← All Of It with Alison Stewart
All Of It with Alison Stewart
Heathers: The Musical' Returns to NYC
00:21:09
Actors Lorna Courtney and Casey Likes star in the new off-Broadway revival of "Heathers: The Musical."
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- [00:08]
Alison Stewart
This is all of It. I'm Alison Stewart. I wanted to let you know about something coming up from all of its producers. This weekend, the Public Song Project will reveal the winners of the 2025 contest in a radio special this Saturday at 7pm you'll hear some music, some conversations with the winners. You might even learn a little bit about the public domain while you're at it. All of it producer Simon Close will host. And all of it producer Lu Green is producing. That will be this Saturday at 7pm now, if you can't tune in live, you'll be able to stream it on demand after it airs. And tune into All of it exactly one week for a recap that'll be happening next Monday's show. That's in the future. Now let's get this hour started with a musical about high school. Heather's the Musical is having a second life on the New York stage. The musical is based on the cult classic 1989 film about a popular group of the Heathers who rule the school until an outsider comes to town. His name is JD and he finds communion with a Heather adjacent girl, Veronica. Their experiment to teach the popular kids a lesson goes way out of control. When Heather's was adapted as a musical in 2014, it ran for a short time off Broadway. Then it was recorded both officially and unofficially and along the way it earned a fan base. The music has now found its way back to the new world stages where it debuted 11 years ago. It was always a black comedy, but one that has a little different meaning now. It's about a bully who gets away and gets her others to do her bullying for them, like taking nerdy kids lunch money, you know what I'm talking about. And that leads others to behave badly by burning it all down, which leads to chaos. Heather's the Musical has the same darkness, but it's also full of bangers and features young Broadway talent. Welcome back to the show Casey Likes. He is starring as JD the cool kid in town with a dark side. He was of course played by Kristen Slater in the film. The last time that Casey was was for Almost Famous and he most recently wrapped up Back to the Future on Broadway. Welcome.
- [02:13]
Casey Likes
Thank you so much for having me again. Appreciate it.
- [02:15]
Alison Stewart
What was your first exposure to Heather's the Musical?
- [02:19]
Casey Likes
Probably, probably listening to it in the car on the way to rehearsals when I was like maybe like 14 years old or something like that. But my friends played it. My other theater kid friends would play it driving me to rehearsal and I was like, wow, this is a really cool show for the cool kids thought at the time. And I was like, well, maybe I'm not cool enough for that, so I'll be a fan of other musicals. So I kind of, like, lost track of it for a little bit, and now I'm a new fan.
- [02:50]
Alison Stewart
So when did you get the call to audition to come for the new version of Heather, the musical?
- [02:56]
Casey Likes
Yeah, I got it about three weeks before they announced me in the cast. It was kind of late into the process, and there was an open call going around, but, you know, I didn't end up going in for that for whatever reason. And then there was. All my friends were getting called in for it, and I was like, maybe I'm. Maybe I was right back when I was 14. Maybe I'm not right for this musical. Maybe I'm a. Whatever. But, yeah, they sent me the material, and, yeah, it just came to me really naturally. So I really am so thankful.
- [03:26]
Alison Stewart
What did you see in the part of JD that appealed to you?
- [03:31]
Casey Likes
I saw a lot in the part of J.D. i mean, it's one of the greatest gifts of a role I've ever received in my entire career. I saved my entire career. I am 23, but I've been working since I was three.
- [03:43]
Alison Stewart
Yeah, you have been working since you were three.
- [03:45]
Casey Likes
Yeah. So I definitely. It's just such a gift for so many reasons. I mean, first of all, it's just so drastically different from everything I've done recently, which I'm very thankful for. Very different from Almost Famous. It's kind of the actually opposite in a way, but also still keeping that outsider thing, that thing where it's like, nobody gets me, you know, and we all have a little bit of that. So that. That resonated, of course. But, yeah, just really getting to do that transformation was kind of the biggest, exciting part about it to me. And it also feels important, you know, like, it's a show that feels important. It's saying a lot of things about today that I think people can learn. So that felt like another box on my list that I wanted to check off.
- [04:29]
Alison Stewart
I think you do a really good job because I don't remember Christian Slater when I watched you.
- [04:35]
Casey Likes
Mmm, thank you.
- [04:37]
Alison Stewart
You know, like, you could easily do an imitation of him in a way, but you created your own JD In a very different way. Did you watch the movie Heathers?
