Devin Lewis

Heathers The Musical is heading to Chicago next year and audiences were given a taste of it at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park on the evening of August 10. Part of Broadway in Chicago’s summer concert programming, two performers flew in from New York to duet onstage. “Greetings and salutations” were given out to spectators by Sara Al-Bazali and Devin Lewis as they promoted the dark comedic musical.

Out and proud performer Devin Lewis made his Off-Broadway debut playing Hipster Dork as well as understudying J.D., Kurt and Ram in New York City and he sang the Jason Dean part in Millennium Park. His regional credits include Next to Normal, The Light in the Piazza and Mamma Mia!

The musical by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe is based on the 1988 film of the same name. The cinematic script was written by Daniel Waters and it was packed with social commentary delivered with deadpan sarcasm thanks to actress Winona Ryder, as Veronica Sawyer, and Christian Slater, as Jason “J.D.” Dean.

Set in Westerberg High, the new student Veronica Sawyer meets three classmates all named Heather who rule the school. She encounters J.D., a rebel who shows her inventive ways to handle the hierarchy in high school.

The musical is currently enjoying a fourth and final extension through November 8 of this year at New World Stages, a five-theater, Off-Broadway venue in New York City. The North American Tour launches in Baltimore before a brief run in the Windy City.

Lewis talked backstage over a slushie before his performance.

JN: (Jerry Nunn) Tell our readers about you. Where are you from?

DL: (Devin Lewis) I am from Pennsylvania, right in the heart of Amish country. I grew up in a family who were into sports, but I got into theater in middle school to find people who were like me. I did community theater and finally felt like I belonged there.

After college, I moved to New York when I was 18 years old and I have lived there ever since.

JN: You were in the National Tour for Newsies?

DL: Yes, and we traveled to Chicago with the show.

JN: How old were you?

DL: At that time, I was right out of college, so I was 22. It was the perfect time to do that show, because I was young and I had a lot of fun. Newsies had a loyal following similar to Heathers. I am always comparing the two shows…

JN: Do you have a favorite musical of all time?

DL: The musical that shaped me and inspired me to work in theater was Urinetown. I saw Urinetown four times and I was obsessed with the music.

After I watched it onstage, I knew I could work in musicals and saw a future for myself.

JN: What led you to Heathers?

DL: I took a break from theater for a few years. I also produce music for artists and make dance remixes, so I was doing that full time. This industry can be unstable at times, so producing music keeps me busy.

A good friend of mine who was casting the show told me about the auditions. I felt detached from the show and I had a healthy attitude that I would be okay even if I didn’t get the part. Sometimes I want a role so badly that it can throw me, but in this case, not caring so much helped my nerves.

I had one callback and I found out a few days later that I had gotten it. It was a very quick process.

JN: Were you the cool guy in school like J.D.?

DL: I was a cool guy in junior high, but it changed in high school. That was when I realized all my friends were girls and I didn’t play sports anymore. I was in theater and that was a big shift.

JN: Heathers has some parallels to Grease with cliques and bullies. Are there other similarities?

DL: Heathers has darker overtones and adult themes compared to Grease.

JN: How do the producers navigate the dated material in the original movie?

DL: They do a great job with that. There is some of the classic stuff that people know and love from the movie, like the classic lines “Lick it up, baby” and “Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw.”

It is also very commercial with theatrical elements in it.

JN: It was a dark film and even the lighting was dark in the movie.

DL: Exactly. I think the music helps with that too. It is one of my favorite scores that I have been able to sing. The music is so catchy. There is some rock influence and it sounds contemporary. The music is a little sexy, which works with the darker themes.

JN: Word on the street is that fans are making bootlegs of the live show.

DL: We are in a generation of people where bootlegging is an interesting thing to navigate. Before, TikTok wasn’t a thing and there weren’t as many bootlegs, but now there are reels everywhere. Filming is not permitted, but we also have to acknowledge that social media has helped ticket sales. It is not right and no one should bootleg, but it has created a platform to promote the show.

I have seen random shows of bootlegged material and it will have 10,000 likes. Imagine 10,000 people coming to see the show. That would be crazy!

JN: The venue could lock up telephones in bags if they wanted to completely control it.

DL: We have ushers in the theater that, if they see someone with a phone filming it, then they stop them. It is not worth being in trouble for, to be honest.

JN: How long has Heather been running in New York?

DL: We started rehearsals in May 2025, so we have been doing the show for a little over a year.

JN: It comes to Chicago during Pride month in June of 2027.

DL: That’s true.

JN: Who will play your role?

DL: We don’t know yet. There hasn’t been any casting announced as of now. They won’t start rehearsing until at least spring.

JN: What if someone emulates you like they did Kristin Chenoweth for Wicked?

DL: People will watch it and pick up on things. I feel like that is art in general where people observe something and steal some ideas.

JN: Have you met Christian Slater?

DL: No, he has not seen the show yet. Winona Ryder came to the read-through in Los Angeles. There was one line that she was adamant about wasn’t in the original script. The Veronica Sawyer quote was “All we want is to be treated like human beings, not to be experimented on like guinea pigs or patronized like bunny rabbits.”

She asked about that line and it was added into the musical production.

JN: There have been several movies similar to Heathers, like Mean Girls, Jawbreaker, Election and 10 Things I Hate About You. Heathers is a Generation X film. Which one was big with your generation?

DL: I was generation Mean Girls. People say that Mean Girls was heavily influenced by Heathers and that’s another reason I like it!

Heathers The Musical takes ticketholders to class at the CIBC Theatre, 18 West Monroe Street, from June 8-20, 2027. For more information about upcoming ticket sales, stay tuned to heathersthemusical.com and broadwayinchicago.com.

Listen to Lewis’ latest work on socials @devinlewismusic.