with, broke my heart. From the very outset, I felt that something was wrong with that diagnosis and to my surprise, I was right. It was love. Moving deeper into the play, I thought the idea that her purpose in life is to make others happy was sweet but I couldn't help but worry that she, herself would never be happy. Oh how surprised I was when she discovered Nino. I knew from the point when her heart went crazy, that they had to be together. I didn't care about the other characters as much, they were made for eachother and that was that. From beginning to end, I was captivated and by the end I had tears in my eyes, I was moved. If that doesn't show you the true power of this musical, I don't know what will.

What set this musical apart from others as a romance, was the slow ignition of love. Most productions I have seen, have passionate and incredibly heated romances. Most productions rush into it too soon and focus on the effect of the love itself and the aftermath. "Amelie" doesn't. It showed us that love can be a difficult thing to define and explain. It showed us that love can be slow burning and that it's okay to question it. More importantly, it showed us that we don't always have to aspire to be in love. Amelie had no intention of falling for Nino, yet it happened. She took her time to debate it, she left him a trail to find her and it took them the majority of the second half to get together. In fact they don't actually become a couple until the last song at the very end of the play and even then they say that they don't know what will happen next or how long it will last for. They show us that it's okay not to know.

The puppets. I was blown away. The American cast uses a child actress to play the role of younger Amelie whereas the UK cast uses a puppet, a bold choice but one that works significantly better. This production doesn't need a child actress, it needs puppeteers and an actress with a strong voice, which is exactly what I was given when I saw it. I have to be honest, the puppet is quite creepy and I would be petrified by it if I came across it in the dark, but it really works. It helps the magic of the show come alive. What happened to Fluffy the goldfish was a Shakespearean tragedy, told perfectly through the use of a puppet. I will never be able to unsee the fig puppets. They were both beyond weird and sent shivers down my spine. Despite this, they were used effectively in the surrealist dream sequence. So all in all, the figs were used in the right places but they were really disturbing. When the garden gnome full of ashes came to life, I was so confused. I had a serious WTF moment. I didn't know wether to laugh or shrug my shoulders in confusion, so I ended up doing both. Although, it was another quality use of surrealism.

One thing I can't help but mention is the pianos. Whoever thought of hiding set pieces inside pianos and using them as set pieces is an absolute genius. The piano's were able to be played by the cast (who all played an instrument or sang, a beautiful feat of musicianship) on top of this. I was/am beyond impressed.

The producers of this play made a bold move, even bolder than "Priscilla queen of the desert" and "Magic Mike" put together. It made the audience blush with embarrassment or laugh in awkwardness or just feel shocked. Enough dancing around what it was, let's be blunt. In the scene where Amelie disguises herself as a nun in order to return Nino's book, there is a piano which opens to reveal "adult toys", as Nino and his sister work in an "adult toy" shop. Whilst watching the show, this scene threw me completely. I really wasn't expecting it. Not only had I never seen such a gutsy move being made on stage, but I had never felt so awkward. It was a trifecta of awkwardness: 1. Amelie and Nino being really awkward and shy around each other, 2. Amelie being disguised as a nun and 3. that sort of shop. In case you are curious about my reaction, I burst out awkwardly laughing whilst blushing and kept muttering under my breath "What the hell?". Funnily enough, the play had an age restriction and I didn't understand why until this moment.

There is only one thing that seriously lets this production down. The broadway cast recording, it  annoys me to no end. The production is entirely set in paris, why do the actors on the cast recording not have french accents? The UK cast spends the entire performance sounding authentically French, not only does it sound beautiful but it helps transport the audience into Amelie's world. After doing some digging, I discovered that Americans generally prefer listening to cast recordings which sound American. As a result broadway cast recordings are more likely to sound American despite the setting as it sells more. This is outrageous! I understand that the people on the cast recordings have voices like sirens and I understand that productions need money in order to survive, however money should not come above everything. Musical theatre is the sweetest dream there is, it's a true experience.

When money comes first in a production it ruins almost everything, in this case it ruined my experience as a fan of the show. I can't stand listening to the American cast recording, if I wanted something which felt American, I would watch "Hamilton" or "Oklahoma". I want a true french experience, therefore I will have to wait until they make a UK cast recording (I really hope they do). It's such a shame as I really love the actual songs themselves.

