Review: MEAN GIRLS Gets Fetching Stage Adaptation That'll Thrill Fans of The Film

When it comes to musical adaptations of movies, it sometimes seems like the limit does not exist. Thankfully for MEAN GIRLS, the film's writer Tina Fey returned to pen the show's book, making for a refreshed version of the beloved story that doesn't lose sight of what made audiences love the source material.

Mirvish's production of MEAN GIRLS, directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, brings the cult-classic film to life. The theatrical version is still packed full of iconic lines, loveable characters, and features a soundtrack full of witty new music. While the film is firmly set in the early 2000s, the musical adaptation is more modern - characters have smartphones, social media plays a role in both the set design and plot, and the costumes take a more 2020s approach to today's Y2K fashion trends.

For those not familiar with the plot, MEAN GIRLS tells the story of Cady Heron's (English Bernhardt) first year at North Shore High after moving to Chicago from Kenya, where she was raised and homeschooled by her biologist parents. Struggling to fit in, she's taken under the wing of art student Janice (Lindsay Heather Pearce) and her "almost too gay to function" best friend Damien (Eric Huffman). Despite their fast friendship, she catches the eye of the school's queen bee Regina George (Adriana Scalice in the Oct. 27 performance). Regina's group, known as the Plastics, invite Cady to sit with them at lunch, prompting Janice and Damien to encourage Cady to spy on them because of an old rift between Janice and Regina.

Over the course of the year, Cady is swept up in the Plastics until the line is blurred, crossed, and eventually erased. It's a show full of teen drama: Cady's crush on a boy from her calculus class, Aaron (Adante Carter). Gretchen's (Jasmine Rogers) fear of being replaced or forgotten. The classic antagonistic plot point of high-school name-calling, cliques, and more.

Bernhardt is a perfect Cady from her first moment on stage, all bright eyes and beaming smiles. She powers through her more upbeat songs, and gives a touching performance during one of the show's softer moments with 'More is Better'. Opposing, and at times alongside, her, Scalice has the mean teen girl energy down. She gets a powerful entrance and maintains that throughout, but given Regina's manipulative nature Scalice has to balance that power with vulnerability at times - which she does impressively. Also worth noting that Scalice is a standby - but you wouldn't have guessed she doesn't fill Regina's (high) heels nightly based on her performance.

Pearce's Janice is a punky, vulgar-in-a-cool-way misfit whose 'I'd Rather Be Me' in the second act is a triumph; she's snarky, funny, and completely loveable despite her rough edges. Complementing her is the bubbly, equally hilarious Damien, who Hubbard nails. He gets a bit more personality in the stage adaptation and leads several show-tunes inspired numbers with high energy - plus, he gets to deliver some of the most iconic lines from the film.

Where the movie focuses primarily on Cady's experience, in the stage adaptation audiences get to see a bit more into the full cast of characters. Carter is a sweet, likable Aaron who plays well off both Scalice's Regina and Bernhardt's Cady. The other two Plastics Gretchen and Karen (Morgan Ashley Bryant) are quirky, but the further development of their characters really lets them shine. Bryant is a hilarious Karen in all the character's (seemingly) vapid tangents, and was seemingly a crowd favourite whenever she appeared onstage. Rogers was a standout in the role of Gretchen, who is played off as Regina's dependent right-hand-woman in the film. She's still that in the musical, but we get to see a bit more into her character with the achingly relevant 'What's Wrong With Me'.

The set (scenic design by Scott Pask) is primarily made up of large LED screens that transition the characters around North Shore High, the mall, and characters' homes quickly with the use of a few furniture pieces that get rolled out by the cast. Video design (Finn Ross and Adam Young) is impressive with some scenes looking like physical walls rather than screens; there are a few moments where as Cady's reflecting on her past in Kenya and present, the overlaying of African sunsets on top of the regular school and mall scenes seems a bit muddled in appearance. Costumes (Gregg Barnes) suit the characters perfectly, paying homage to the film while also reimagining how the characters would dress today. The one technical hiccup that stuck out was how loud the music and audio mixing got at times during songs, making it difficult to hear the singers' words clearly.

For die-hard fans of the film MEAN GIRLS is a can't-miss show. As someone who's seen the movie countless times, it's hard to say whether someone who hasn't seen the film would walk out of the theatre with the same experience as a fan, but what they might lose in references, they'd receive the same funny, heartwarming story about lifting up others and finding where you belong.

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Mirvish's MEAN GIRLS runs through November 27 at the Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St W, Toronto, ON

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit https://www.mirvish.com/shows/mean-girls

Photo credit: Jenny Anderson

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