Is Cher Musical Destined for Broadway?

According to Andy Fickman, director of the upcoming comedy flick “You Again”, Cher’s life is being made into a musical so

that’s a resounding yes.

“We’ll be making announcements about that project coming together shortly. She’s a fairly phenomenal character, Cher — as a

human being I think she’s one of the great icons of all time, a force to be reckoned with. The way she looked onstage with

Lady Gaga, well, it’s one for the books,” Fickman told PopEater.

So while no other details are being dished out yet except that the storyline for the musical is currently being written,

Fickman prefers to talk about “You Again” and the upcoming musical adaptation of the 1989 cult teen flick “Heathers”.

“You Again”, which will open in theatres on September 24, stars Kristen Bell and Odette Yustman who play high school rivals

and arch enemies especially when Bell’s character, Marni, learns of the impending marriage between her brother Will (played

by James Wolk) and Yustman’s character, Joanna. The movie also stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver, as Marni and

Joanna’s mothers respectively and high school arch rivals as well. To top it all, the movie also stars octogenarian

actresses, the phenomenal Betty White and the hilarious Cloris Leechman, playing grandmothers to the feuding youngsters who

also have a rift to settle which has been going on for generations.

For Fickman, the movie’s release date is a classic example of “striking while the iron is hot”, which holds true for Betty

White. The movie was made “before her Super Bowl spot, before she did ‘SNL’ and her career ignited 10 times over,” he says.

The role of “Grandma Bunny” in the movie was specifically written with White in mind, “…we kept referring to the character

as ‘the Betty White character,’ and we finally said, ‘You know, we really should find out if Betty White herself is

available,” the director recalls. And when White was officially on board for the movie, everything simply fell into place,

“And we were just so thrilled to get her. She is in a league of her own. Comedically, every actor wanted to get to work with

her,” he added.

The “You Again” director describes the “The Golden Girls” comedienne as “the brightest person around, the smartest — and by

far the funniest” person in the set and everywhere. “At the end of a long day, you could look over at Betty and she’d still

be ready to go. It was a lesson for the rest of us,” he adds.

Fickman definitely has his hands full this season. As he waits for the opening and the reviews for his new comedic flick

next week, he, along with composers Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy are busy with the musical adaptation of the 1989

popular cult film “Heathers”, which had Winona Ryder, Christian Slater and Shannon Doherty at the helm.

“Heathers” is one of those ‘80s classics that revolve around the idea of karma and all the dark comedic things that come

along with it. The stage is now filled with musical adaptations of all sorts of films – classics, artsy, drama and even

chick flicks (read: Legally Blonde), so it is no surprise that this movie which pumped the careers of Ryder and Slater back

then, is testing the waters on stage.

“We’ve been doing readings in Los Angeles of it, and now we’ve put it on as a concert in New York — we had a couple of new

songs to try out, and we sold out all three performances,” Fickman says. With regards to the casting, he says almost every

performer who has seen the movie back in the day or has previously worked with him wants to be on board, “By winter, we’ll

have more of an idea…I’ve been very lucky to have the right cast come together at the right time.”