- [04:45]
Casey Likes
Yeah, it's funny. I knew the movie Heathers more than I knew the musical, and I liked the movie a lot, and I liked Christian in it.
- [04:55]
Alison Stewart
I watched it Last night.
- [04:57]
Casey Likes
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I liked him. I love his performance. I've loved every original performance of the movies that I've done musicals of so much. My job is never necessarily to. Been to impersonate anybody. There definitely were parts of Marty that I wanted to just get right originally because I knew people would look for it, like the voice or whatever, but still not an impersonation. It was just. I really just like taking. Breaking down what someone does in a performance and then going, okay, how can I do that? How does that work on my body and my face and my voice and. And yeah, I think really also the writing for JD Is just spectacular for both the movie and the musical. So it was kind of hard to impersonate anything because it was just like so worked out in the text.
- [05:50]
Alison Stewart
We've talked about how time has passed since the film was released, but some things remain the same. What remains the same about Heathers and what is different?
- [06:03]
Casey Likes
I think everything and everything. Like, I think literally, like, it's the same exact scenario, but a different font. Nowadays, you know, we have bullies, we have girl on girl feuds that are never spoken about as much as, you know, the male bullies, I guess. Um, then there's the male bullies that of course continue to terrorize the school, but also specifically women targeting them. And then we still have really crazy power hungry people like JD that sometimes take their. Although maybe correct morality view, moral views, except for maybe the killing part. But, you know, spoiler alert. But like, other than that, you know what I mean? Like it. They're all things that still ex for sure.
- [07:01]
Alison Stewart
My guest is Casey likes. He plays J.D. in Heather's the Musical. It's off Broadway at the New World Stages. And by the way, it was extended until January 2026. All right, so JD, he's charming in a certain kind of way until his dark side comes out later. But we can see his appeal. So when we first meet him, what's going on with him? What's going on in his life?
- [07:23]
Casey Likes
When we first meet him, we see that he is definitely just playing around. I like to consider him like a big jokester. I think he's like, you know, he's like a normal modern day joker, you know, not with the face paint, not with the crazy things. But in his eyes, everything's a joke. So immediately when we meet him, we see that although he has. He lightly alludes to maybe some past traumas, he's just floating. He's been forced to move a bunch of times because of his dad and he finds solace in 7 11, where he gets his Slurpees, and that's how he gets through the day.
- [08:06]
Alison Stewart
I have to ask you about your hair.
- [08:08]
Casey Likes
Ah, yes.
- [08:09]
Alison Stewart
You have a hat on now.
- [08:10]
Casey Likes
I do have a hat on now, but you know what's under it?
- [08:12]
Alison Stewart
It's kind of a mullet.
- [08:13]
Casey Likes
It's kind of a mullet. It is. It's kind of a mullet. Here, I'll take. Here's my hair.
- [08:18]
Alison Stewart
You take it off. All right.
- [08:19]
Casey Likes
Yes.
- [08:19]
Alison Stewart
Right.
- [08:21]
Casey Likes
It's kind of messed up right now, but the sides are shaved a little bit. And then this big mullet kind of long situation is happening in the back now. I did that because, first of all, I never get the chance to cut my hair.
- [08:33]
Alison Stewart
Okay.
- [08:34]
Casey Likes
Fortunately, I've built my career the past two shows on curly hair that just looks like a mushroom. And I'm thankful for that. I'm glad that they've allowed me that. But for this one, I wanted to try something different with my hair. And also I thought maybe he'd be a little militant and like, shave the sides of his head, but then like, not fully go into it and be like, I'm gonna grow out some weird crap in the back, you know.
- [08:59]
Alison Stewart
How you liking it?
- [09:00]
Casey Likes
I love it. I know it's very. I'm sure the Heathers fandom is very torn up about it, but I love it. I mean, whatever.
- [09:10]
Alison Stewart
I like it too. It's interesting in the show because the first half is very fun and exuberant and the second half, it takes a dark turn and you remember that from the movie as well. But it does take a dark turn and it talks about self harm and potential date rape and there's suicide involved. What did you talk to your director about that turn that the book takes?
- [09:39]
Casey Likes
I think a lot of our conversations, specifically me and Andy Fickman, our amazing director, who, by the way, directed the Game Plan with Dwayne the Rock Johnson and She's the Man. These are both great movies. If you haven't seen them, go watch them right now. Anyways, we mainly talked about JD's place as to how he relates to Veronica and how the audience can relate to Veronica. And I thought that was kind of interesting. I'm a director as well, so I thought it was very interesting to look at it from the perspective, story structure and our character's purpose, which sometimes I guess actors would rather focus more on, you know, who am I? And my. And of course I find that. But I find that on my own, his conversations were, we need to make sure the audience understands why Veronica stays. And I think that was a major point for me in creating this version of JD Is making sure that, you know, he cares about her and he. He doesn't think what he's doing is really that crazy.
