Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The dynamically-staged musical adaptation of CLUELESS is simply breezy entertainment

• By drediman
• December 19, 2018
• No Comments

Dove Cameron and Zurin Villanueva in The New Group’s production of “Clueless, The Musical” at Pershing Square Signature Center. Photo by Monique Carboni.

This winter at the Pershing Square Signature Center, Clueless – that iconic high school flick from the 1990s – has been turned into a stage musical by Amy Heckerling for The New Group. Clueless, an update of Jane Austen’s novel “Emma”, tells the story of Cher, a fashionable, well-meaning high school blonde (deliciously played by Alicia Silverstone in the film) who plays surrogate and matchmaker to her fellow, less fortunate schoolmates. Unbeknownst to Cher, her charitable actions are merely subconscious ways of filling the emptiness in her own life.

Ms. Heckerling’s breezy stage adaptation takes a good chunk of the 1990s pop songbook – many of them with smartly reconstituted lyrics – and jams them into the movie’s plot. Like the best of the non-biomusical jukebox shows (Mamma Mia! quickly comes to mind), there are undeniably endorphins-generating “aha” moments scattered throughout, especially for us who grew up during the 1990s, when recognizable songs winningly intersect with the film’s equally recognizable plot. Nevertheless, Clueless, The Musical never digs deeper than the surface from an emotional perspective, much like its ditzy protagonist.

Director Kristin Hanggi and choreographer Kelly Devine take their cues from Casey Nicholaw’s dynamic, openly-staged work for the hit film-to-stage musical adaptation of Mean Girls on Broadway. As with that adaptation, this substitution of fast-paced seamlessness for specificity and harsher-edged satire makes for a generic product that never takes itself too seriously. That being said, this Clueless is never less then entertaining, mainly as a result of the work of the production’s spunky cast, which is led by Dove Cameron’s likable performance as Cher. But like the musical itself, I wish her performance had more bite and made bolder choices.

RECOMMENDED

CLUELESS, THE MUSICAL
Off-Broadway, Musical
The New Group at Pershing Square Signature Center
2 hours, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Through January 12