'You Again' Director Says Cher Musical May Come to the Stage

By Stacy Jenel Smith Posted Sep 16th 2010 11:31AM

First, Cher -- working a barely-there bodysuit at age 64 for crying out loud -- makes a huge splash presenting an award to Lady Gaga at the MTV Video Music awards. Next, get ready for Cher, the musical.

Prolific producer-director-writer Andy Fickman confirms that he has a theatrical piece, drawn from Cher's life and career, on the way.

He tells PopEater, "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 doesn't want to give out details yet. For one thing, he has other project to talk about -- and, certainly, another icon: everyone's favorite octogenarian superstar, Betty White.

The Betty movement couldn't have come along at a better time for Fickman's Sept. 24-opening 'You Again' comedy with Kristen Bell, Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kristen Chenoweth, Victor Garber, Odette Yustman – and Betty. The movie was made "before her Super Bowl spot, before she did 'SNL' and her career ignited 10 times over," as Fickman puts it.

He notes, "It was funny when we were casting, 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.' 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."

"I'd never worked with Betty before, and I approached her the same way I'd approach my mother -- talking loud and slow, and as if she was incapable of operating a VCR," he adds. "I was not sure of her energy level. But she turned out to be the brightest person around, the smartest -- and by far the funniest. She could not help herself. She could put a cap on any sentence, and we'd be in stitches. 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."

Betty plays the grandmother of Bell's character in the multi-generational romp in which Bell and Curtis have to square off against their old high school nemeses.

Meanwhile, Fickman's been busy this week with concert presentations of his Broadway-bound 'Heathers' -- as in his musical based on the 1989 dark high school flick about a very nasty clique and the bad things that happen to them. The cult favorite helped launch Winona Ryder and Christian Slater into stardom.

"We've been having a blast with it," he says. "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."

As far as the casting, "It's like when we did 'Reefer Madness,' and people really wanted to be part of something culty and fun. 'Heathers' has no shortage of fans. A lot of actors would like to be involved, a lot of requests have come in form people asking if they can be a Heather, or someone who has to deal with a Heather." So far, he says, "We've been using a lot of the same wonderful actors I've been fortunate enough to work with in the past. By winter, we'll have more of an idea," he adds of who'll be in the show next year. "I've been very lucky to have the right cast come together at the right time."

Tags: Cher

Comments

(28)

Thursday 16 September

By Samantha Lehman

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Hey Cher, you have always been a 'star' & have probably 3 generations of fans.
My son-in-law (Gary Ferguson) used to be Cher's drummer; he very much admires her & speaks well of her & her talent. He left on good terms, he just didn't like, at the time, working a lot in L.V.
Looking forward to seeing her, again. Good luck, Cher.
Hope Bob Mackie is doing her costume work.

By kitten

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

OMG Put some clothes on--you look horrible for an Old lady

By j

Cher liked the hooker look even on the old sonny and cher show . I didnt mind her back then . she became a skank real fast .

By cuoguomjd

oh great article ,My boyfriend and i both think so ...He is almost 11year older than me .i met him via kissmilita ry.c' 0ma nice place for s'ee'king Army, Navy, Mari'nes, Air Force, Police Force and their admires.just love it

By SailorKnightWing

Very little of this article was about a Cher musical...

By dee

cher your one hot momma fan of yours since i was 9 years old

By Jesse

CHER ROCKS, Betty rocks, too! I would love to see this on stage, let us know when tickets are being sold and I'll be there!

"kitten", If you don't have anything nice to say...u know the rest!

By Draconain

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Cher looks great! for her age. She can make herself at home on my face any day!

By bsti

Draconian - All I can say is dang that must "stank"!

By Donna

Low Ranked Vote down Vote up Report this

You all do know she has had a million face lifts,nips , tucks, and whatever else it takes to look that way. I have more respect for the person who looks their age and is proud of it. No I don't look like cher but I look dang good for my 57. I also don't have 100,000 to spend on nips , tucks and lifts!!!!!

By Dick

What are they going to call Cher's life story...How Sonny Bonoed me?

By Dan

I guess they'll have both male and female actors audition for the role of Chastity/Chaz.

By Joy Johnson

Very inappropriate clothes, Cher. Why don't you concentrate on your voice and dress like a sophisticated lady?

By tom

what would u look like in this at any age

By Barbra

WHEN AE THEY GOING TO FILM THE LIFE STORY OF A TRUE ICON AND DIVA.

BARBRA

By David

To the fool who said Cher has always looked like a skank..what planet are you from? She's always worn great clothes and costumes. The performers today are the ones that are skanky.

By Carol

love Cher and always have. I loved the Sonny and Cher show. I always thought Cher was so beautiful and I loved the Bob Mackie gowns she wore on the show. You go girl!!!!!!!!!! :) I would love to see her life story.

By Bogey

Who gives at rat!

By Mitch

I've always loved Cher. She's one of those icons that you would love to say you met. I've always had the feeling that she is a good person.

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