440 young actresses and actors showed up for the casting from all around Poland! The cast selected by the jury includes stars from the young generation of artists as well as musical students from several universities.  

“Heathers” will be the first premiere of the 2024/25 season in the Syrena Theatre will be. The show represents the highly popular subgenre of “high school musicals” telling stories about teenagers and addressed to teenagers. Their authors, Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy, employ rock and roll music and explicit song lyrics to present an anti-violence story about the nightmares of adolescence, struggles with depression and school bullying. Both the topic and the excellent musical score transformed it into a hit musical on London’s West End.

“Heathers” was adapted into film in 1988 (in Poland known as “Śmiertelne zauroczenie”) starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. It’s a story about a high school ruled by three girls named Heather. When the main protagonist and her boyfriend decide to oppose them, the story takes an unexpected and bloody turn.

Such a plot requires a young cast, which was selected during a nation-wide casting. Candidates were auditioned by the musical’s director Agnieszka Płoszajska, choreographer Michał Cyran, Syrena’s music director Tomasz Filipczak, the musical’s translator and artistic director of the theatre Jacek Mikołajczyk and Syrena’s director Monika Walecka.

I’m very grateful for the privilege of selecting the cast from such a large number of talented artists. In most cases the choice was unanimous, although there were also long discussions. Now I can’t wait to begin work. Except for one case, I’ll be working with all the performers for the first time.

Agnieszka Płoszajska, Direction of the musical

For the majority of the cast “Heather” will be their debut on Syrena’s stage. But our audiences will also recognize some of the actresses and actors from previous shows in our theatre, including Natalia Kujawa (Stefania Grodzieńska in “Piplaja”, Katherine Parr in “SIX”), Aleksandra Gotowicka (Wednesday in “The Addams Family”, Anne Boleyn in “Battle for the Throne” and Catherine Howard in “SIX”), Karolina Gwóźdź (Natalie in “Next to Normal”), Marta Burdynowicz (Emma Shelley in “The Black Shakespeare”, Jane Seymour in “SIX”), or our theatre’s actors Agnieszka Rose, Michał Konarski and Albert Osik.

We were really amazed by the vocal and acting talents of the artists auditioning for musical. A huge number of young actresses and actors singing brilliantly bodes well for the future of musicals in Poland. If we encountered any problems during the casting process, they resulted primarily from the large number of artists who met all of our requirements. We could easily put together several casts for this musical. Ultimately we were able to choose the best of the best.

Jacek Mikołajczyk, the musical’s translator and artistic director of the Syrena Theatre

Cast of “Heathers”

Veronica – Natalia Kujawa/Małgorzata Majerska
Heather Chandler – Aleksandra Gotowicka
Heather McNamara – Karolina Gwóźdź
Heather Duke – Joanna Gorzała
Swing Heather – Patrycja Jurek
JD – Maciej M. Tomaszewski/Bartosz Łyczek
Kurt – Karol Ledwosiński
Ram – Jędrzej Czerwonogrodzki
Swing Kurta i Rama – Stefan Andruszko
Martha – Marta Burdynowicz/Klaudia Kuchtyk
Geek – Krystian Embradora
Prymus – Jakub Cendrowski
Hipster – Bartosz Łyczek
Party Girl – Małgorzata Majerska
Junkie – Klaudia Duda
Republican Woman – Klaudia Kuchtyk
Rama’s Father/Big Bud Dean/coach – Michał Konarski
Ms. Fleming/Veronica’s mother– Agnieszka Rose
Kurt’s father/Veronica’s father/Director Gowan – Albert Osik
Swing Female Band – Dominika Łysakowska and Marta Skrzypczyńska
Swing Male Band – Dominik Ochociński

Rehearsals for “Heathers” will begin in April, and after the summer break we will resume them in mid-August. The premiere of the musical will take place on September 7. Tickets for the premiere set, which will last until September 29, are now on sale. They can be purchased via the website: bilety.teatrsyrena.pl. The cast of individual performances in the premiere set will be announced in June 2024. The musical is licensed by Concord Theatricals Ltd.

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