Ava DeMary and Jeanette Bayardelle Will Join the Cast of HEATHERS THE MUSICAL

Ava DeMary and Tony Award nominee Jeanette Bayardelle will join the cast of Heathers The Musical next month. DeMary will play the role of Heather McNamara, and Bayardelle will play Ms. Fleming/Veronica’s Mom. The pair will begin performances on Wednesday, June 24 at New World Stages. 

Current cast members Elizabeth Teeter will play her final performance as Heather McNamara on Sunday, June 21, and Lisa Ann Walter will play her final performance as Ms. Fleming/Veronica’s Mom on Monday, June 22.

Ava DeMary will be making her Off-Broadway debut in Heathers. She has performed in the Broadway companies of Evita and Billy Elliot: The Musical, as well as the original Broadway cast of Matilda. On screen, she’s appeared most recently in HBO Max Original’s Sweethearts, A24’s After Yang and on television in “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin,” “New Amsterdam,” and “Elsbeth.” 

Jeanette Bayardelle will return to the New York stage after her run in Paper Mill Playhouse’s Come From Away. She was in the original Broadway cast of The Color Purple, later stepping into the role of Celie. Her other Broadway credits include Hair, &Juliet and Girl From The North Country, for which she earned a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

About Heathers

Heathers began performances on June 22, 2025 at New World Stages, where it opened to the largest advance in the venue’s 21-year history, and has broken the house record four times. The production recently extended its run for the third time, and is now playing through September 6, 2026.

Heathers features book, music and lyrics by Kevin Murphy (Reefer Madness The Musical) & Laurence O’Keefe (Legally Blonde The Musical, Bat Boy The Musical), based on the film by Daniel Waters. The production, directed by Andy Fickman, officially opened on July 10, 2025.

Welcome to Westerberg High, where popularity is a matter of life and death, and Veronica Sawyer is just another nobody dreaming of a better day. But when she’s unexpectedly taken under the wings of The Heathers – three beautiful and impossibly cruel classmates all named Heather – her dreams of popularity finally start to come true. That is until J.D., the mysterious teen rebel, turns up and teaches her that it might kill to be a nobody, but it’s murder being a somebody.

Heathers currently stars Isabella Esler as Veronica Sawyer; John Cardoza as Jason “J.D.” Dean; Zan Berube as Heather Chandler, Jackera Davis as Heather Duke; Elizabeth Teeter as Heather McNamara through June 21, with Ava DeMary starting June 24; Lisa Ann Walter as Ms. Fleming/Veronica’s Mom (through June 22), with Jeanette Bayardelle starting June 24; Erin Morton as Martha Dunnstock; Chris Marsh Clark as Ram Sweeney; Cade Ostermeyer as Kurt Kelly; Adam Bashian as Ram’s Dad/Big Bud Dean/Coach Ripper and Jimmy Ray Bennett as Kurt’s Dad/Veronica’s Dad/Principal Gowan.

The cast also features Sara Al-Bazali (Standby Veronica Sawyer, Heather Chandler), Thalia Atallah (Swing – Drama Club Drama Queen, u/s Heather McNamara, Heather Duke, Martha), Emma Benson (Swing – Midwestern Surfer Punk, u/s Heather McNamara, Martha, Ms. Fleming), James Caleb Grice (Ensemble – Beleaguered Geek/Officer McCord, u/s J.D., Kurt, Ram), Louis Griffin (Swing – Fresh Prince of Ohio, u/s J.D., Ram, Kurt’s Dad), Devin Lewis (Ensemble – Hipster Dork, u/s J.D., Kurt, Ram), Kiara Michelle Lee (Ensemble – Young Republicanette, u/s Veronica, Heather Chandler, Heather Duke), Syd Sider (Ensemble – Stoner Chick, u/s Martha, Ms. Fleming), and Cecilia Trippiedi (Ensemble – New Wave Party Girl, u/s Veronica, Heather Chandler, Heather McNamara).

Based on the 1989 cult film that starred Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, Heathers originally opened in Los Angeles for a sold-out run in 2013 and transferred to Off-Broadway’s New World Stages in 2014. Heathers has had three smash hit West End productions and three tours, which have broken box office records throughout the UK and Ireland. Heathers won the 2019 WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Musical and in 2022 was filmed for streaming on The Roku Channel.