Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
The New Groups production ofClueless, the Musicalwill close its two-month, sold-out Off Broadway run this Saturday.
All the emails between us have been like,Onward, onward.
And nobody has messed with lyrics because thats likeverboten.
But Heckerling did, taking an array of recognizable tunes Little Miss Cant Be Wrong?
But how did you start figuring out which other songs you wanted to use?
That felt very organic to what I would be doing on stage.
I mean, you make somebody over, you sing a song.
Im guessing that the process of getting the rights to some of these songs was complicated.
I always just went full speed ahead with what I hoped I would get.
Were there any songs that you wanted to use and couldnt because of the lyrical permissions?
Was the song that you were trying to use All Star?
Yes, All Star.
Another one was the Backstreet Boys.
It was, I Want It That Way.
Its like, cant she tell hes gay?
But they didnt want to give up the lyrical rights?
No, I think they are looking to do a musical of theMax Martinmaterial.
It was like, No, you cant.
Just go ahead and keep doing things.
Then that fell through, and it was like, well, you know what?
How late in the process did any of the songs fall through?
That one came pretty late in the game.
It turned out to be one of my favorites.
Lets just go for the most romantic, slushy, wet emotional song there could possibly be.
And then you go to YouTube: Most romantic songs of the 90s.
I felt, lets take the 90s as one year and just approach it like that.
Tell me about how that idea came to you.
In the movie, its like the trick is a voice-over.
Its a little different when you see all these people that are alive on stage in front of you.
Which you do feel in the film.
What Im having so much fun in this show with is the boy characters.
Theyre just so wonderful, every one of them.
I also wanted to ask about the New Radicals song, You Only Get What You Give.
People always say, It was a more innocent time about any time.
Certainly nothing happening around the two World Wars was innocent, you know.
These are not more innocent times.
But there was a feeling in the 90s of, we didnt know what was coming.
It was all before 9/11.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
