From the mind of Tina Fey, MEAN GIRLS is a ferociously funny musical about the wild dangers of high school. From an award-winning creative team, including book-writer Fey, director Casey Nicholaw, composer Jeff Richmond, lyricist Nell Benjamin, experience the iconic humor in a new, unimaginable way.
Cady Heron may have grown up in African, but nothing prepared her for the vicious predators of her high school hallways. By taking on Regina George, the queen bee of the terrifying clique known as The Plastics, Cady learns that being popular is not the same as being loved.
MEAN GIRLS gets to the hilarious heart of what it means to be a true friend, a worthy nemesis, and above all, a human being.
Beyond the successful recycling of 14-year-old jokes, the other good news about Fey and Richmond's first joint Broadway effort is that her characters need to sing. The angst, joy and fear on display are big in a very hormonal teenager kind of way. 'Mean Girls,' unlike its first cousin 'Legally Blonde,' finds the necessary volume to justify breaking into song, whether those songs are about the despair of being an outsider or falling in love with a photo of the Wham!-era George Michael. These are the early traumatic experiences of life that stick in your memory much longer than passing the bar exam or applying for social security. If only Fey's springboard of a book had inspired more memorable, distinctive songs. A few hit the mark: 'I See Stars' delivers chewable bubblegum and 'What's Wrong With Me?' is a poignant lament from Gretchen, the most insecure of the Plastics. And when the group's nasty leader, Regina, seeks revenge on her new turncoat friend Cady, 'Watch the World Burn' turns up the heat.
Despite vibrant performances from a uniformly talented cast, the show drags, especially in the first act when I found myself eyeing my watch like a kid dying for the bell to ring. And the music, by Fey's husband, Jeff Richmond, is repetitive and not particularly memorable. Director-choreographer Casey Nicholaw wrings everything he can from his cast, most notably from Barrett Wilbert Weed and Grey Henson, as the outcasts who take Cady under their wing. Taylor Louderman's Regina George, leader of the alpha pack known as The Plastics, shrewdly calculates every move as the cruel queen bee. And her partners in crime, Ashley Park as the eager-to-please Gretchen and Kate Rockwell as the dim Karen, are fun to watch as they flounce about in Gregg Barnes' over-the-top costumes.
Videos