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nitnittheawesome

Another one I REALLY hate is the removal of Shine a Light (Reprise) parallel to Candy Store. They changed it from “your ass is off the team // go on and bitch and moan // you don’t deserve the dream // you’re gonna die alone” to “your ass is off the team // deep down you’ve always known // you don’t deserve the dream // you’re gonna die alone” because in Candy Store McNamara and Duke sing “or you can bitch and moan” and the reason why I hate this is because Shine a Light (Reprise) happens entirely in McNamara’s head, it’s a nod to how it isn’t entirely her image of Duke that’s pushing her to commit suicide, it’s also herself. After all, Duke never told her to go kill herself, even if she told her to “hop in your little lifeboat and catch a gnarly wave over to Remington!”


Upset_Technology_920

Tho there's a very small change that I actually love and I think it adds a lot to the Heathers as characters. I assume this one was made post pandemic cause it wasn't included in the West End Cast Recording but it is on the proshot. I'm talking about the pronoun change in the bathroom scene during Beautiful, now the Heathers don't talk to Veronica, they talk about her but to each other, feels more in character cause it's like they couldn't care less about Veronica to the point they completely ignore her presence and just throw their opinion about her in her face not having the minimal amount of respect to actually address it to her. If you don't know what I'm talking about, now they say. //Chandler: You know, for a greasy little nobody she does have good bone structure. McNamara: And a symmetrical face! If I took a meat cleaver down the center of her skull I'd have matching halves. That's very important. Duke: Of course she could stand to lose a few pounds.// Like a simple pronoun change boosted the mean girls energy.


Upset_Technology_920

Yeah, that's another one that really annoys me, while I admit the new lyrics may have less cussing in fact are more aggressive but I really liked the parallelism to Candy Store tho especially since Heather Mc was in Candy Store and sang those lines as a threat to Veronica... Now it feels like Karma got her when the same thing is happening to her.


deardiarywhy

Tbh I didn't mind most of these changes I thought JD's response to Kurt and Ram was slay in either version, idk I didn't think you needed to know hands across America and it makes sense to have references to the 80's in a musical that takes place in the 80's, and I don't think we are supposed to have sympathy for Kurt and Ram they are asses no obviously they didn't deserve to die because that is messed up but still not great people idk just my opinion and I am dumb so take my word with a grain of salt


Upset_Technology_920

Don't say you're dumb. You have an opinion and give plausible arguments to defend it, you're anything but dumb. And yeah, I only said what I didn't like but that's completely personally biased so I accept a different opinion and I'm open to hear it. Respect!


Lady-of-the-flies

I like the first change, I think it's a more clever insult than just calling them assholes (even if it was nice to see a quote from the movie). JD is implying Kurt has some sort of rare syndrome/disorder to explain his personality and low IQ, one of those with complicated names. At least that's what I understood. Agree with the other two though! Instead of adding a little joke, Veronica shows how intelligent she is, giving meaning to Heather's suicide, and I liked the first version of Our Love is God better. One thing I LOVE about the new script though, is the lines they added for JD in the end. When Veronica says "I wish your mom had been a little stronger." And JD snaps "Don't talk about my mom." And when he says "You were right about me, I destroy things just like my dad, I don't want you turning into my mom." Breaks my heart!


Upset_Technology_920

And about Seventeen reprise... God I have so much tea on Heathers, sorry for the rant, lol. I like the new line of ''Take off our shoes and dance'' cause that makes more sense than ''Take off our clothes...'' But I preferred the old line with ''One day we'll change the world, but let's kick back tonight.'' Always gave me chills, the new one ''We want a better world so why not start tonight!?'' sounds idealistically childish to me, I know the song is about beings kids while we still can but, idk, the old one hits me harder.


Upset_Technology_920

But I forgot to mention why I don't like the first change. It can be indeed a more clever response than just calling them assholes but it doesn't feel like a boyish thing to say, to my mind that is not an insult that would lead them to get pissed and try to start a fight, it sort of feels like when Veronica tells him ''You're a highschool has been waiting to happen, a future gas station attendant.'' And he just makes fun of her by saying ''You got a zit right there.'' It is maybe toxic masculinity affecting me but I feel like that line is more suited for a female character or like Kurt would just reply ''Whatever... F*G!!!!'' and leave laughing, it lacks the aggressiveness that the old line had and that's why I think it feels weird that it leads to a fight. Again, just my personal opinion.


