At Heathers’ Westerberg High, a Kiwi takeover is under way

Saturday, 25 April 2026

Before Mean Girls and High School Musical, before Euphoria and Skins, before Glee and 13 Reasons Why, there was Heathers.

The 1989 satirical movie starring Winona Ryder, and its fabulous fashion to match, follows the lives of four teenage girls - three of whom are named Heather and are part of an exclusive, bitchy high-school clique.

All is well in fictional, hierarchical Westerberg High until the arrival of misanthropic heartthrob JD, played in the film by the dreamy Christian Slater, who is intent on murdering popular students and staging their deaths as suicides.

Now, a new musical adaptation is about to make its debut to Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland audiences, fresh off the back of a season in Melbourne. Following New Zealand, the cast will tour the rest of Australia’s major cities through to October.

Directed by Texas-born Andrew Fickman, who has worked on the show for two decades in Los Angeles, New York and the United Kingdom alongside some of the original film’s creative talent, the show features a not-insignificant number of up-and-coming Kiwi stars, namely powerhouse vocalists Calista Nelmes and Amélia Rojas in the roles of Heather Chandler and Heather Duke, as well as Mackenzie Htay and Jocelyn Scott in supporting roles.

Fickman, in an interview from Melbourne, said the entire cast stood out during the audition process. “All of them … Just sheer raw talent.”

Heathers is touring New Zealand between May 15 and June 14, 2026. From left, Amélia Rojas, Calista Nelmes and Abigail Sharp play the Heathers.

For Nelmes, who’s originally from Tauranga, and Rojas, of Auckland, stepping into their painted brogues and colourful matching plaid suits alongside Australian Abigail Sharp as Heather McNamara has been a dream come true.

“Being from New Zealand, the arts industry is so small and we don’t get a lot of shows going over there. So to be able to bring a show like this home and to be a lead role is so special,” says Nelmes, who audiences will recognise from her being a contestant on season 12 of The Voice Australia, and as the role of Maureen in the 2024-2025 Australian national tour of RENT the musical.

Rojas, on the other hand, will be familiar from the 2025 New Zealand production of Chicago. As understudy for the musical’s lead role of Roxie Hart, Rojas was forced to step in mid-show for actor Nomi Cohen.

Now, as the snide and catty Heather Duke, Rojas is once again centre stage, in the footsteps of the late American actor Shannen Doherty, who played Duke in the film.

“Even just getting that audition … I was like, ‘This is crazy’. I never would have thought that this would be an opportunity for us,” Rojas said.

Rojas, right, from Auckland, plays the insipid Heather Duke and is pictured in rehearsals with top left, Calista Nelmes as Heather Chandler, bottom left, Jocelyn Scott as Stoner Chick, and centre left, Mackenzie Htay as Beleaguered Geek.

“And then getting that casting email, ‘You’re in Heathers’, I was like, this is absolutely insane. The support from New Zealand as well is incredible. It’s just really special.”

While their on-stage characters lie somewhere between outright nasty and profoundly unstable, and frequently show hostility to one another, off-stage the Heather trio has found a camaraderie and something of a true sisterhood.

“We have so much love and admiration for each other, and then when we get on stage, we just have to be complete horrible people to each other,” laughs Sharp, who only graduated high school herself at the end of last year.

“We thought it would be fun and a little bit cathartic to be a mean girl on stage, but at the end of the day, we just have so much love for each other. We have to give each other a big hug at the end of the show and remember that it’s all just pretend.”

For most kids, high school is a complex, ungainly, troubling time navigating personal politics, identity, and social dynamics. Because of this, Sharp says it’ll be somewhat easy for audiences to see themselves in the characters.

Abigail Sharp, an Australian who only graduated high school herself last year, plays the slightly tragic character of Heather McNamara.

“There was a Heather Chandler at my high school; there was a Heather McNamara.”

Rojas adds: “I definitely came across my fair share of bullies, but I think I wouldn’t be anywhere without them. [They made] me into the person I am today, and I feel like that’s such a strong message of Heathers as well.”

