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Heathers The Musical

Heathers The Musical

Time Out5 days ago

Before Mean Girls there was Heathers, a pitch-black comedy about how high-school popularity can be murder. Kevin Murphy and Laurence O'Keefe'S 2014 musical based on that film now returns Off Broadway in a revised version, directed by the U.K.'s Andy Fickman, that is likely to appeal to newcomers as well as to the show's loyal fans (known as Corn Nuts, after one character's dying words). Heathers tells the story of a nice girl named Veronica who falls into the bad company of three cruel student dictators and a sociopathic newcomer who wants to rid the school of their ilk. The impressive cast includes Lorna Courtney (& Juliet), Casey Likes (Back to the Future), McKenzie Kurtz (Frozen), Olivia Hardy, Elizabeth Teeter and Broadway comic treasure Kerry Butler (Xanadu).

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time14 hours ago

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The iconic film was released 40 years this week and went on to become one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made - but it nearly didn't make cinema screens at all It was in the summer of 1980 that screenwriter Bob Gale found his dad's old high school yearbook in his parents' basement - and wondered if they'd have been friends. 'Was my dad one of those rah-rah, school spirit kind of guys that I couldn't stand?' he wondered. "What would have happened if I'd gone to high school with my dad - would I have had anything to do with him or not?' ‌ Gale, whose feature films so far had flopped, returned to Los Angeles and mentioned the idea to writing partner and director Robert Zemeckis. Zemeckis made a wisecrack about what Gale's mother might have been like at high school - and Back to the Future was born. ‌ The huge summer blockbuster, released 40 years ago on July 3, 1985, spearheaded one of the greatest sci-fi trilogies ever made. 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Then, six weeks into filming - almost halfway through the schedule - Gale recalled: 'The humour just wasn't coming through with Eric.' ‌ Director Robert Zemeckis had to fire Stoltz, recalling it as "the hardest meeting I've ever had in my life and it was all my fault. I broke his heart." Reshooting Stoltz's scenes added $4 million to the movie's budget. ‌ The new Marty, of course, was Michael J Fox, who the movie would turn into a global star. Family Ties agreed to release him on condition that the TV show took priority - with Fox filming both simultaneously. Zemeckis recalled the actor's exhausting schedule, saying: 'Michael never slept. We shot the daylight exteriors at the weekend, but the whole shoot was pretty much at night. All I remember is never seeing any daylight.' ‌ Fox somehow squeezed in guitar lessons, so he could play Johnny B Goode not for note at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance - one of the movie's most memorable scenes. Gale recalled his favourite day on the set being the night Fox started. 'Just seeing how excited he was to be there and knowing that he really was Marty McFly,' he said. 'He had this infectious energy. On that first night of shooting with Michael J Fox we knew this was really good.' ‌ However, Stoltz can still be glimpsed in one scene, when Marty punches Biff in Lou's cafe. There's a blurred glimpse of Stoltz's face - kept because it was deemed better than Fox's reshot version. After 100 days of filming, shooting wrapped on 20 April, 1985 - with an August release date planned. ‌ Spielberg remembered the first preview, saying: 'Except for ET, it was the greatest preview I ever sat through. 'The audience just never stopped laughing and never stopped applauding every set piece. By the time the lights went up, the preview audience owned Back to the Future.' The rapturous reception prompted Sheinberg to move the film's release to July - when it smashed box offices around the world, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1985 and spent 12 weeks at the top of the US box office chart. It also won an Oscar for best sound effects editing. ‌ Huey Lewis and the News, who wrote the film's soundtrack including No1 hit The Power of Love, were propelled to global fame. Sequels followed in 1989 and 1990 and it continues to win new fans with a hit West End musical. As Gale said: 'There's something very special about this story that everyone can identify with, the idea of trying to imagine what your parents were like when they were kids - that just touches everybody.' ‌ Where is the cast now? Michael J Fox - Marty McFly Went on to star in a string of huge films including Teen Wolf, The Secret of My Success and The Frighteners. He also starred in his own sitcom Spin City and voiced Stuart Little in the film franchise. ‌ In 1998 he revealed his Parkinson's diagnosis, becoming a leading voice for research into the disease. Aged 64, he has been married to Tracy Pollan since 1988 and they have four children. Christopher Lloyd - Doc Brown ‌ Enjoyed a long career in film, playing Uncle Fester in The Addams Family, Commander Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and voiced Rasputin in Anastasia Now 86, he has been married five times, and most recently wed his real estate agent Lisa Loiacono in 2016. ‌ Lea Thompson - Lorraine Baines-McFly (Marty's mum) Went on to star in the sitcom Caroline in the City from 1995 to 1999 and the teen drama series Switched at Birth. Competed in Dancing With the Stars in 2014. Now 64, she's been married to her Some Kind of Wonderful costar Howard Deutch since 1989 and they have two daughters, Madelyn and Zoey. ‌ Crispin Glover - George McFly (Marty's dad) Appeared in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Charlie's Angels, Alice in Wonderland and Hot Tub Time Machine. ‌ Aged 61 and now the author of over 20 books, he has his own publishing company. Claudia Wells - Jennifer Parker (Marty's girlfriend) ‌ Shunning the limelight to start a men's clothing brand, the 58-year-old briefly returned to acting in 2011 with a small role in the independent science-fiction film, Alien Armageddon. Thomas F. Wilson - Biff Tannen (George's bully) ‌ Appeared in the Back to the Future TV series, before starring in TV show Freaks and Geeks. Aged 66, he has been married to wife Caroline Thomas since 1985 and they have four children.

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