Theatre review: Clueless

If there's a musical theatre assembly line more relentless than the one that produces Strallens, it's the one that adapts classic teen movies for the stage, and the latest is Amy Heckerling (book,) KT Tunstall (music) and Glenn Slater's Clueless, based on Heckerling's 1995 film, itself based loosely on Jane Austen's Emma. Set among the obscenely wealthy and spectacularly un-self-aware teens of Beverly Hills, Cher (Emma Flynn) sees herself as the school's problem-solver and matchmaker, although she's regularly challenged on her supposedly altruistic motives by her ex-stepbrother Josh (Keelan McAuley,) acquired during one of her father's brief marriages. When grungy New Yorker Tai (Romona Lewis-Malley) transfers to the school, Cher and best friend Dionne (Chyna-Rose Frederick) take her on as a project.

After the obligatory makeover sequence, Cher ignores Tai's obvious reciprocated interest in skater Travis (Blake Jordan,) to try and set her up with obnoxious it-boy Elton (Max Mirza.)

Her titular cluelessness extends to her own love life, as she thinks she's started dating new boy Christian (Isaac J Lewis,) who actually thinks he's been clear about the fact that he's gay and just wants a best friend; while not noticing her real romantic chemistry is with Josh. And yeah, that's pretty much it as far as the entire plot's concerned, if anything I might be embellishing it a bit.

It's essentially an excuse for a bunch of comic setpieces, from shopping expeditions to parties, so it's structurally a pretty good match to a musical, giving an opportunity for each of these scenes to get its own song. Tunstall and Slater's songs are fun toe-tappers but fairly functional and forgettable, while Heckerling's script is largely happy to stick to the original '90s setting and gags from the film. In fact the strongest moments come when the two combine, as when Josh and a group of paralegals turn into an entertainingly accurate Backstreet Boys parody band.

Overall as far as recent screen-to-stage musicals go Clueless falls pretty much in the middle in terms of quality: It's far from the joyless, will-this-do cash-grab of The Devil Wears Prada, but neither is it up there with the sheer amound of obvious loving care lavished on making Mean Girls both familiar and brand-new. One thing I did really like about the way the show's put together is how it shares out the showstopping moments across the entire cast, with every member of the ensemble getting at least a few solo lines and a couple, like James Lim's Club Singer, taking the lead on whole songs.

But Flynn does also shine in the lead, both vocally and in terms of personality - in the second act Rachel Kavanaugh's production really lets her take on a lot more silly physical humour and the show's all the better for it. (This act also essentially forgets Dionne and Rabi Kondé as her boyfriend Murray exist, but I'm not sure you can  expect this to be a story that necessarily pays attention even to itself.)

This was my present to my sister for her birthday, so I went with her, Phill and Alex - they were all impressed with the cast's energy in carrying out Lizzi Gee's choreography, while it's probably fair to say Alex thought the comic highlight was how much of the furniture in Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams' set turned into cars. All in all this is a fun and well-produced addition to the musical landscape, but not one I'd call essential.

Clueless by Amy Heckerling, KT Tunstall and Glenn Slater, based on the film by Amy Heckerling and Emma by Janes Austen, is booking until the 27th of September at the Trafalgar Theatre.

Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Pamela Raith.