As if! Cult 90s film Clueless gets musical makeover
Cher Horowitz has brought her life of Beverly Hills high fashion, friendship and matchmaking to London’s West End, as classic 1990s teen film Clueless has been given a musical makeover.
Clueless has been brought to the stage by the film’s original writer and director Amy Heckerling – who says keeping the 90s theme was integral to the show.
Heckerling insists she has “no interest in being modern” – which will come as a relief to the audiences who grew up quoting “As if!” and aspiring to Cher’s plaid and Prada-filled wardrobe.
The story follows the life of the naïve and lovably spoiled teenager, who plays matchmaker with her friends before ultimately finding love herself.
An adaption of Jane Austen’s Emma, Clueless captured the teen spirit of the 90s and inspired countless school dramas like Mean Girls, Gossip Girl and Legally Blonde.
The stage version has songs in the form of an original score by singer-songwriter KT Tunstall.
Speaking to the BBC, Tunstall says the film was “omnipotent” in the 90s and influenced everything from the clothes people wore to the music people listened to.
The Scottish singer, best known for songs like Black Horse and the Cherry Tree and Suddenly I See, says working on the show was a “dream project”.
She says the original soundtrack was a big inspiration, and describes the music as “a mixtape of all your favourite 90s bangers”.
The process of creating the soundtrack for Clueless: The Musical was intense for Tunstall, who says it’s no easy feat to add music to an adaptation of a film that didn’t originally have it.
“You really have to think about whether a song fits the structure and flow of the story and whether it actually helps the audience understand the narrative better,” she says.
Heckerling says she actually wishes the film had been a musical because “there were natural moments in the script where characters could have sung”.
“Those types of films weren’t very common in the 90s but I’m glad we could add in music now,” she says.
Critics had mixed thoughts about the new songs – the Guardian called them “disappointingly flat-footed” in a two-star review and said the lyrics “too often serve as exposition rather than raising the emotional drama”.
Similarly, the Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish wrote that the show has “numbers designed to sound in keeping with the period but which are so generic they don’t ring with real-world authenticity”.
But What’sOnStage praised Tunstall’s “infuriatingly catchy tunes” and Glenn Slater’s “nifty, witty lyrics”.
For Emma Flynn, who is making her West End debut as Cher, the music has another important function in the show – it allows characters to easily share their inner thoughts with the audience.
“In the film you hear these really funny inner monologues of Cher, but the great thing about this show is you can hear all of the character’s thoughts, which makes you feel more connected to them.”
Flynn has been praised by critics, with the Evening Standard noting her “powerfully-sung breakout performance” and describing it as channelling “both Alicia Silverstone in the original movie and Sabrina Carpenter today, while making the role entirely her own”.
Co-star Keelan McAuley, who plays nerdy Josh, tells the BBC he loves the play’s nostalgia factor.
“The flip phone was the most advanced technology they had in the 90s and there’s something so enchanting about a time where there was no access to social media,” he says.
Nostalgia fest
The show stays almost entirely true to the 1995 film, with everyone sporting the latest 90s fashions, carrying a glitzy pager, and listening to angsty teen bangers on a Walkman.
While it may feel like a nostalgia fest, Heckerling admits she doesn’t “like to stick to real life”, and even her sunny film was far from the reality of what the 90s were like for most teenagers in LA, with race riots and other political problems.
The Independent’s three-star review says the show “sticks to the original movie like chewing gum to the underside of a school desk” at first, but changes tack by the second half.
“[Director Rachel] Kavanaugh and Heckerling gain the confidence to part ways a bit from the movie’s script, and to let the story’s heart show,” Alice Saville wrote.
For Tunstall, what sets Clueless apart from traditional rom-coms and high school dramas is that there isn’t a typical villain and there’s no nastiness or bad intentions from the main characters.
Jane Austen famously thought her main character wouldn’t be a widely liked heroine, but Tunstall says she is often people’s favourite character because of her honesty and depth.
“People can relate to her on a deeper level, like how she is trying to process the death of her mother and help keep her family in order.
“Those themes are universal and that’s what makes this story so enduring.”
