Review Roundup: CLUELESS THE MUSICAL at the Trafalgar Theatre

Clueless is a new musical comedy based on the Paramount Pictures classic film. The modern spin on Jane Austen’s Emma gets another timeless makeover from the original film’s writer-director alongside a majorly acclaimed creative team.

Featuring a book by the iconic voice of a generation Amy Heckerling (writer-director of Clueless), an original score by the multi-platinum singer-songwriter KT Tunstall (writer and performer of such celebrated hits as “Suddenly I See” and “Black Horse and The Cherry Tree”), and lyrics by Grammy® winner and three-time Tony® nominee Glenn Slater (Sister Act The Musical, Tangled), Clueless is directed by the acclaimed Rachel Kavanaugh.

What did the critics think?

Clueless runs at the Trafalgar Theatre until 27 September

Photo Credit: Pamela Raith Photography

Debbie Gilpin, BroadwayWorld: Let’s get this clear from the beginning: if you’re trying to find some sort of deeper meaning behind this show, then quit while you’re ahead. Clueless the Musical exists as pure entertainment; a fun bit of escapism for what is still quite a bleak and dreary time - and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. The best thing about this production is that (unlike other film to stage adaptations like Dirty Dancing) it isn’t a complete carbon copy of the film, thanks to the multitude of original compositions that form the backbone of the show.

Alun Hood, WhatsOnStage: Gals and gays, welcome to your new favourite musical. Clueless, the West End tuner adapted from the 1995 teen film comedy, isn’t going to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, but my goodness, it’s a lot of fun. If you cheered on Elle Woods, harbour a secret crush on Regina George or fancied shopping in the Heathers’ candy store, you’re probably gonna love this.

Olivia Rook, London Theatre: Emma Flynn is the breakthrough star of this production. In the same way that the 1995 film put Alicia Silverstone on the Hollywood map, Clueless should help to make a star of picture-perfect New Yorker Flynn, whose bouncing blonde tresses and screeching Beverley Hills twang are quintessential Cher. Some moves have been made to add depth to her character, with soul-searching solos, but an opportunity has been missed to dig in more to her backstory, with a few, fleeting references to the passing of her mother who “died when I was two in a freak liposuction accident”.

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian: The songs, composed by KT Tunstall, are disappointingly flat-footed except for two belters accompanied by comically energised choreography. Reasonable Doubts, sung by Josh and the ensemble, is a magnificent ode to teen jealousy, while I’m Keeping an Eye on You, performed when Josh turns up to a dance to watch over Cher, is as winning. If the score could fizz with more numbers like these then what a blast this show might be. But the lyrics by Glenn Slater too often serve as exposition rather than raising the emotional drama.

Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out: The slightly random deployment of Tunstall does, however, feel emblematic of a frustrating vagueness at the heart of the Rachel Kavanaugh-directed Anglo-American production. It never feels as Californian as the film, and doesn’t quite know whether to play up its ‘90s setting or shrug it off. Tunstall’s tunes broadly go for ‘a bit of everything’ rather than committing to a specific vision. But at best it really works – the grunge pop of Human Barbies and the faux boyband jam Reasonable Doubts pastiche the styles of the decade nicely.

Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph: Granted, I’m not the ‘target’ demographic. But are millennials and Generation Z, especially those around the age of Heckerling’s high-schoolers, being catered for either? The evening adheres to a pre-digital age, where it’s cool to have a pager, despite the affinities between Cher and co’s image-consciousness and the selfie culture of today. Off-Broadway in 2018, the show featured 80s and 90s songs restyled with different lyrics. That unusual juke-box mode has been binned; here, instead, songwriter KT Tunstall and lyricist Glenn Slater have fashioned numbers designed to sound in keeping with the period but which are so generic they don’t ring with real-world authenticity.

Nick Curtis, The Standard: Omigod guys, Amy Heckerling’s musical adaptation of her 1995 film about a rich Beverley Hills brat finding wisdom and true love is, like, kinda fun. It features a powerfully-sung breakout performance from young New Yorker Emma Flynn as the plaid-clad protagonist Cher Horowitz. I could mutter about yet another risk-averse, cross-genre exploitation of existing intellectual property – not just of the movie but of its inspiration, Jane Austen’s Emma – but frankly it’s more fun to just enjoy it.

Paul Vale, The Stage: The whole show hangs on Emma Flynn’s gloriously upbeat portrayal of Cher. This is a musical about kids striving to be grown-ups in a playground for the rich; Cher is a genuinely difficult role to pitch, but Flynn, in her West End debut, captures Cher’s naivety perfectly. She injects character into Tunstall and Slater’s catchy original soundtrack and has a wonderful talent for physical comedy, which comes to the fore as she tries to make a move on Isaac J Lewis’ impossibly suave Christian.