THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Book and original film by Amy Heckerling; Music by KT Tunstall; Lyrics by Glenn Slater
Trafalgar Theatre, 14 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2DY until September 27, 2025
Not another American High School musical, I hear you moan, based on an ‘80s/’90s Hollywood comedy, designed to press the nostalgia buttons of the now well-heeled 50-somethings ...who can afford the tickets?
Well, this is different. For starters, unlike the short-lived jukebox show version which ran off Broadway, this is a totally new, proper musical with all-original songs by Scottish recording star and Grammy nominee KT Tunstall and lyrics from musicals veteran Glenn ‘School of Rock’ Slater.
Unlike the competition this has a great pedigree. Heckerling’s hit move, now 30 years old (ouch!), was a joyous updating of Jane Austen’s Emma to Beverly Hills. It elevated the “Oh My Gaawd You Guyz” talk to a new plateau. The mores, gossip and pastimes of small town English society were translated into the classroom politics of a Californian high school with its milieu of balls and dresses and malls. The film had a razor sharp wit fused with hilarious social observation and it deservedly became a cult hit. This was evidenced in the audience I sat with, where many were channeling the yellow plaid outfits of the star.
The perfect opening number, titled ‘Perfect,’ does all that is needed of a musical theater song, establishing character and tone and moving the plot along. Tunstall and Slater’s songs blend seamlessly with Heckerling’s sublime book which is amiable and heartfelt and never cynical. The songs channel the spirit of the ‘90s with a dash of Lindy Hop even added to the party sequence.
A star is born in Emma Flynn, in her West End debut, who makes us forget Alicia Silverstone and reincarnates the eternal Cher Horowitz, whose unshakable confidence and optimism have to be pitched at a level where she’s funny but not grating. Convinced of her own matchmaking skills she thinks that a makeover, be it romantic or cosmetic, is all that is required to transform the lives of those less sartorially gifted than her. The joy of the book of course is her slow burn realization that she’s the one who is ‘clueless’.
Keelan McAuley provides solid support as the ‘do gooder’ Josh. Like in the best romcoms their union is telegraphed a mile off, but who cares? He has to navigate the journey from brother-like figure (whom she disses) to her eventual true love. Chyna-Rose Frederick has the sass to pull off Dionne, the archetypal wisecracking best friend of the heroine, while Romona Lewis-Malley (just out of drama school) is sweetly affecting as the hipster kid from New York trying to fit in without a tan.
Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams’s sets are inventive – sofas become cars – but they lack the lavishness a Broadway budget would provide. Thankfully, however, we’re spared projections, which, of late, seem to be replacing sets. Paloma Young’s costumes are always witty approximations of the LA bling and add to the sunny pastel-colored vivacity of the piece. The whole ensemble, in fact, is sunny and Lizzi Gee’s choreography takes fire in the second act adding to joyousness of it all.
Has it dated? Unexpectedly, one scene actually hasn’t. In the school debate Cher, in a cringe-making moment, at first frames asylum seekers as if they’re folk who crashed a party but then ends with the killer line “It does not say RSVP on the Statue of Liberty”. How’s that for accidentally hitting the zeitgeist. You Go grllll!
