Clueless: A New Musical – Trafalgar Theatre

Emma Flynn and Keelan McAuley in Clueless at the Trafalgar Theatre, London. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography

Clueless: A New Musical continues at the Trafalgar Theatre, London until 27 September 2025.

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

Another new musical based on a beloved teen movie, brought to theatre stages so that its original target audience can be parted with their cash? As if!

Amy Heckerling’s Clueless, which she wrote and directed as an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, is a 1995 film in which spoiled high school student Cher Horowitz meddles in her school friends’ love lives, only for her own to get all tangled up.

The film, a vehicle for Alicia Silverstone and with a cast that included Paul Rudd and the late Brittany Murphy, has rightly remained a cult classic ever since. And so, in a commercial theatre industry that has already adapted Mean Girls, Cruel Intentions, Legally Blonde and other films with similar appeal, a musical adaptation of Clueless was less a question of whether, but when.

Originally, that question was answered in 2018 by a jukebox musical, with a book by Heckerling and numbers including ‘Bye Bye Bye’, ‘Kids in America’ and more. But after a two-month, sold-out Off-Broadway run starring Dove Cameron, nothing further came of it – until this reworked version with new, original songs by KT Tunstall and lyrics by Glenn Slater (Sister Act, School of Rock).

The story remains the same. Heckerling’s book ensures that fans of the film are delivered all the sparkling dialogue that made the movie so popular. Emma Flynn’s Cher brings the same sense of endearing breeziness to the central character. The film’s voiceover narration translates less well to stage monologuing, but it’s still a fun interpretation of the movie brought to life.

But as this re-enactment continues it is clear that the songs aren’t contributing enough. Tunstall’s tunes are as bright and breezy as the setting, and Slater’s lyrics are fine. But in Cher’s words, the whole thing is a bit of a Monet: “From far away, it’s OK, but up close, it’s a big old mess.”

Spirited choreography from Lizzi Gee and some fun supporting roles, especially Max Mirza’s self-righteous Elton and a delightful turn from Blake Jordan as stoned skateboarder Travis, hint at greater possibilities, though.

By the interval, fans of the original film will be reminded why they love it so much, but might be feeling as if the stage adaptation is tainting the memory a little. Thankfully, Act II takes the big swings that a musical version needs.

That’s in evidence from two significant song and dance numbers. As Cher’s antagonistic stepbrother Josh (Keelan McAuley) starts to exhibit feelings of jealousy towards boys’ interest in her (they’re not blood relations, making the intra-familial emotions not quite so icky), he and a group of lawyerly interns break out a 1990s boyband style number, ‘Reasonable Doubts’, that amuses and thrills with wry jokes and somersaults that thrill.

Later, as school new arrival Christian (Isaac J Lewis, who copes with a character whose 1940s aesthetic from the movie is ramped up to a ridiculously cartoonish degree) takes Cher to a swing night, Rachel Kavanaugh’s production suddenly mutates into the sort of show that one hopes to see on a West End stage, but rarely does. Everything comes together – multiple plot lines converge and develop, the song I’m Keeping An Eye On You’ playing differently from character to character, the dancing is phenomenal – in a truly magnificent sequence.

There’s also plenty of kookiness elsewhere, aligned with the film’s vibe but also elevating it in places. Random objects within Mikiko Suzuki Macadams’ set transform into cars, and Cher’s comically large wardrobe unwraps from the wings before folding away into nothing. Perhaps the greatest non-musical sequence occurs when Cher, attempting to seduce Christian while being the only person on the planet unaware that he is gay, stumbles and flails around her bedroom. It is Flynn’s standout moment, a scene with physical comedy gag after gag that keeps the laughter coming.

Those moments feel like the musical is trying to argue its way from a C- to an A+. Unlike its protagonist, it doesn’t quite succeed, but it does at least aspire. In terms that Cher would understand, Clueless: A New Musical isn’t quite a Betty – but nor does it end as the Monet it threatened to be.

Scott Matthewman