Clueless the Musical at Trafalgar Theatre – review round-up

Clueless the Musical – infectious or uninspired?

Some musical versions of movies follow the original film faithfully. Others stray from their source material. This adaptation of Clueless has a book by the film’s creator Amy Heckerling. What approach does she take? And does it find favour with the critics?

The challenge is to “make it a decent show in its own right, instead of a nostalgic retread with added jazz hands”, writes Alice Saville (Independent, ★★★). It “squeaks through”, sticking to the story “like chewing gum to the underside of a school desk” but with “just enough originality to make it feel like a stylish homage, not a cynical knock-off”.

For some, the result is a riotously fun evening. The show is “a witty, charming musical that winningly celebrates a great film” for Andrzej Lukowski (TimeOut, ★★★) and a “bright, breezy satire” that is “less cynical than Mean Girls and more fun than Heathers” for Paul Vale (The Stage, ★★★★). It “isn’t going to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, but my goodness, it’s a lot of fun”, writes Alun Hood (WhatsOnStage, ★★★★).

Other critics, however, are unimpressed. Clive Davis (Times, ★★★) finds it “clunky”, Dominic Cavendish (Telegraph, ★★★) calls it “muted” and “bloated” and Arifa Akbar (Guardian, ★★) labels it a “lumbering hybrid” of a show. “The theatrical deification of the 1990s evidently continues apace, for the worse,” she concludes.

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Clueless the Musical – disappointing direction

Rachel Kavanaugh has spent three decades staging shows, working extensively at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre, running Birmingham Rep for five years, and earning acclaim for her stagings of Half a Sixpence and A Christmas Carol. Does this production please the press, too?

Not particularly. There is plenty of praise for Lizzi Gee’s choreography – it is “superlative” for Vale – but the reviewers are less than impressed by Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams’ set. “If the film is all Beverly Hills swank, the production values on display here are more Bicester Village,” writes Davis. The set is “less than lavish” and the costumes “lack pizzazz”. You “expect a little more swagger from a West End production”.

Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall is still best known for her 2004 debut album Eye to the Telescope, which featured the hits Other Side of the World and Suddenly I See. Here, she collaborates with Tony-nominated American lyricist Glenn Slater.

Some like their score – it is “infuriatingly catchy” for Hood and “bright and breezy” for Patrick Marmion (Daily Mail, ★★★★) – but others are underwhelmed, with Cavendish condemning it as “generic” and Akbar damning it as “disappointingly flat-footed”, but concurring with other critics that two songs, Reasonable Doubts and I’m Keeping an Eye on You, are “belters”.

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Clueless the Musical – fabulous Flynn

Actor Emma Flynn trained in Connecticut and is now based in New York City. She only has a handful of professional credits to her name, but is now making her West End debut as Cher Horowitz, the character memorably originated by Alicia Silverstone.

She impresses everyone. Flynn is “gloriously upbeat” with “a wonderful talent for physical comedy” according to Vale and “provides a lovely turn that captures Cher’s charm and unexpected depths” according to Lukowski. For Sarah Hemming (Financial Times, ★★★), her “lovely mix of sweet and smug” makes her a “perfect” Cher.

“With her pouts, hair-flicks and swishy pelmet skirts, she somehow channels both Alicia Silverstone in the original movie and Sabrina Carpenter today, while making the role entirely her own,” writes Nick Curtis (Standard, ★★★★½). She demonstrates “a sophisticated, clownish physicality, too” in a “powerfully-sung, breakout performance”.

“A scintillating comedienne with a steely, supple belt”, Flynn gives “the most entrancing West End musical debut since Eva Noblezada broke our hearts in Miss Saigon”, agrees Hood. “If musical theatre still creates stars, then Flynn unquestionably is one.”

Clueless the Musical – the verdict

Some critics like Clueless, accepting that it is yet another musical adaptation of an American movie, but insisting it’s still good fun and features a few catchy tunes. Others, however, are underwhelmed by Rachel Kavanaugh’s staging, KT Tunstall and Glenn Slater’s score, and by the overall idea of faithfully sliding another film from screen to stage. The only thing everyone agrees on is that Emma Flynn is fabulous in her West End debut.

Four-star reviews from The Stage, WhatsOnStage, and the Daily Mail – and a four-and-a-half review from the Evening Standard – contrast with a two-star write-up from The Guardian, with the rest awarding of the reviewers awarding three stars.