It’s a forgone conclusion that, in addition to your favorite film franchise being rebooted, it’s going to have a broadway musical made about it as well. Such has been the case with the likes of School of Rock and Legally Blonde. Such will be the case with the likes of 1995's Clueless. Amy Heckerling, who wrote and directed the original film, also handled the musical adaptation, and while she says the stage version is coming, it’s not coming nearly fast enough for her taste.
Amy Heckerling is responsible for some incredibly popular films, including the Look Who’s Talking series and the 1980s classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High. However, one of the films at the top of the list has to be her modern retelling of Jane Austen's Emma, Clueless. Entertainment Weekly spoke with the writer on the eve of a retrospective of her greatest films, being hosted in New York. When asked what the future held for her, Heckerling brought up the musical, which she sounds to be both looking forward to, and incredibly frustrated by.
We’re starting workshopping in the fall, but I’m just like, ‘Why can’t we do it right now?’ I wrote this a while ago, so we have a reading and they give me notes, and then, ‘Put this in, put that back, put it in, put it back.’
The workshop stage of a Broadway musical usually takes place fairly early on. It’s essentially a very rough rendition of the full musical, shown to potential investors or producers in order to generate interest, and, most importantly, money.
While Amy Heckerling’s name, as well as that of Clueless itself, bode well for the future of the production, there’s no guarantee at the workshop stage that the musical will ever even see the light of day. Since Heckerling has been working on the musical since at least 2014, it’s understandable that she’s getting a little tired of waiting. She still has the entire summer in front of her before the workshop even starts. Depending on how that goes, there could still be significant changes to the musical needed before Clueless is able to raise the necessary funds to produce a Broadway-level musical. As it sounds like the rewrites that she’s already done have been getting to her, she’s surely not looking forward to that happening.
So, if you’ve been waiting patiently for Cher and friends to sing and dance, you’ll need to wait a little longer. It could still be years before Clueless takes the Broadway stage. How much would you like to see a Clueless musical? Let us know in the comments.
