MEAN GIRLS To Welcome Social Media Star Cameron Dallas For Four Week Run

[Brooks0214]

I am beyond upset about this. This is absolute awful and not fair to people who work their asses off and have actual talent. Cody Simpson literally made Anastasia close and I swear if Mean Girls closes because of this I’ll be very mad. This show is very special to me and I love the cast and the understudies and this is just stupid and a horrible horrible choice.

[JSquared2]

Brooks0214 said: "I am beyond upset about this. This is absolute awful and not fair to people who work their asses off and have actual talent. Cody Simpson literally made Anastasia close and I swear if Mean Girls closes because of this I’ll be very mad. This show is very special to me and I love the cast and the understudies and this is just stupid and a horrible horrible choice."

 

[SeanMartin2]

Literally thousands of very capable actors, and they bring in this dweeb?

Wow. Welcome to the future of Broadway.

[superiska123]

I highly doubt they would've stunt cast if they didn't need to. Obviously the show isn't selling as well as they were hoping and they needed to cast someone with a sizable following to attract new people to see the show.
Also, we have no idea who else was contacted join the cast — Cameron probably wasn't their first choice...

Not to mention that Aaron is a pretty small role, I highly doubt it will disrupt anyone's experience too much even if he turns out to be absolutely terrible.

[Alex Kulak2]

He's a former vine star. The only thing we can confirm is that he can be entertaining for about 6 seconds straight.

[mpkie]

Who?? Ugh I have a ticket during this period and now I'm going to miss Kyle Selig :'(

[LxGstv]

ukpuppetboy said: "It seemd to work prettywell when they cast YouTuber Joe Sugg in Waitress in London in another featured role that didn’t require any ‘heavy lifting’."

Colleen Ballinger (aka Miranda Sings) also really helped Waitress during her 4 week run on Broadway.

[Miles2Go2]

I will say I know the assault that was mentioned was about a year ago and according to him was in defense of a loved one. That’s about all I know about that. I do know he has been forthcoming about going through rehab after that. He also has released a couple of songs that have a Justin Bieber vibe to them. He does seem to be posting a lot less on Instagram these days. But based on recent pics, it seems he is already in New York City

I admit I’ve never seen the MG movie or the musical but it sounds like the role he’s been cast in is pretty limited as far as what’s required of him. It’s anyone’s guess whether he’ll be decent in the role or if he brings in lots of tickets sold.

Even if the show ends up announcing a closing date soon, it won’t be because he was cast in that role. He was cast in the role because there is a danger of closing soon would be my guess and they’re trying some stunt casting to avert that at least for a while.

[bdn223]

I think we all knew stunt casting was coming, and the show has a large enough ensemble with one off numbers and characters that it will be easy to do going forward. My only real question is were none of the women of SNL free to do a months run in the adult women track?

[superiska123]

bdn223, I am curious about the same thing; that would be my first guess for stuntcasting and seems like it could have been arranged easily. Maybe they're saving that as a last resort kind of thing?

[Bettyboy72]

I think he may be stunt cast for his ability to get people to the show AND stage door. It’s all about proximity to fans with the new crop of viral celebs. People will come to the show and look for selfies at the stage door.

[Miles2Go2]

Bettyboy72 said: "I think he may be stunt cast for his ability to get people to the show AND stage door. It’s all about proximity to fans with the new crop of viral celebs. People will come to the show and look for selfies at the stage door. "

That’s a good point. Of course, we see more and more of people skipping the show and just stage dooring without seeing the show first. 

[Kad]

It doesn’t matter if he has millions of IG followers, it matters whether those followers have the disposable income to travel to NYC and see the show. And I would wager the majority don’t.

[ACL2006]

So can Mean Girls just close in the Spring instead so Beetlejuice can take the August Wilson?

[singer234]

Isn’t the rumor that Beetlejuice would move to another Shubert house? August Wilson is a Jujamncyn theatre. Either way they should make enough during the holidays to hold them over through the bad months. Then all the remaining OBC should be leaving and they can stunt cast to their heart’s desire.

