Annotations for Michelle duffy daniel cooney barrett wilbert weed elle mclemore and ryan mccartan dead girl walking reprise

Lyric: The boiler room
Annotation:
This is, once again, highlighting what an awful teacher Ms. Fleming is. A  good teacher would have immediately become suspicious, but Ms. Fleming just freely gives out information, and when she does ask Veronica what’s happening, a couple of lines later, but she allows Veronica to not answer, and when she rushes off to the boiler room, Ms. Fleming goes back to cheering, even though Veronica’s tone was incredibly urgent, and it was very obvious that something was wrong.

Lyric: Ms. Fleming, what’s under the gym?
Annotation:
This is Veronica trying to figure out where J.D. is going to plant is bombs. She knows that it is going to happen during the pep rally, so something around the gym is the logical explanation she came up with. Fortunately she was right

Lyric: This is just to trigger the packs of thermals upstairs in the gym
Annotation:
JD uses the same tactic that his father uses to knock down buildings, small bombs in the basement that trigger a larger explosion on higher levels.

Lyric: Comin’ to put you in the ground
Annotation:
This is not only refering to the fact that Westerberg will beat their competition but also they will be “put in the ground” if the bomb goes off and they die

Lyric: Veronica, what’s going on?
Annotation:
This echoes JD’s line in Dead Girl Walking, “Veronica, what are you doing in my room?”

Lyric: Veronica!
 Jason Dean told me you just committed suicide
Annotation:
The way she says this, she sounds almost disappointed because Veronica didn’t kill herself or maybe angry about it. Veronica killing herself would  have given Ms. Fleming more TV cameras, and that is what she really wants.

Lyric: And there’s your final bell
Annotation:
And in that exact moment, the bell rings.

Lyric: Westerberg will knock you out
Annotation:
The term “knock you out” is referring to both the cheer that cheerleaders are performing above the boiler room where they are hoping to knock out the other team out of the game, and the fight that is taking place in the boiler room where J.D. and Veronica are trying to get the other weak enough to either get rid of the bomb or keep it there, or they could knock someone out. something else to note is that it is this line where you can start hearing a beeping in the background, reminiscent of a bomb or fire alarm. This is right before the gunshot is heard at the end of the song. This makes the song sound like a bomb is going off when Veronica shoots JD.

Lyric: Yeah, yeah
Annotation:
This could be mere vocalizing, but I see it as Veronica both steeling her resolve and psyching herself up for the ensuing confrontation between her and JD. She’s basically thinking, “Yeah, I’m gonna do this. I gotta do this!”

Lyric: Can’t hide from me
Annotation:
This could be a nod to “Yo Girl” which previously stated Veronica must be crazy to think she could hide from JD. Now, taking control of her life, Veronica has flipped this metaphor around, putting herself in the position of power rather than JD.

Lyric: Tell me, what’s that sound?
Annotation:
This lyric might refer to the fight going on just beneath them between Veronica and J.D. The line seems ironic, as they could be hinting towards the fight, but they wouldn’t be able to hear it anyways.

Lyric: Oh, I threw together a lovely tribute
 Especially considering the short notice
Annotation:
Ms. Fleming has been making a show of the students' suicides. She has been bringing it to the attention of the media and using it to bring attention to herself and the school. She could also be using the media attention to glorify herself as she makes such a big deal of  “healing” the students. This is, again, showing how shady of a character Ms. Fleming is, and how she seems to actually be looking forward to the “suicides,” since they make her feel/seem more important.

Lyric: Comin’ to put you in the ground
Annotation:
A euphemism for being buried at a funeral, referencing what would have been the impending death of all of Westerberg if Veronica hadn’t stopped J.D.

Lyric: Yeah? Well, he’s wrong about a lot of things
Annotation:
This is most likely Veronica referencing to J.D.’s view on society, and how he believes it’s up to him to rid the world of people who—in his point of view—corrupt society, by killing them. It could also be referencing  “Our Love Is God”, when J.D. used “Ich Luge” (I’m Lying) bullets.

Lyric: [VERONICA]
Annotation:
The ghosts of Heather C, Kurt, and Ram walk beside Veronica as she heads to school, singing these lines.

