Interview: Creative Team And Cast Members of HEATHERS TEEN EDITION at Playhouse Teater

The film *Heathers* premiered in 1988, starring Christian Slater, Winona Ryder, and Shannen Doherty, among others. It is a high school movie in which three girls—all named Heather—rule the school. Veronica is one of the unpopular girls, but her talent for forging notes allows her to save the Heathers from detention one day; they reward her with a makeover, and she becomes part of their clique. However, belonging to the group comes at a price; one day, Veronica is forced to write a fake love letter to her best friend Martha from Ram—one of the cool guys—in order to trick her into attending a party. A mysterious new guy, JD, arrives at the school; Veronica is attracted to him, but his methods of dispensing justice are controversial, to say the least. A musical based on the film had its first table read in 2009; the completed musical was subsequently staged in Los Angeles (2013), Off-Broadway (2014), and London (2017).

Now, it is time for a Swedish production—specifically a "Teen Edition," meaning that all roles (except for the adult characters) are played by young people around the age of 17, the appropriate age for high school students.

I have seen a lot of musicals but completely missed Heathers when it was played in London, so before I met this group on June 13, I watched the filmed London version that is available on YouTube. It is a rather dark youth musical, but with an ironic undertone and pop music. A musical that has really become big among young people and it was fun to see how engaged the audience was. Something that I also got confirmed when I met the young people who will be in the West End Stockholm production at the Playhouse Teater with a premiere on January 7, 2027.

During the spring, the creative team and the young people have met, but this day was the first time that the musical artists Anna Sahlene and Jakob Stadell, who together with Niclas Berglund play the adult roles, were in the rehearsal room at the Stadsteatern premises in Vällingby.

I started first to talk with parts of the creative team (Frida Modén Treichl – director, vocals & music director, Thomas Creutz – director and artistic director, Amanda Arin – choreographer, Mikael Hansson – technical director and Nelly Staaf - production assistant) as well as Anna Sahlene and Jakob Stadell.

 How did you choose to stage Heathers?
- It started last summer, says Thomas. I was talking to Axel Adelöw (Jason “J.D” Dean), who is the son of one of my friends, and we thought it would be fun to stage a youth musical where young people play the main roles. Heathers, which is set in a high school environment with many roles for young people, felt like a musical that would fit and be extra fun since it hasn't been performed much in Sweden. 

- Thomas continues, I contacted those who have the rights and we quickly received word that we got the rights to a Teens edition. It will really be fun to do a production with young people of the right age. In most large productions that have been done, it is older people who play the roles.

How did you in the creative team worked with the production?
- Thomas says that around the same time that Axel and I were talking, I was contacted by Frida who had heard about West End Stockholm and was interested in collaborating. 

- I have worked as a musical artist for 17 years and in most productions I have always talked too much and had ideas about how things should be, says Frida. Therefore, directing felt like a natural step to take, to finally let all my creativity have a place. Plus, when you are over 40, there are fewer roles for women, so why not try something new. During the spring we have now worked on musical rehearsals for the musical.

- I have mainly worked as a dancer for 15 years but also choreographed, says Amanda. It is great fun to work with Frida. We think very much alike and it is straight pipes that apply. 

- Frida and Amanda continue to talk about how exciting and fun it is to work with the young people. They are very dedicated but at the same time it takes longer to rehearse. Several of them have worked as child actors before and then you have someone who takes care of you and makes sure that you are there at the right time for the scene and so on. But now they are not children anymore but we demand more from them and have to push them more. They have to take their own responsibility, now it is really real for them. We have talked a lot about status in school so that they can understand their characters and develop them. When we have worked with group scenes, they have also been involved in shaping their roles and we will continue with that in the autumn when we start more intensively with rehearsals. It is also a challenge to find times for rehearsals with young people who go to school.

What kind of audition process did you have?

- It was an audition where young people from all over the country were allowed to apply, says Thomas. But then it ended up being young people who are based in Stockholm. Several of them here have a solid CV, have been in Christmas calendars, Sound of Music and Matilda at the City Theatre and other productions, so it is really talented young musical people of this age that we ultimately selected.

- Frida chimes in, we have chosen to remake the role of Martha as a non-binary character, instead of being bullied because she is fat and stupid, we let it be about the other students not being able to understand whether Martha is a girl or a boy and in that role we have Oliver Hagenfeeldt Eek. It feels like a more current youth problem than body fixation, even though it is also extremely strong today, there is still a body positive movement now that did not exist in the 80s.

- Thomas continues, Anna is the mother of Orlando Wahlsteen, who plays Gabriel, and she in turn suggested Jakob. Niklas turned out to be a Heather fan and has worked with Jakob.

Anna and Jakob, what is your relationship with Heathers?
- I went to see Heathers in London with my daughter, says Anna. There were a lot of 16-year-olds in the audience and everyone knew all the songs. It was such an awesome experience. Now it will be great fun to play this together with my son. 

- I didn't know much about it before and haven't seen it live, says Jakob. But now I've seen it on YouTube and it was impressive how young and engaged the whole audience was. It was noticeable even when you just watched a recording.

Everyone agrees that it will be exciting to see how it is received here in Sweden by the young audience, especially since young people have the main roles.

At this point in them all the young musical artists started to enter the room. A tense anticipation for today's rehearsal was in the air and everyone radiated a lot of energy and joy as they greeted each other and sat down to talk about what Heathers means to them.

- It's one of the first musicals I've seen and I know all the songs, exclaims Juni Helander Kallin, who plays Veronica. 

- Someone says they didn't know about it when they applied but then realized how big it was. Some already knew a few of the songs. Others mention how big Heathers is on TikTok and  adds that it is important in pop-culture for young people. So many young people have already embraced it and they believe it will be noticeable in the audience.

 The conversation then continues on how they work with their roles.

- Veronica is quite naive, thinking she can try to fix everyone, says Juni. I haven't quite decieded how I'm going to design the role yet. We've just started to get to know the roles. 

- JD is a very special guy who wants to help but in a dark way and it's going to be great fun to play him, says Axel. 

- Everyone talks enthusiastically about how fun it is to work with the whole ensemble and how they discussed group dynamics together and how the different roles are affected by each other. Why one character does what they do and another in a different way. Even though it's not exactly like this at a Swedish school, you can relate to what it's like at your own school and it's an advantage that we're in school now. 

- It's still such an early stage and now that we've gotten to know each other better, it's going to be great fun to continue working on the roles this fall. Now we've mostly rehearsed one song so there will be a lot to do this fall but it's great fun, they say.

What are your thoughts ahead of the premiere, and how do you think the audience will receive Heathers?
- My Martha is non-binary, says Oliver. She isn't in the movie or usually in the musical, so it’ll be interesting to see what the audience thinks of that.

- The others add that Heathers is huge among young people, so a lot of them will likely come to see it. Whenever I’ve mentioned being in Heathers, people have said it’s cool and expressed a desire to see it. It’ll also be fun to perform it in Swedish and see how the audience likes it.

After the interview I  got an exclusive look at one of their first reharsal of Underbara (part two)

It was interesting to see how Amanda and Frida worked with the young people and with little instructions made the number grow during the short time I was there. The energy and joy of playing Heathers permeated the whole room and I really look forward to seeing the finished production.

 

Heathers will be performed for a limitied run January 7 - 17, 2027 at Playhouse Teater in Stockholm. Tickets will be released on July 1.

For more information about the cast and creative team and ticket link go to:

https://www.westendstockholm.se/heathers

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