Mean Girls has become a West End hit, Heathers is on tour and now Clueless is becoming a high-school musical, too. The 1995 film has been adapted for the stage by its original writer-director, Amy Heckerling, with a new score by Scottish musician KT Tunstall. It will open at the Trafalgar theatre in London in February, marking 30 years since the release of the film which put a 90s LA spin on Jane Austen’s Emma.
Performing a handful of songs at an event in London on Monday, Tunstall said that she aimed to capture the range of genres on the film’s popular soundtrack, which included Radiohead, Coolio, the Lightning Seeds, Supergrass and the Beastie Boys. “I want you to feel like you’re at a gig with all of your favourite 90s artists playing in one show,” she said. “And not just have a theatre experience but a concert experience [as the band] jump from one genre to the next.” Tunstall, whose hits include Suddenly I See and who received an Ivor Novello award this year for outstanding song collection, said the production also aimed to emulate the world of 90s MTV.
Clueless will have lyrics by Glenn Slater who wrote songs for the stage adaptations of The Little Mermaid, Sister Act and School of Rock. It will be directed by Rachel Kavanaugh who said the original film was the best of the era’s teen romantic comedies and “full of heart and warmth where some of the others aren’t”. Hailing Heckerling as a trailblazing female writer-director in Hollywood, Kavanaugh said “it’s such a privilege to have her writing the book for this musical”. A self-declared Austen obsessive, Kavanaugh said the musical would delve into the minutiae of friendship groups, the class structure and social mores.
Casting has not yet been announced for the musical. The film made a star of Alicia Silverstone in the role of Cher Horowitz, a popular student at Beverly Hills High who takes charge of a friend’s makeover. Kavanaugh said that the costumes are currently being designed and that Cher’s beloved yellow plaid would be present and correct among them. Joking that Tunstall had described that as “our DeLorean”, the director said the designs would be “absolutely recognisable [from the film] but not a carbon copy. Also, they’re going to have to dance in these outfits.” Kelly Devine (Come from Away) is the musical’s choreographer.
At the launch of the musical, Tunstall performed versions of several songs including Human Barbies, written in the style of Green Day for the character Josh (played in the film by Paul Rudd). “He is watching Cher sort of manipulating people to be what she thinks they should be,” said Tunstall of the song, which features the line “Barbies only bend so far before they break”. Numbers from Cher’s perspective include New Girl, Whatever and the title song, which ends the musical and has the refrain “As if!”, one of the film’s famous quotes. A version of the song, performed by Tunstall, will be featured on an EP released before the production opens.
An off-Broadway musical adaptation of Clueless opened in 2018 and featured Heckerling’s humorous new lyrics for songs from the 90s. Aqua’s Barbie Girl became Valley Girl and Joan Osborne’s One of Us was rejigged as “What if Cher didn’t have a trust?”