My advice to musical theatre companies who are considering prioritizing money over everything else: Don't. Just don't. If you really need the money, create more merchandise, don't mess with the soundtrack. To mess with a soundtrack is to kill a theatre legacy.

That being said, here's the full broadway cast recording so you can form your own opinion of it.

What do you think about "Amelie"? Have you seen the musical or the film or both? Do you think Amelie and Nino make a cute couple? What do you think about the broadway cast recording? Do you prefer the use of a child actor or a puppet? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments, we can eat croissants and discuss what happens "when the booth goes bright".

That's all for this week, thank you for reading and stay tuned, next week's topic is going to be a surprise!

Magic at midnight

Welcome one and all to Words of Worlds! This week we will be analysing and discussing the masterpiece that is "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern so dress up in all white or black and adorn your red scarf, you are a "Reveur" now....

You may or may not be wondering how I discovered this book in the first place? It was a complete accident. This book was first published in 2011, I didn't even know it existed until August this year. I went on a 2 week driving holiday to Europe and I usually bring a rucksack or two full of books. However this year I was given a kindle, I will always pick paper/hardback books over digital books whenever I am able to, but for a long driving holiday in a tiny car it made sense to save space and download books. I had a £20 limit so I picked a couple of books (unfortunately kindle books are really cheap)  and had a couple of pounds left over that I wasn't sure what to do with, kindle recommended this book and it was cheap.

Let's give the book synopsis a brief overview. Two magicians have very strong ideas about the best ways to teach magic so they decide to engage in a bet. They will each train an apprentice and then make them compete with each other. Sounds really innocent right? Wrong! The participants are bound together although they don't know the identity of their opponent until the game begins, the rules are mostly unspecified and the game ends when one of the participants dies. There is no way of backing out. If you couldn't guess by the title of the book, the competition itself takes place in a circus and this is where my synopsis stops. Read the book to uncover the rest. Now it's time to get into the meat of the book so SPOILER ALERT! Also BAD LANGUAGE ALERT! 

I am going to start by talking about morality in this book because it is a serious issue. I don't believe that Prospero and Mr A.H don't consider the true implications this game has on the lives of their competitors, if they do consider the implications, they clearly don't care. They have done this competition a few times before so they know full well the risks that come with this and they know that one of the competitors will die, yet they are okay with this. Their last two competitors fell in love, why was this not factored in? What kind of a person bets with people's lives? What kind of a person is willing to have someone else die for the sake of proving a point?

There are so many morality issues in this book between various characters, which makes for interesting conversations among readers.

Where do I stand in terms of the game? I don't think that betting with people's lives is morally right, nor do I believe that forcing people to do it is right either. I hate that the only way to escape the game is through death or limbo! I think that the game is wrong in every way, however I know that without the game, there wouldn't be a story.

This book is one of the best books I have ever read. It's incredibly captivating and sends really strong messages, which brings me on to my second point, quotes. There are so many to pick out, so I am going to highlight my favourites.

"Prospero's immediate reaction upon meeting his daughter is a simple declaration of "well,fuck."" This quote never fails to make me laugh because Prospero says it without thinking. It's like watching an adult swear casually in front of an impressionable five year old and then seeing the moment that  realise what they have said and panic. Not to mention that this reaction is also hilariously relatable.

One that's a lot more deep is "it seems we are not as easily repaired as teacups". I really like this quote because it is so blunt. Humans may be as fragile as "teacups" but we are significantly more complex. Part of me wishes that we could be fixed more easily to take away the pain of actually being fixed and to help us get on with our lives quicker.

The other part of me knows that you can't fix everything, that some things aren't meant to be fixed and that sometimes we need to experience the difficult things in life in order to learn and to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Do I wish I could be as easily fixed as a teacup? Yes. Do I think it will ever happen? No. Am I okay with this? My opinion changes on a daily basis.

"All empires fall eventually. It is the way of things. Perhaps it is time to let this one go." This one speaks to me because I struggle with change. I understand that change is a big part of life and that it is necessary, however that doesn't make it easy. I think that sometimes it's easier to cling on to something, even though you know it doesn't work, because it makes sense. Everyone has clung on to something at least once in their life, it is through this that we learn to let things go.

