The cast of “Heathers: The Musical” at Ferndale’s Ringwald Theatre.

In Shakespeare, ambitious men vie for crowns. In Heathers, the stage musical adaptation of the 1988 film now on stage at the Ringwald Theatre, it’s all about the red scrunchie.

Is it facetious to compare a teen-angsty black comedy, packed with pop culture references and profanity, with Elizabethan drama? After revisiting “Heathers” at Ringwald’s sold-out opening night, I’d argue “no.” High school, when you’re an adolescent, is its own brutal, bloody battlefield, with alliances that are made and broken daily; this is likely why, though the original movie tanked at the box office,Heathers nonetheless endured to become a cult hit.

Want proof? Ringwald’s opening night performance of Heathers: The Musical was sold out, and the enthusiastic crowd wasn’t solely made up of nostalgic Gen-Xers out for a fun night in Ferndale. To wit, Heathers doesn’t just have scrunchies and shoulder pads; it has legs. READ THE REST HERE