'Clueless' Musical Confirmed! Production, Casting & What to Expect in Film's Broadway Arrival
So you think that "Clueless" has been forgotten, right? As if!
The cult classic rom-com that catapulted Alicia Silverstone, Brittany Murphy, Stacey Dash, and Paul Rudd to stardom is getting a remake - on Broadway!
Back up.
In case you have no idea what this craze is all about, the film, which was released in 1995, is like, loosely based on Jane Austen's novel, "Emma," except that it is more modern and chic, of course, with crazy '90s fashion to match. If that still doesn't ring a bell, its IMDB synopsis read, "A rich high school student tries to boost a new pupil's popularity, but reckons without affairs of the heart getting in the way."
Amy Heckerling, the brains behind the '90s classic (she wrote and directed the film) told Entertainment Tonight that a musical version is in the works. She shared, "I've written the, what they call 'the book' and it's a jukebox musical."
Other than that, she didn't share much, even admitting that casting is going to be among the main problems of the project.
What she did share, however, is that the director behind "Rock of Ages," Kristin Hanggi, is set to helm the musical version of the beloved story, and it will be produced by Dodger Theatricals, which, according to E! News, is the same company behind "Jersey Boys," "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying", and the original Broadway production of "Into the Woods".
While the show hit theaters in 1995 and is celebrating its 20th anniversary in July, it is still considered socially relevant in the 21st century. Silverstone, who took the lead role in the film, told the Today Show that "the amazing thing about this movie is that it's still being discovered. I love when older people, like grandparents, tell me that they love this movie."
She declared, "That's very odd and wonderful. And then little people who are just discovering it now-it's just being passed on. It's timeless. Even though it captured that time so well it seems that people really identify with it."
However, while fans of the original film are excited to see it on stage, it seems that it will take a while to see the musical version. Variety reported that Heckerling cautioned on the slow process of producing live shows, saying that "Everything goes so slowly. I thought movies took a long time."