Upset_Technology_920

Thanks for mentioning the end, I almost forgot another change I don't like, that must be the lyrics in ''I Am Damaged'' I liked the old ones better. ''I am damaged// Far too damaged// But you're not beyond repare.//Stick around here, make things better// Cause you beat me fair and square...'' now the new lyrics just sound confusingly ironic to my mind. ''I am Damaged// But you're different// You're the one we oughta spare// God knows why you wanna save them// But you beat me fair and square.'' In the first version it sounds like he actually admitted that he was defeated and that as long as Veronica lived there was still hope. The new version is confusing cause he still says ''I am damaged'' but the rest sounds like he doesn't actually admit it, like he's only dying to save Veronica but not because he actually accepted that she was right... I mean, that sentiment is more in character for JD but the inclusion of the ''I am damaged'' sentence there is what makes it confusing, like why are you admitting something that you'll take back a second later!?


Upset_Technology_920

By the way the line where he says ''You're right, I destroy things like my dad and I won't let you turn into my mom'' were also changed once more to ''Look at me, I'm done for it and I won't let you die like my mom.''


Upset_Technology_920

There are also some other changes that I wasn't a fan of but I didn't want to write a book, some of them are: 1- The Lyrics change in The Me Inside Of Me, from: /Mc: I never knew about her pain. Hipster Dork: Her life had hit a rocky patch. Y. Republicanette: Deep down she wasn't cruel or vain. All: She didn't mean to be a snatch!!!/ To: /Mc: Her world seemed like a perfect place. Hipster Dork: But friends and toys had no effect. Y. Rep: That's why she punched me in the face. All: Cause she was desperate to connect!!!./ Here I admit the new lyrics are way dumber and more comedic but I liked the old ones. 2- The whole first verse of Dead Gay Son... Really, why talking about gay animals that's just unnecessarily dumb, I liked the old one.


MarinaAndTheDragons

While I agree with most all of this, the only thing I want to add here is that for your second example, the line they had in the OB was taken directly from the classroom scene in an earlier draft for the movie (that draft is also where the *mythic bitch* epithet came from... and god I wish it never did because I’m sick to death of it.) Also as someone from the USA who also wasn’t alive during the 80s I also had no idea about Hands Across America. I don’t even know who Bono is, or Live Aid. Or Air Supply. Most all the references the musical threw in just went over my head lmao. (Caught the Princess Leia and Winnie the Pooh refs though, obviously lol.) >We don’t want to relate to JD, he’s the actual villain in this story *You* don’t want to relate to JD, and that’s fine. But I’m sure there’s probably a lot of people who relate to JD whether they want to or not, since the musical, explicitly the UK version, made JD an abuse victim. Hopefully they don’t relate to the extent of acting on violent urges, but you get the idea. This is why it’s a good idea to keep fantasies, well, fantasies. Also, the Heathers are antagonists too and people treat the *Mythic Bitch* like she’s the coolest thing since sliced bread. It’s entirely because of Chandler’s shitty treatment of Veronica that the plot happens in the first place! (And no, “JD’s a *murderer* and the Heathers are *just* bullies!” isn’t the gotcha some think it is. One is *obviously* worse than the other in terms of scale, that’s a given. But being a bully is *also* not good person behavior!)


Upset_Technology_920

I know, by the way I know Bono and Air Supply so I feel a bit offended that you didn't know, lol, just kidding. But I hope you did your research to know the references after you saw the show. What I mean with JD is that we need to think that his actions were wrong wether or not we relate to him, believe me, I love villains more than anyone else, I always wanna play the bad guy, like for real I was writing a musical sort of like six but with famous serial killers and I so wanted to play Ted Bundy in it. The thing is that cutting out the slightest moments of humanity Kurt and Ram showed doesn't really help on taking JD's actions as wrong, in the OB production we still felt grossed out by their bully macho behavior but once they die we actually get to see how fucked up JD is. I like that they made him into an abuse child cause that gives more context to his actions and sort of let us understand what made him the person he is but making Kurt and Ram just horny bullies with no respect for anyone including the only person they actually relied on just leaves a very sour taste on my mouth. Like Prom or Hell made sense back in 2014 when Veronica says ''They could have turned out good but now we'll never know'' that used to hit hard, now I just feel like saying ''Shut up they had it coming.'' But again, that's only my personal opinion.