Clueless, the teen comedy that transported Jane Austen’s Emma to mid-90s Sunset Boulevard populated by virginal learner drivers, is going to Broadway. The film’s director Amy Heckerling has confirmed that she has written the book for a new stage musical version of the 20-year-old movie.
Clueless will be a ‘jukebox musical’, which means that many of the songs will be pre-existing pop songs instead of original ones. Kristin Hanggi, a previous nominee for a Tony award for her work on Rock of Ages (another jukebox musical that was turned into a feature film starring Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, and Russell Brand), is set to direct the musical. While casting details have yet to be releasd, Heckerling has previously mention that US popstar Katy Perry had expressed an interest in playing the lead role of Cher Horrowitz.
Alicia Silverstone’s breakthrough role as the teen who affectionately meddles with the love lives of her Beverly Hills High classmates is now considered a classic movie of the 90s. The supporting cast included Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, and Paul Rudd.
It is, as yet, unclear when the Clueless stage show will debut on Broadway, and speaking to ET, Herckerling has acknowledged that it could take some time. . “It’s hard to know with Broadway when things will happen,” she said. “Everything goes so slowly… I thought movies took a long time.”
Attempts to bring the teen comedy to the musical Mecca of the New York theatre scene have been trying to get off the ground for years. Heckerling has been involved in creating the stage show version since at least 2012, and another attempt come to no fruition in 2009. But will the film still highly regarded by fans and eminently quotable, it seems that the days until a razzle-dazzle rendition of Rollin’ with my Homies takes the Tony Awards by storm are closer than ever before.