Onyx Theatre stays true to itself with ‘Heathers the Musical’

The fetish shop that once enclosed it may be gone, but the quirky vibes live on at the Onyx Theatre.

Producing director Troy Heard wouldn’t have it any other way.

There he is, decked out in shorts and flip-flops, standing in front of the Onyx’s main stage, supervising numbers from the theater’s latest musical.

First, performers align themselves in two chorus lines, hoisting plastic cafeteria trays in tribute to their school’s ruling clique.

Next, there’s a schoolyard fight. And before long (SPOILER ALERT!), a dead teenager sprawls on the stage, a victim of “the curse of popularity.”

If all that sounds familiar, you’ve probably seen the 1988 movie “Heathers” —the inspiration for the Onyx’s “Heathers the Musical,” which opens a Las Vegas premiere run Thursday at the Commercial Center theater.

It’s the latest in the Onyx’s roster of screen-to-stage productions, preceded this season by a musical version of the Vegas trash classic “Showgirls” and “Reservoir Dolls,” a genre-bending version of Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs.”

Echoing its big-screen source, “Heathers the Musical” follows teen misfit Veronica Sawyer (Brenna Folger), who works her way into the good graces of the Heathers, Westerberg High’s coolest cool kids.

That is, until Veronica falls for rebellious new kid Jason “J.D.” Dean (Maverick Hiu), prompting the head Heather (played by choreographer Kady Heard — and yes, she’s married to Troy) to kick Veronica out of the mean-girls clique, unleashing deadly consequences that are recounted in song and dance.

(Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe — whose credits include “Desperate Housewives” and “Legally Blonde” — adapted Daniel Waters’ “Heathers” screenplay for the stage.)

“Heathers” may have a built-in recognition factor, thanks to the big-screen original, but it also boasts an off-kilter sensibility that remains central to the Onyx brand, in Heard’s view.

“It’s a quirky sensibility,” he acknowledges. “Quirky’s a great word. We are embracing an askew view of the world.”

That view askew has, in part, helped the Onyx rebound from its near-death experience in December 2014, when Heard took over as producing director. (The Rack, the fetish shop that once housed the theater, has closed; it’s been replaced by the Studio, a second Onyx performance space.)

“Edgy comedy and a damn good time” is how Heard characterizes the Onyx’s programming, which continues next season with a lineup he dubs “Bring on the Bad Guys.”

That 2016-17 season includes two world premieres (“Bigfoot, A Musical” and “Trucker Uppers”), one West Coast debut (Robert Askin’s Tony-nominated “Hand to God”) and the Las Vegas premiere of “Carrie the Musical.”

There’s also a version of Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” that moves the action from vice-ridden Vienna to ’70s Sin City, where “you’ll see a lot of Ralph Lamb and Lefty Rosenthal,” Heard promises, along with “an assortment of pimps and hookers” who’ll be totally at home in the play’s busy brothels and bars.

“We love the classics, and we do the classics,” Heard says, “but you need something new and fresh,” which makes new works “very important” for the Onyx.

“This season alone, we had four premieres on the main stage,” he notes. “We’re small enough that we can take risks.”

After all, “who’s going to be the new Neil Simon or the new Wendy Wasserstein” — to cite two legendary, award-winning, commercially viable playwrights — “if you don’t give new voices a chance?”

And “the fact that we have people come out in droves to see ‘Reservoir Dolls’ ” — or “Geek,” which focused on cos-playing teens — tells Heard that “there’s an audience in Las Vegas that’s hungry for the new.”

With its “view-askew” sensibility, “Heathers” definitely fills that bill.

In one heartfelt song, Veronica and J.D. long for the banalities of typical teen life: “Fine, fine, we’re damaged, we’re badly damaged — let’s be normal, see bad movies, sneak a beer and watch TV … “

In another number, “Heathers” delivers a rockin’ song-and-dance salute to that cherished teen ritual, the no-parental-supervision kegger. (“Mom and Dad forget to lock the liquor cabinet!” they sing. “The folks are gone — it’s time for big fun!”)

Heard acknowledges that he’s “been accused of being anti-art, of propagating low art,” he says as the “Heathers” run-through rolls on. Yet “whether it’s schlock or shtick, we approach it seriously.”

“I want to see the Onyx grow,” Heard concludes, “but I never want to lose what makes us individual.”

Read more stories from Carol Cling at reviewjournal.com. Contact her at ccling@reviewjournal.com and follow @CarolSCling on Twitter.