Clueless The Musical - Churchill Bromley / Trafalgar

It’s a truly terrible poster.

Still, something for the Heathers crowd I suppose.

“My plastic surgeon doesn’t want me doing any activity where balls are flying at my nose.”

Whether or not this show is any good, it just gets me down that it is yet another musical based on a film about teenage girls at an American high school. They all feel interchangeable to me. I realise that it's a case of 'this sells, so let's do another.'

I was having a conversation the other day about who the predominant audience is for new musical theatre, and was saying that I always assumed the main theatre-going audience was older people who had disposable income, and I was wondering why there were so few new 'adult' shows in the vein of classics like My Fair Lady, South Pacific, Fiddler, Company, Evita etc etc. My friend responded that the cost of mortgages, childcare etc is so high these days that theatre is largely the preserve now of younger people who are working but have no dependents. But then another friend disagreed and said that most theatre audiences are older people whose children have left home and that producers ae desperate to try and attract a young demographic to something that is still seen as a relatively elitist and privileged pastime.

I wondered what other people thought about this, and if they can explain the overwhelming plethora of youth-orientated musicals.

Or... is the audience for this people who were young in the nineties and now just want nostalgia???

Shall be going to see this but going to hold out on booking as the prices are a tad steep, shall look to nab these in the new year sale!!

Hilariously, you pay MORE for previews!

I'm not doubting it's good. I'll probably really enjoy it. It's just that it feels like there's a bit of a production line at the moment of nineties/noughties high school films being musicalized, coupled with a wider trend for shows with teen/early twenties protagonists generally talking about identity, dating etc. and I wondered why that was the current zeitgeist, and wishing there was a bit more of a broad selection of new musicals to choose from. 

I'd love a small theatre do either the original Chicago Grease or, more plausibly, the original Broadway version. It would obviously have to be marketed carefully, because some of the most familiar songs would be missing!

Good point well made.

Theatre is a business so producers look at trends on what works and what doesn't work. Serious musicals aren't in trend at the moment and I don't blame producers for relying on IP, big names and/or lighter fare.

Whenever a classic musical has gone out either on tour on in London recently they have really struggled. ‘Anything Goes’ and ‘The King & I’ to name but two were comp-tastic throughout. It’s a bit reductive to generalise that old things are being brushed aside in favour of new for any reason other than they are less financially successful. Look at ‘Dolly’! Lovely idea, relatively well executed…comps & discounts all over the shop. A blend of the two is a healthy median.

Sarna Lapine out as director.

Rachel Kavanaugh in.

Loved the performers in this at Bromley, but the show itself never lifted off.

Here's hoping..

I read either in the program notes or an interview with the Heathers (musical) creators that they were expecting an audience demographic of people who remembered the film the first time round but what they actually ended up with is an audience much closer to high school age.