Review: MEAN GIRLS at National Theatre

It was 20 years ago when “Mean Girls” first hit movie theaters, cementing a certain kind of malevolent high school clique even as it launched a million memes, introduced a generation of actresses and established a pink dress code for its female fans years before “Barbie.” A rite of passage in itself, “Mean Girls” has never really gone away.

With so many phrases in the common lexicon, it was no surprise they were strung together with melodies to become a musical. Especially in an era when the source material of so many musicals are not plays or literature, but popular commercial movies. 

It was five years ago this month that “Mean Girls” the musical had its pre-Broadway tryout   in Washington — at the very National Theatre where a youthful national tour has returned. 

Well-received in its 2017 tryout, when it won the Helen Hayes Award for outstanding visiting production, it went on to be Broadway hit earning 12 Tony nominations, running for 833 performances until Covid hit. It produced the highest charting soundtrack album for an original cast recording in 2018. And it led to a movie version of the musical that opened just in January.

When I say the current production has a youthful cast, the non-equity talent, many of whom are on their first national tour of any kind, seems about the same age as the high schoolers they’re portraying. With the Tina Fey wisecracks, the colorful teen costuming by Gregg Barnes, a set of spinning desks and lunchtables on wheels by Scott Pask and especially the constantly moving choreography originated by director Casey Nicholaw (with Casey Hushion and John MacInnis as tour director and choreographer, respectively) it has the trappings of the best high school musical you’d ever see.

Still, the too-many songs by Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin remain bland and unmemorable, too often stopping action by repeating something that’s already been said or well established, with 20 percent less wit than the sharp Fey-penned dialog that surrounds them.

Also, they’re written in the high-pitched, octave jumping Broadway style that has little to do with the kind of music high schoolers might be using to express themselves in “the present,” as the program sets it. 

Carly Ameling, listed as an understudy until now, has taken over over in the entire D.C. run the starring role of Cody Heron, the homeschooled girl trying to find her way through the social labyrinth of high school cliques. She has the right mix of cheery innocence and eventual gumption to allow an audience to cheer her on.

Her main foes are a force of mean girls led by Regina George (Maya Petropoulos) who toys with her and swipes a potential love interest (José Raúl) for spite. It still seems odd that Cady’s way to remove Regina’s Queen Bee status is to fatten her up — a concept that, In an era of body positivity, doesn’t quite fly.

Eventually, she realizes in becoming a Queen Bee herself, Cady also has been snubbing the arty friends who befriended her in the first place. 

The sound mix at the nation’s oldest continuously operating theater was not optimum — especially from the very good seats I had. That meant some of the wisecracks embedded in the tunes went unheard or were muffled.

Among those who were strong enough to stand out amid the sometimes muddled mix was Alexis Morera as Cady’s spurned art friend. A standout overall was MaryRose Brendel’s deliciously daffy Karen and Kristen Seggio both as the friendly teacher that Tina Fey usually plays (in maybe the same glasses) and the clueless would-be “cool mom” of Regina. 

I liked the deadpan desperation of the principal, played by Tym Brown, possibly because he might have been the only one on stage over the age of 25. 

It’s nice to be visited again by “Mean Girls” this time of year, because there’s a fun takeoff of Halloween costuming, in getups that range from “Sexy Eleanor Roosevelt” to “Sexy Rosa Parks.” 

Altogether, the dazzle of the desks on wheels, the clamor of the red lunchtrays, used as fans or percussion items, Fey’s jokes and the kaleidoscopic moves of 20 people dancing on stage at once may be enough to make “Mean Girls” a worthy amusement, in all its pinkness.  

Running time: Two hours, 15 minutes with a 15 minute intermission.

Photo credit: Tour company of “Mean Girls” at The National Theatre. Photo by Jenny Anderson. 

“Mean Girls” continues through October. 20 at The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Tickets available online. 

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