Lyric: I let his anger fester and infect me
Annotation:
Veronica really goes through some character development. We first see her as this outsider who is having a hard time in high school, but believes that things can get better. Once she’s accepted, she is happy to be part of the Heathers; however, she soon she realizes how mean they are. This leads her to team up with J.D. He is the main reason for Heather Chandler, Kurt, and Ram’s deaths. Although in both cases Veronica did not want to kill anyone, she did intend to humiliate them. J.D manipulated her into helping him by putting their “love” on a pedestal.  This song is REALLY significant to Veronica’s character. Throughout the show, she blames herself for J.D.’s actions. While she is at fault to a degree for her compliance with him, she realizes it’s up to her to take him down and put an end to all this by cutting it off at the start.

Lyric: Tell me, what’s that sound?
Annotation:
While this is part of the Westerberg cheerleader’s battle cry, it’s a possible ironic nod to the ticking of the bombs planted immediately around the students and the gym. Of course, over the ruckus, the students probably can’t hear them.

Lyric: That’s it
Annotation:
Spoken rather plainly by Veronica, she’s immediately realized the boiler room is where J.D. is due to a couple previous bits of information she’s absorbed from being around JD: Since J.D.’s father (accidentally) killed his wife in the exact same fashion, it would make sense J.D. would first consider doing the same and take the idea from his father. Veronica realizes this instantly, most likely because J.D. and his father implied (in front of Veronica) that J.D.’s mother was killed this way. The two of them don’t do the best job of sugarcoating the fact that JD’s dad was responsible, either.

Lyric: Got no time to talk, I’m a dead girl walkin’
Annotation:
This line is sung with almost the same inflection as  this line in “Dead Girl Walking”. The only changes are “talk” replacing “knock”, and Veronica’s tone being more soft and sultry in the original. Both lines are also sung before Veronica calls an occupied J.D. to her attention. The change in tone, as well as the change in instrument, highlights the difference between the two situations, and Veronica and J.D.’s overall plot arc in their relationship. The first expresses Veronica’s soft compassion for J.D., while the reprise highlights her determination in stopping him. Here, Veronica’s holding up her croquet mallet from earlier, implying that she’s going to attack J.D. with it.

Lyric: I wish you’d come with me
Annotation:
Veronica gives a little taste of another part of her character, specifically on this line; she’s giving J.D. a second chance, even though he doesn’t really deserve one, especially after murdering three people and attempting to destroy the whole school and everyone inside. Veronica sees in everyone the potential to be good; as shown in  “Beautiful”, she believes that even the Heathers could be good people and return to the way they were before. In addition, Veronica could also be giving the same proposal as she did in ‘Seventeen’. Perhaps she is asking JD to leave this mission, come with her, and maybe they can try to form an actual healthy relationship. She points out that the people that have died had the opportunity to learn and grow as adults. She saw change in her classmates ( “Beautiful”) and change in JD (from  “Freeze Your Brain” to now). So why can’t he change again?

Lyric: His solution is a lie, no one here deserves to die
Annotation:
Veronica finally acknowledges that JD has been very manipulative in selling his agenda to her as a solution. She also realizes that she herself has assigned blame and harbored hatred due to this false solution. Even though the “society is all bad” rhetoric is what JD sees himself, Veronica has been fed it as if it would be better for her as well. Her finally building up a fighting spirit has led her to see how JD, and her previous self, was not in their right mind. A huge stretch here, but the “solution” part of the song could be an  The Final Solution. The “solution” in this context would be to kill all of Westerberg by letting J.D.’s bombs blow up. If not a stretch, it’s fittingly edgy for his character. this line also shows Veronica’s character development. as we saw in Beautiful, she said “fight the urge to strike a match and set this dump ablaze.” obviously she wouldn’t actually act on this urge, but you can see how her feelings have changed towards the school in general

Lyric: [J.D. laughs]
Annotation:
J.D. chuckles lightly here. It’s possible he’s laughing because she fooled him with her fake suicide but more likely he’s laughing at Veronica for thinking that the trigger bomb is a bomb, when it’s the thermals that are the  real bombs. Either way, it gives us a clue that J.D. isn’t the J.D. that Veronica fell in love with. He’s something more sinister.

Lyric: I wanted someone strong who could protect me
Annotation:
An obvious nod to the earlier song,  “Fight For Me”.

Lyric: People are gonna see the ashes of Westerberg High School and they’re gonna think, “There’s a school that self-destructed not because society doesn’t care, but because that school was society”
 The only place that Heathers and Marthas can get along is in Heaven
Annotation:
J.D sees High School as a microcosmos for society. He thinks people like the Heathers (popular people) and Marthas (losers/outsiders) will never get along and that all of them deserve to die. Later Veronica proves him wrong: Heather McNamara, Martha and she become friends proving that death is not the solution but kindness is.  J.D. sings this while pointing a gun at Veronica, loading it when he says “Heaven”.