- [10:50]
Alison Stewart
Let's listen to a track from Heather's the musical. This is 17. It's a moment when Veronica and JD sort of ponder what life would be like for them if they were normal 17 year olds, not killing people along the way. This is Heather's the Musical.
- [11:07]
Casey Likes
People hurt us or they vanish.
- [11:10]
Lorna Courtney
And you're right, that really blows. But we let go, take a deep breath and go buy some summer clothes. We'll go camping, play some poker and we'll eat some chili fries. Maybe prom nights, maybe dancing. Stop looking in my eyes your eyes can't we be seven? Is that so hard to do? If you could let me in I could be good with you let us be 70 if we still got the.
- [12:07]
Casey Likes
Right.
- [12:11]
Lorna Courtney
So what's it gonna be? I wanna be with you I wanna be you tonight.
- [12:21]
Alison Stewart
And that's Lorna Cartney playing Veronica. And Casey likes playing jd. You know, the audience is really ready for this. They've heard that song before. They're ready for certain lines. Like, my teenage angst has a body count. Sometimes people are in cosplay, sometimes they're screaming. How do you tap into that as an actor? The audience being so engaged?
- [12:46]
Casey Likes
I thought it would be more difficult than it has been. It's just such a party. Like, it's such a party atmosphere. I think it's the perfect show for the space it's in. It's a 499 seat off Broadway house. If you didn't know, Broadway is 500 seats or above. So it's pretty close to a Broadway sized house. But it's just like a small little atmosphere for a bunch of this niche audience, which even though it's huge and it's like bursting and loud, it's a niche of people who find their people there. Like, it's like, it's important to have it in this, you know, have a place where these people can express themselves and come and be dressed up in outfits and scream for these characters that you wouldn't imagine screaming for in a normal musical. You know, these are complicated people, but they represent a lot of complicated people in the audience, which I think is kind of powerful. And I like hearing them scream and I like knowing that they're on with it.
- [13:44]
Alison Stewart
It was funny. I saw it this past Saturday. Did the cast know that the teacher who does a little bit with the audience was going to call out the Coldplay affair.
- [13:56]
Casey Likes
No, no, we didn't. No, it was one of the funniest. Now she has. She has officially retired the bit. It's on TikTok. She's explained it. You should. You can go to her TikTok at CarrieButler NYC, I think, or just errybutler, something like that. But she. Yeah, she called out the. The big jumbotron moment. And I was waiting. I was like, I wonder when she's gonna start bringing in world events to this improv. Cause I did improv in Back to the Future, and we would once in a while find a way to sneak it in. But, yeah, first time she's called out something worldly, and it lasted for about a minute of applause. It was really funny.
- [14:34]
Alison Stewart
It was pretty funny. As you said, you were in Back to the Future and almost famous. You're only 23, but I'm curious what you've. And you've been in the business for a long time, but what have you learned about performing in New York, in New York houses that you didn't know.
- [14:51]
Casey Likes
Before that you have to treat it like it's no different. Like, I think I went out on stage for my Broadway debut. And, you know, there's so many things about that experience that I. I keep saying I'm gonna someday write a book about that nobody will read. But, like, that experience of walking out onto the Broadway stage, even though I'd been teching on that same stage for two weeks, just without an audience, just knowing how big of a deal it was to make my Broadway debut in front of an audience was so overwhelming that it almost was debilitating for me. Like, you know what I mean? Like, so now I've, like, been able to learn. Like, it's just doing what you know how to do. You've spent these years to do it, and it's. Treat it like it's home. Like, I genuinely have to sometimes imagine that I'm in the theater I grew up in, either at Chandler center for the Arts or Grease Paint Youth Theater in Scottsdale run by Mauren Diaz. So, yeah, that's where I think of.
- [16:03]
Alison Stewart
And that's home for you. That's your theater home.
- [16:05]
Casey Likes
Yeah, both of those theaters. I mean, I did high school at Chandler High School in Arizona, and then I did theater up in Scottsdale, where they had a little bit more money to make the theater. But, yeah, yeah, that's what I kind of gaslight myself into thinking I'm at. When I'm on some of these big.
