I rarely go to see a show without having a good sense of what it’s about. Yet that’s exactly what happened recently when I saw the revival of “Heathers The Musical” at New World Stages. I expected a “Mean Girls” where the underdogs win out against the popular cliques. That’s not exactly what I saw. “Heathers The Musical” is darker, much, much darker. That's not to say that it isn’t enjoyable. In a dark satire of high school teen angst stories with cliques led by the enviable popular kids, “Heathers The Musical” takes it one step further.

The delightful Lorna Courtney (“& Juliet”) plays Veronica Sawyer, a high school senior who is dreading her senior year and hoping to stay under the radar of the popular kids (Read that as nasty.) She does that by getting in with them after the leader of the Heathers, Heather Chandler (McKenzie Kurtz) learns that Veronica can forge almost anyone's signature.Veronica begins to enjoy her new-found popularity, even joining the others in pranking her best friend, Martha Dunnstock (Erin Morton) who the kids mockingly call Dumptruck because of her weight.

Things change when Veronica meets JD, the new boy, an enigmatic charismatic loner played by Casey Likes (“Back to the Future,” “Almost Famous”) and the two fall in love. They are attractive performers with fine stage presence, beautiful singing voices and great chemistry.

The score, with music and lyrics by Kevin Murphy & Laurence O’Keefe stays with you long after you leave the theater. The cast is fine and the costumes are colorful and bright.

So what’s the problem? JD is angry at the world and has a vengeful streak and begins to avenge his girlfriend. At first, she thinks it’s a joke until Heather Chandler dies after drinking a poison that JD has tricked Veronica into giving her. Later, JD murders two of the boys as well. He is determined to continue, despite Veronica making him promise to be normal.

The murders are perceived as suicide, making suicide seem glamorous to some of the troubled students. Rather than deal with the topic seriously (this is a satirical musical, after all, ) the book (by Murphy & O’Keefe) lightens the heaviness of the deaths. One way is when the three ghosts appear throughout the second act, haunting Veronica.

The adults in the show are clueless, neglectful or abusive and become the butt of some jokes. They become a source of ridicule. The school holds a teen suicide program led by the ‘hippie’ teacher, Ms Fleming (an underutilized Kerry Butler. )

The themes are heavy, really heavy given that the US has an epidemic of school shootings and JD could easily be the poster boy. Dressed in a long dark trench coat, JD looks like the young men responsible for the Columbine shooting except our killer sings. He is familiar with weapons and willing to use them.

Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization that advocates to end gun violence, tracked at least 219 incidents of gunfire on school grounds — either K-12 or college campuses in 2024.

Directed by Andy Fickman, the show has become a cult favorite. The New World Stages theater was filled with younger women, late teens -twenties, who cheered and whooped appreciatively as if the show was a rock concert. Many of the show’s followers called the “Corn Nuts” wore costumes like those of the actors.

I enjoyed “Heathers The Musical.” It’s often funny, and engaging, but troubling, nevertheless. A dark comedy, it raises awareness of serious and important themes like bullying, suicide, school shootings and peer pressure. Yet despite all the positives, I can’t decide who I would recommend the show for. Is it those who survived their tumultuous school years recently, those who are older and can laugh at the past or as a cautionary note for those approaching high school? I’m not sure. Ironically, some of the show’s strengths as a musical limit its audience.