Lyric: It’s one more dance and then farewell (Ah)
 Cheek to cheek in hell with a dead girl walkin’
Annotation:
The phrase “cheek to cheek” usually refers to people dancing close together in a romantic way, so close their cheeks would touch. Veronica uses the phrase cheek to cheek with a sense of humor referring to the standoff she is going to have with JD. Additionally, since the boiler room is underground, she’s saying it’s hell.

Lyric: I wish I had more TNT
Annotation:
J.D. snarls this at Veronica with great fury. He does not feel guilt for what he is doing and what Veronica is saying to him does not change his determination to blow up the school. He cuts her off because he does not care what she says anymore, he is a sociopath with a taste for blood and he will no longer stop until the school is destroyed. J.D.’s suicidal and self-destructive tendencies were first mentioned in mentioned in  “Freeze Your Brain”. This line might be said out of malice against Veronica, but based on his sacrifice in a few minutes, he might be lashing out against everything Westerburg and his society at large represent to him. This is like the point of no return for J.D. Veronica’s still trying to save him, still holding out hope for him, and all he’s thinking is that he has to blow up the school.

Lyric: Except for me and the monster I created
Annotation:
She blames herself for the deaths of Ram, Kurt, and Heather Chandler. She feels the guilt of those deaths while J.D. does not. It also seems that she’s blamed herself for the way that J.D. has turned out; the abuse tactics J.D. used to place most of the blame on Veronica previously in  “Meant To Be Yours” makes Veronica feel as though she is at fault for J.D.’s actions. While she may have a small contribution in staying with J.D. and aiding him, she is a victim of his manipulation and had very little choice in the matter. The “Except for me” may be a nod to later in the musical when Veronica attempts to commit suicide using the bomb J.D. had set up.

Lyric: I’m a dead girl walkin’
Annotation:
Veronica reprises her line from  “Dead Girl Walking”, but this time, she hasn’t given up hope. She’s “dead” yet walking because 1) she faked her death, 2) she’s undergone a classic hero’s transformation and rebirth — she’s been through hell, in the form of JD’s madness and cruelty, and is reborn hard, ready to kill to protect her classmates — and 3) she is not just willing to die to stop JD, she fully expects to die and accepts it as a price for her sins.

Lyric: And send you straight to—
Annotation:
In the original Off-Broadway production, this line is cut off by the sound of a gunshot. Veronica and J.D. had been fighting for the gun and it is unclear who got shot until she backs away and he falls to the ground.

Lyric: I wish your mom had been a little stronger
 I wish she’d stayed around a little longer
 I wish your dad were good
 I wish grown-ups understood
 I wish we’d met before they convinced you life is war
Annotation:
Veronica is still believing in JD, even after all the stuff he put her through – killing people around her and traumatizing her, and both murders were killings she wasn’t even aware wasn’t going to kill the person. But she’s trying to tell him she forgives him, and she feels as though if his childhood was better, he would’ve grown up to have been a better person, and the events in the musical wouldn’t have happened. When Veronica mentions she wishes grown-ups understood, she could  possibly be referring to Yo Girl in which her mother is told by JD that her daughter is suicidal, and she pleads with her telling her that she understands how she feels, and she retaliates by telling her that she doesn’t know what her world looks like. One of the key points of the musical are adults not understanding what’s happening to their children, and believing that it’s all just a phase, and they don’t truly understand what’s happening.

Lyric: Westerberg will knock you out
 And send you straight to hell
Annotation:
Especially since this is unusually violent language for a high school cheer team, this seems to double as a cheer for Veronica, who is about to send J.D. to hell. Another meaning as well could be that Veronica stands with Westerberg and J.D is the opposing force. In a sense, J.D. was right about high school messing up Veronica’s mind—we’ve seen how stressful high school is for everybody, ever since the opening song. Westerburg High School, with its cliques and rivals and power plays and tangled relationships, nearly does get the entire student and faculty population sent to hell via J.D.’s bomb. In addition, these lines may be here to highlight the dramatic irony in the juxtaposition of the cheer and the very real impending deaths of these students.

Lyric: Hey yo, Westerberg
Annotation:
This is the voices of all of the students at the pep rally. The pep rally is often shown on a platform above and behind the Veronica-J.D. confrontation. There’s a song in the musical called “Hey, yo, Westerberg!”, in which they are practicing for their pep rally. This occurs right before J.D. confronts Heather Duke.