When I read this quote, I was aware that once the holiday I was on was over, I was coming home to a lot of major life changes. This quote helped me to begin to process all of the changes that were going to happen. I think that sometimes people forget that change is a process that we all work through at different rates. Ir's okay to feel scared by it, it's okay to feel overwhelmed by it and it's okay to reach out to people when you are struggling with it.

My final quote is ""I want this story. Your story." It is very true. I want to listen to stories as much as I want to tell them. This quote made me feel as if Morgenstern was talking to me directly. It's almost as if she was saying "Stop procrastinating and stop changing it. You have a story and I am listening." We need to say this to people more often. Everyone has stories to tell and everyone's stories deserve to be listened to.

Moving on from quotes, I'm going to talk more about why I am in love with this book. This story made magic come to life to the extent of wishing that "The Cirque des Reves" was a real circus that I could explore for myself. I became really attached to the characters of Celia and Marco, their love story felt a lot like Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". I became so attached that I burst out crying once the full picture of the game came to light and again towards the end of the book when both Celia and Marco were encased in flames. Tears of despair turned into tears of joy once they found a way to stay together and interact with the circus.

This book is truly indescribable (I know, ironic) and touches each person differently. It changes the perspective of every reader to such a vast extent. This story has stuck with me for 2 months now and I know that it will stick with me for a long time to come.

What do you think of "The Night Circus"? Did the messages in this book reach you? What do you think of the relationship between Marco and Celia? What are your thoughts on morality in this book? What's your story? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments and we can all experience the magic of this book.

That's all for this week, thank you for reading and stay tuned as next week I'll be discussing "Amelie the musical".

"Heather, Heather, Heather, Veronica!"

Welcome back, it's time once again to delve into a fictional world. This week we will be talking about a favourite in the theatre world, "Heathers the musical". For those of you who are unfamiliar with this musical or who need a bit of a reminder, let's go over some basic information. It's a dark comedy set at a highschool called Westerberg High, it was originally a film but was adapted for the stage in 2014 and was performed in America. Last year it was performed at the West End for 12 weeks.

So you, the reader, are probably wondering why I have decided to create a post about "Heathers"? Well, I discovered this musical back in March and have been listening to the original broadway cast recording ever since. I was lucky enough to discover a video of the full performance on youtube so I have had the chance to see the West End performance. I LOVE THIS MUSICAL. A part of me is writing this as a fangirl and the other part is writing this in the hopes that this musical returns to the West End.

Side note: Last night an announcement was made (after I originally wrote this post) that next year they are going to come back and do a UK tour. Locations have been confirmed but dates, times, tickets and cast are yet to be announced. Keep an eye on "What's on stage" for further information.

Now we have addressed all the admin stuff, let's actually begin the discussion. Warning, spoilers!!! This musical is crazily ironic as it was more popular when it left broadway than when it was actually on broadway, this reminds me of Heather Chandler as she is even more popular when she dies than she is when she is alive. 

Heather Chandler I must say, through life and death you will forever be "a mythic b*****", however I have to give you credit for saying the most hilarious line in the whole musical, "F**** me gently with a chainsaw!". Now let's discuss where you went wrong. I hate you for picking on poor, innocent Martha Dunnstock. So what if she has a different body type? So what if she stands out for her cute choices in clothes? She is fabulous and adorable and didn't deserve to be treated the way you treated her! It would be one thing if she was horrible back to you but she treated you and all the other "popular" people with kindness and respect. Not to mention it was absolutely despicable of you to dress up a pig pinata like her! Sure, you didn't deserve to die but you certainly didn't deserve to get away with what you did. You should have been suspended for bullying.

This brings me onto the teachers in the musical. They are just as messed up as some of the pupils! How the heck did they not notice the way that Martha was being treated? If they did notice and chose to ignore it, they shouldn't even be allowed to be teachers because that is a clear sign of neglect. I am really concerned about Mrs Fleming, she says "This is the loveliest suicide note I have ever read!". How many has she seen? I don't think that calling the suicide note "lovely" was the right response. I also don't think that screaming "Our children are dying!" is the right response either. I don't understand how she is the school's guidance counselor, she really shouldn't be as she clearly has no idea what she is doing.