[beatofthedrum27]

I understand the dismay of many people on this board, trust me. I’m nervous about this just as much as the next one because I’m pretty sure that he can’t sing the role and with the little singing that Aaron does (which is one of the things that upsets me about the show), that’s saying something But you also have to understand that Cameron’s fan base and demographic are very specific, but they are also HUGE and VERY loyal. We’re talking about a kid who, just two years ago, SHUT DOWN MILAN FASHION WEEK because he tweeted a view from his hotel room and his fans spotted it and swarmed the street. Also, Cameron’s demographic is the main demographic for the mean girls brand. I understand that stunt casting isn’t good for the common working actor, but if they needed help with packing house and Kyle was already suppose to go on vacation, I can definitely wrap my mind around why the decision was made. And also, who knows, he could be great in the role. Only time will tell. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk

[ModernMillie3]

Jesus. 

[Chowd95]

He has a reality show on Netflix that came out a few years ago. It was weirdly fascinating in a train wreck kind of way. He came off as a douchey spoiled brat and so did all of the other guys that were part of his "MAGCON" crew. It took me a minute to remember who he was when I read the headline and I'm honestly shocked he's still relevant enough to be stunt casted in Mean Girls. Maybe after this run Fiyero will be next :/

[cryan71]

beatofthedrum27 said: "I understand the dismay of many people on this board, trust me. I’m nervous about this just as much as the next one because I’m pretty sure that he can’t sing the role and with the little singing that Aaron does (which is one of the things that upsets me about the show), that’s saying something But you also have to understand that Cameron’s fan base and demographic are very specific, but they are also HUGE and VERY loyal. We’re talking about a kid who, just two years ago, SHUT DOWN MILAN FASHION WEEK because he tweeted a view from his hotel room and his fans spotted it and swarmed the street. Also, Cameron’s demographic is the main demographic for the mean girls brand. I understand that stunt casting isn’t good for the common working actor, but if they needed help with packing house and Kyle was already suppose to go on vacation, I can definitely wrap my mind around why the decision was made. And also, who knows, he could be great in the role. Only time will tell. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk "

His Milan Fashion week thing was in 2016, an eternity in social media.

So I have tools to deep dive in social media influencer numbers.  He has a very low 1.95% engagement rate on Instagram.  Of his 21 million Instagram followers, only 24% come from the United States.  Of his followers, only 392,193 on average take the time to like his pictures.  This matches his more recent videos which have 261,000 views (however, videos from 6 weeks ago have gone as high as 1.4 million views).  My guess is that out of that 21 million followers, 2 million are still fans.  His only YouTube video he's posted this year got 120K views.

They probably could have got more play out of Lil Huddy or Alex Ojeda from TikTok if they needed a social media e boy.

[BrodyFosse123]

As someone who works in the fashion industry, he’s pretty much old news. He was among the “celebrity” performers at The Blonds show done on the MOULIN ROUGE: The Musical stage during NYFW in September 2019 and that’s pretty much the extent of his relevant work. His Netflix reality series CHASING CAMERON was in 2016 - literally 4 years ago. Riding on this popularity he was being photographed for numerous fashion editorials but his flavor of the month was done around 2018. His recent “appearance” at NYFW is pretty much all he’s done. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s paying to appear in MEAN GIRLS on Broadway which will lead to his appearing on talk shows to “sell” it and hopefully generate some traction back to his career that has basically fizzled.

[superiska123]

And I personally wouldn't be too shocked if Cameron was the biggest star they could get... The show isn't exactly a massive hit, despite the movie's success.

[jonlow09]

[52889j]

Alex Kulak2 said: "He's a former vine star. The only thing we can confirm is that he can be entertaining for about 6 seconds straight."

As someone who misses the vine app daily, I can confirm that his vines were never remotely entertaining.

[SouthernCakes]

Paging Rachel Dratch

[IAMREADING]

I really recommend his Netflix series "Chasing Cameron." It starts off like a nauseating type of docuseries about an influencer or something, but quickly transitions into something more. He is part of a tour of sorts "magcon" where they ONLY do fan meet and greets, there is no performance or concert that people are buying tickets for. It is just to take a photo with Cameron, etc. Cameron is like the leader of the squad. Another member of the squad complains early in the first episode I believe that he isn't getting his "per diem" and there are a lot of issues with the crew and cast getting paid, some even quit. Furthermore, they begin canceling shows offering NO refunds when people are already inside of the venue. Just a mess, and almost similar to a scam.