Tunstall’s latest project feels, in a roundabout way, apt. For the past four years, she’s been on the music team of the new, West End musical adaptation of Amy Heckerling’s nineties cult classic teen comedy, Clueless, putting the original score together (Heckerling has returned, putting a book together for the musical’s story).
On video call, Tunstall is holed up in an office above a rehearsal room, the cast beavering away beneath her. Kinky Boots actress Emma Flynn is taking on the lead role as polished and popular high school matchmaker Cher Horowitz, the role which sent Alicia Silverstone’s career skyward. Cher Horowitz is someone for whom things don’t always go right either, no matter how hard she pulls the puppet strings.
Clueless, The Musical follows the film closely: after Beverly Hills’ social heavyweight Cher finds success in setting up two of her teachers on a date – leading to an upped grade for her – she unlocks a penchant for improving the lives of those around her. She continues with grungy new kid Tai, giving her a well-intentioned but misguided makeover and attempting to orchestrate both of their love lives. But she swiftly discovers that not everyone or everything can be moved like chess pieces on a board, and that she has to learn to relinquish control….