For Nelmes, whose character is arguably the most awful of the three Heathers, embodying misery has been a case of tapping into the insecurities she saw reflected in the Heather Chandlers she personally faced during school.

“I was the weird theatre kid. It’s a tough place. It’s just an awkward time in everyone’s life, and you’re figuring out who you are and what you like and what you don’t like.

“ … [My character] is kind of the worst, but everyone’s a nuanced person. I think the way I see Chandler is she’s obviously very deeply troubled.”

Nelmes is originally from Tauranga, Aotearoa.

The trio officially met at a cast announcement photoshoot, bonding within minutes and then laughing about wild stories over lunch. They ended up going into rehearsals an hour early each morning, with Sharp serving as the group’s dedicated driller.

Playing such insipid roles has been a form of trauma bonding, Nelmes laughs.

It’s clear the off-stage chemistry has had an effect on their palpable, highly coordinated and believable on-stage presence, helping give the typically United Kingdom or United States characters a unique trans-Tasman twist.

But it’d be amiss not to mention the stellar Australian Emma Caporaso, who makes her impressive professional debut as Veronica Sawyer, and Conor Beaumont as JD.

Equally talented in the ensemble cast are Wellingtonian Htay as Beleaguered Geek, and Auckland’s Scott as Stoner Chick. Both are also serving as understudies.

For Scott, who met her real-life partner during a previous run of Heathers, and for Htay, whose first singing assessment at musical theatre school in Wellington was the show’s Freeze Your Brain number, returning to the material has been special.

Australian Emma Caporaso, left, makes her professional debut as Veronica Sawyer. She is pictured with her on-stage love interest, the murderous JD, played by Australian Conor Beaumont.

Weeks before the premiere, Scott was working as an actual high school drama teacher, and said she could not wait to share the experience with her friends, family and students.

“Some of my students are obsessed with Heathers,” she said. “It means so much to me. Hopefully they know I love them so much, and they can see me as a role model to help pursue their own dreams.”

Htay said it was an honour to receive specific technical notes and feedback from the film’s screenwriter, Daniel Waters, and director Michael Lehmann ‒ as well as to be a part of the international Heathers creative family.

“It honestly just feels so surreal … It’s great to watch all of these people work and learn from all of them. I’m just like a sponge. I’m loving it. And this is only the beginning,” he said.

While the show is not quite as morbid as the film, and certain details and plot lines have been added or removed to make it fit the stage format, die-hard fans will still see a strong resemblance, promises director Fickman.

Director Andrew Fickman, left, has worked on the musical version of Heathers internationally since 2005.

In a world with increasingly hostile digital encounters, and a general lack of civility and decency, Fickman says Heathers has messages that many need to hear today.

“We see rudeness on the internet all day long. We see bullying. We see all of those things … We’re a story that needs to be told. Bullies are still there, we are still dealing with sexual assault, we’re still dealing with homophobia, we’re still dealing with racism, we’re still dealing with a lack of general kindness.”

Growing up Jewish in the heart of the United States’ Bible Belt, Fickman ‒ who’s also known for the 2006 school-set film She's the Man starring Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum ‒ too has dealt with his share of ostracism.

Such is the case with many artists, humour became a secret weapon.

“I look back with a great deal of nostalgia. Every time I’m in a high school setting, I feel I’m probably telling a little bit of my story. … I feel like if [Heathers] brings a level of kindness and hope to an audience, then we’ve done a pretty good job,” he says.

With the lead role of Veronica, who makes mistakes (some of which are deadly), the overarching takeaway is that people can still make a change ‒ both for themselves, and those around them.

“That’s how we survive as civilisation,” Fickman says. “It only starts with one person ‒ it has to start with one person. If we spend all our time waiting for there to be another sheriff to come in town, we’re just waiting.

“I want audiences to feel like they can be the difference in someone’s life. And it doesn't have to be, oh, I changed the world. But if you were kind to one person that day, you changed their life that day.”

Heathers runs at Christchurch’s James Hay Theatre, May 15-24; Wellington’s Opera House, May 28-June 7; Auckland’s The Civic, June 10-14. Tickets from Ticketmaster. More info: heathersthemusical.com

– The writer was hosted by GMG Productions.