- [16:23]
Alison Stewart
Theaters or stages, it's interesting to think about because the Jimmy Awards were last week. They're sort of the National High School Music Awards, and people whose names, you know, you. You know, were Jimmy Award nominees, like Eva Blizzada, Renee Rapp, Jasmine Amy Rogers, who just played Boop. Among the finalists were you. When you think about that experience, what was it like for you? How did it prepare you what you're doing now?
- [16:53]
Casey Likes
Yeah, I mean, it was a. I remember thinking at the time, it was like, oh, I'll never. This is the most busy week of my entire life. I'll never work harder. And then, boy, was I wrong. And then I just realized it was the exact same week that I would have for the next four years of my life. Not four. So six. Here I am, six years since 2019. Jesus. But, yeah, you're getting old. I know. Yeah. I should really wrap it up, you know, bringing my cane around everywhere. No, no, it's. It was, like, so magical that. That week, but also, like, so terrifying because I take my. I've always taken my work far too seriously. Just because I've done this since I was, you know, like, while kids were sitting down, eating pizza and resting, like, I was walking around and introducing myself to literally everyone there. Because I'm like, I just. I wanted it so bad not to win. I didn't care. It was just like, I know I have to be here. Like, somehow, I don't know how. I don't know if it's through mopping the stage of one of these people I meet along the way, but I gotta be here. So it was so. It's like. It's a mixed experience. Every time I talk to Jimmy Awards alums, I'm like, it's so much. You're amazing. But also, breathe. It'll work out. You don't have to win. You don't even have to final. Like, me. Like, Jasmine didn't final. Mackenzie Kurtz went twice or three years. I can't remember we've talked about this before. But she plays Heather Chandler, and it has rave reviews as Heather Chandler in this show, but she never finaled. You know what I mean? Like, it's like. And some people also never go to the Jimmy Awards, you know what I mean? So just breathe. And there's so many other ways to make it so. Yeah, I think it was a mix of, like, magic and also, like, extreme determination.
- [18:43]
Alison Stewart
My guest is Casey likes. He's playing J.D. in Heather's the musical. It's off Broadway at the New World Stages. As I said, the show has been extended. What does that say to you that it's been extended?
- [18:54]
Casey Likes
I mean, it says. I mean, it depends on what side of your brain. Of my brain you're asking here. If you're asking the producer side, you're saying, oh, my gosh, that is incredible that this fan base is this large and has been. Has literally proven to grown to have grown since the last time it was in America. You know, there are productions you can watch of Heather's everywhere. The rights are out. But like, having a professional canon version of this show is so wanted because of the work they did back in 2014. And since then, that tells me that as an actor, it means I have work, of course, which is fantastic. And I literally, I've never had a point in my career where I've ever been able to say, I will have a job in six months now. Although it looks like that because Back to the Future went on for a year and a half, every month is a blessing on Broadway. Off Broadway. We. We're pretty sure we can sell 500 seats for the rest of the time. You know what I mean? So it feels great. But then also it feels great as an artist to know that the work that Lorna Courtney, who's not here but wanted to be here, but is stuck in a car, stuck in a Q.
- [20:01]
Alison Stewart
Train in a car, couldn't have her. But.
- [20:03]
Casey Likes
But she. But she. The work that we're doing is working for people. It's made this show work for whatever audiences have come and. And the work that this whole cast, it's a really great company and I'm just glad that people are. Are making the trek to see them.
- [20:20]
Alison Stewart
You have a solo show coming up, though.
- [20:22]
Casey Likes
I do, yeah.
- [20:23]
Alison Stewart
54 below.
- [20:24]
Casey Likes
Yes. Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. August 27th, 28th and 29th. Wait, no. 27th, 29th and 30th. That's what it is. That is this solo show. It's a cabaret style solo show at 54 below. So I'll sing a whole bunch of songs that are not from my musicals and maybe you'll get something from my musicals. But it's mostly about my musical influences, starting from when I was young and to now and how it's made me into the singer I am today.
- [20:57]
Alison Stewart
You have been listening to Casey likes. He plays J.D. in Heather's the Musical. It's off Broadway now at the New World Stages.
- [21:04]
Casey Likes
Thank you so much for coming in thank you Alison. Thank you so much. Great questions. So great. NYC now delivers breaking news, top headlines and in depth coverage from WNYC and Gothamist every morning, midday and evening. By sponsoring our programming, you'll reach a community of passionate listeners in an uncluttered audio experience. Visit sponsorship.wnyc.org to learn more.