Let's talk about JD (Jason Dean)  and Veronica (Sawyer) as a couple. It was so innocent at the very beginning, especially during "Freeze your brain", it absolutely sucks that it went so, so, so wrong. Side note: as much as I know that this relationship was very wrong for obvious reasons, I still think that they were a good couple to watch purely because the actors who portrayed them did it very well. Veronica, you should have broken up with him when he switched out the prairie oyster you were going to give to Heather Chandler for drain cleaner. Veronica, you should not have let him persuade you to fake Heather's suicide note. The fact that he was putting "Ichlug" bullets in real guns should have been a definite sign that he was dangerous and that you should have broken up with him. When he lied to you about the bullets, you should have broken up with him!. There were so many warning signs and you ignored them or justified them!  Veronica, it took you 11 songs to tell him that what he was doing wasn't right and even then, you didn't break up with him until 5 songs later! The moment you began to feel scared by him, you should have broken up with him!!

JD's parents shouldn't have been allowed to be parents, there's nothing more to say about that. 

There is one thing that truly annoys me about the West End version of "Heathers". They changed the hilarious song called "Blue", which I suggest listening to with headphones in and refrain from singing out loud unless you are home alone, to the dark song called "You're welcome". Don't get me wrong this song is really well written but I have to be honest, it belongs in a different musical. "Blue" made the audience cry with laughter and made JD and Veronica's murder of Ram and Kurt incredibly evil as it made the boys look young, immature and unthreatening. However "You're welcome" made the audience feel uncomfortable due to the dark undertone and implications that the boys were going to rape Veronica. This makes me annoyed as it seems to justify JD and Veronica's murder of them, which is not the intention of the scene at all. JD at this point is developing a serious blood lust and need to murder, using a song like "Blue" makes it clearer to the audience that JD is becoming seriously dangerous and shows that he is manipulating Veronica by lying to her. 

On a more positive note, the rest of the songs! I love them, they are amazing!! They tell the story so well that it's easy to follow along just by listening. They take you on the best emotional rollercoaster! "Beautiful" introduces the audience to the various characters, "Candy store" shows us how b**** the Heathers really are, "Freeze your brain" sends a subtle warning to the audience about JD's true character, "Big Fun" feels very realistic and is built to shock the adults in the audience, "Dead girl walking" there are no words, its sexy and freaky at the same time, "Me inside of me" is very confusing as it is such a sad song but has funny elements to it, "Our love is God" is one of my absolute favourite songs even though it hints at JD's dark side, I can't listen to "My dead gay son" without both cheering and crying with laughter, "Seventeen" is another one of my absolute favourite songs because Veronica finally openly states that what they are doing is wrong and the harmonies give me chills they are so perfect, "Shine a light" is incredibly upbeat but it left me thinking wtf, "Lifeboat" is just utterly miserable, "Kindergarten boyfriend" is heartwarming but the ending is so abrupt and "Meant to be yours" is really powerful but uncomfortable to listen to. Click on the video below to find the full original broadway cast recording on youtube.

 I decided not to mention reprises because they vary depending on which production you see and as much as I think they are necessary, they are very short as they are mainly used for transitions. 

The only reprise I will be talking about is "Seventeen" purely because it confuses and frustrates me. This reprise comes just after JD has been blown up and Veronica has claimed the red scrunchie of power. Veronica, we need to talk. I will never understand the way your mind works or even how you survived! You were literally standing in a corner when the bomb went off! How did you come out alive with your hair messed up, smoke all over your face and a missing shoe?  The fact that you survived a bomb isn't the only thing that completely boggles my mind, most people would be in shock or traumatised by watching their boyfriend be blown up by a bomb but not you. You've literally killed three people and watched your abusive boyfriend die but sure let's sing about being "Seventeen"!

What are your thoughts about "Heathers"?  What's your favourite line/song in the show? What do you think of Veronica and JD as a couple? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments and we can all geek out about this amazing production. 

That's all for this week, thank you for reading and stay tuned as next week I'll be discussing "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern