MEAN GIRLS Previews- Page 5

[Jakeevan942]

Posted: 3/15/18 at 10:37pm

Playbill_Trash said: "I saw Mean Girls in DC and really enjoyed it. I left thinking about what changes they would make for Broadway so thank you to everyone who is posting with what they are seeing now for us that are unable to see the new version.

I'm a big Casey Nicholaw fan and have been since Spamalot. I left Mean Girls in DC thinking it was pretty light on tap for a Casey Nicholaw show, so that's why I'm glad to hear they cut Bossed Up (a musical turducken of every tune in the first act) and added a tap number for Damien to open act 2! My question for those who have seen the latest previews is, would you say this new number is a big Casey Nicholaw production number? Or is it smaller with just Damien and a few other people tapping?"

It starts small and then turns into a fuller ensemble number. Not as big as, say, Musical or Omelette, but on par with Bottom's Gonna Be on Top, to use the crazy amount of tap in Something Rotten as a standard of comparison.

[Elegance101]

Posted: 3/15/18 at 10:53pm

Playbill_Trash said: "I saw Mean Girls in DC and really enjoyed it. I left thinking about what changes they would make for Broadway so thank you to everyone who is posting with what they are seeing now for us that are unable to see the new version.

I'm a big Casey Nicholaw fan and have been since Spamalot. I left Mean Girls in DC thinking it was pretty light on tap for a Casey Nicholaw show, so that's why I'm glad to hear they cut Bossed Up (a musical turducken of every tune in the first act) and added a tap number for Damien to open act 2! My question for those who have seen the latest previews is, would you say this new number is a big Casey Nicholaw production number? Or is it smaller with just Damien and a few other people tapping?"

Happy someone agrees about "Bossed Up." I really didn't even like it when Aaron said it in act one, then when it became a number, I was really ready for it to be over so we could move on.

[CindersGolightly]

Posted: 3/16/18 at 12:19am

Definitely not trying to be snarky, but can we stop turning this into the "what show should I see?" thread? I'm pretty sure there's a thread on this exact question. Every time this thread gets bumped I get excited that someone else may have offered their thoughts on previews. 

With that being said, any word on if they've removed the new scene before Revenge Party? Damian recalls middle school where Janis tells Regina she's a space alien with four butts after being asked if she was a lesbian. It was't funny and I want to know if they've changed back Revenge Party to how it was in DC. I'm still really missing that "Regina's party, and everyone wins. Everyone except me." verse.

[DeepVSexyWitch2]

Posted: 3/16/18 at 1:06am

I was there tonight. The main thing I was shocked by was how tonally different it feels from the movie. The movie felt cool and this feels more like an energetic cartoon world the story of Mean Girls just happened to be dropped into. It's clearly a deliberate choice and when it works, it really works, but it definitely took some adjusting. The opening number is awful and really had me worried about what I was about to get into, but things definitely perk up. I agree the music is mainly fine and does it's job. The lyrics on the other hand...YIKES.  Most of the lyrics are rough rough rough , and this is coming from someone who has nothing but affection for bad pop lyrics. I went back and forth on the projections; sometimes they enhanced and sometimes they looked cheap. Taylor Louderman was the standout for me. Erika Henningan is horribly miscast. The Plastics/Janice and Damian are worth the price of admission.  It'll sweep all the off broadway awards The Band's Visit won't be eligible for this year. On it's own, the show is in the C+/B- range but add nostalgia, audience excitement, and the sheer energy from the cast and it's an easy B+ (and I could even see die hard movie fans convincing themselves it's an A). Overall, a pretty fun mindless night of theatre. 

[dougs9797]

Posted: 3/16/18 at 1:23am

I saw this in DC. I had not seen the movie  and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I  sat next to a fan of the movie who loved every minute of it. I thought Louderman carried the show. Her Regina drives the whole production. When she was not on stage during Act 2 I felt it lost impetus. She shows great comic chops here. 

 

[Playbill_Trash]

Posted: 3/16/18 at 7:08am

Jakeevan942 said: "It starts small and then turns into a fuller ensemble number. Not as big as, say, Musical or Omelette, but on par with Bottom's Gonna Be on Top, to use the crazy amount of tap in Something Rotten as a standard of comparison."

Thanks Jakeevan942 for clearing that up! That completely answers my question, and I could not have asked for a better frame of reference to get an image of the number. (Something Rotten is one of my favorites and I'm even seeing the tour tomorrow). 

Elegance101 said: "Happy someone agrees about "Bossed Up." I really didn't even like it when Aaron said it in act one, then when it became a number, I was really ready for it to be over so we could move on."

Elegance101, I feel the same way. The point of the song was basically the same as the point of Justice at the end of Act 1, I didn't think Bossed Up really moved the story along at all. Glad to hear Damien gets another number, Where Do You Belong was one of my favorite parts in DC.

Interesting to hear that they kept Who's House Is This, in DC it dragged on for 2 verses too long with the same joke in the chorus. Is it at least shorter now? 

 

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Please tell me they kept the Halloween song with all of the different costumes before the Halloween party. Not sure if someone confirmed this earlier in the thread, but that was by far the funniest part of the show in DC. I hope they didn't cut it for time.

I hope I used the spoiler toggle correctly in this post; kind of new to that function. If not oh well, everyone gets abducted by aliens and turns out to be related to each other at the end of this show. Spoiler Alert. 

[Elegance101]

Posted: 3/16/18 at 3:31pm

CindersGolightly said: "Definitely not trying to be snarky, but can we stop turning this into the "what show should I see?" thread? I'm pretty sure there's a thread on this exact question. Every time this thread gets bumped I get excited that someone else may haveoffered their thoughts on previews.

With that being said, any word on if they've removed the new scene before Revenge Party? Damian recalls middle school whereJanis tells Regina she's a space alien with four butts after being asked if she was a lesbian. It was't funny and I want to know if they've changed back Revenge Party to how it was in DC. I'm still really missing that "Regina's party, and everyone wins. Everyone except me." verse."

I loved loved loved how we saw Janis' perspective on that. It was such a vulnerable moment that was simple, but effective. The lyrics of that moment were a little awkward timing-wise, but it also propelled Cady to finish the plan. Is that moment with Janis cut completely or is it just in a different (perhaps less desirable place)?

Updated On: 3/16/18 at 03:31 PM

[Elegance101]

Posted: 3/16/18 at 3:34pm

Playbill_Trash said: "

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Please tell me they kept the Halloween song with all of the different costumes before the Halloween party. Not sure if someone confirmed this earlier in the thread, but that was by far the funniest part of the show in DC. I hope they didn't cut it for time.

I hope I used the spoiler toggle correctly in this post; kind of new to that function. If not oh well, everyone gets abducted by aliens and turns out to be related to each other at the end of this show. Spoiler Alert."

The song you asked about is "I Can Be" and yes, it's still in the show. The role of Karen needed no rewrites, so thank god her stuff has remained practically untouched.

Updated On: 3/16/18 at 03:34 PM

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 3/16/18 at 11:31pm

Oof. As a huge fan of the movie, it hurts me to say how much of a garbage pile this show is.

There is no narrative consistency at all. Janice and Damian start as the narrators, then Cady is the narrator, then suddenly every character gets control of the narrative. This is the biggest offense on the book side of things. Then there’s the score, which is offensively bland. Every song blends into the next, with a clever hook here and there that begs to be expanded into a greater song than it ends up being.

The book is serviceable, in the sense that it doesn’t miss a single beat of the movie. But it mostly exists to shoehorn lines and sometimes whole scenes from the movie into the musical’s plot, whether they’ve been earned or not. I’m all for some fan service, but this was just over the top. The whole evening just ends up feeling like one big in-joke.

Separately, this is maybe the worst audience I’ve ever sat among. The entire section around me was filled with drunk, 20-something bridge and tunnelers who spent the entire 2.5 hours quoting the movie and loudly discussing their personal lives. And also checking their phones and Instagramming. LEGITIMATELY INSTAGRAMMING. Mid-show. I can’t.

Total waste of a night. This was such a misfire.

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 3/16/18 at 11:36pm

After seeing this twice in DC, spontaneously joined a friend at the show tonight in NYC. In all, I think it is a much tighter show, still kinks to be worked out, but I haven't had this much fun at the theatre in ages. 

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/17/18 at 12:01am

Colorthehours,
Thinking about the show over the past week made me think about the framing device with Janis and Damian and how useless it is. Why does this story need to be told from a year in the future and why are these two telling it instead of Cady- it is her story after all.

A worse offense is that they never bring back the framing device at the end of the show. If you’re going to have this be a story in a story then you need to have them end it that way too. It’s not only unnecessary, but sloppy too.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/17/18 at 12:29am

Again, I have to say, BOO narration. Don't tell us, just show us. And let's be honest, Mean Girls isn't Hamlet - which didn't need a narrator - it doesn't need a framing device, or anyone to explain what's happening. We get it. 

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 3/17/18 at 12:31am

Exactly, Whizzer. You can’t have a bookend at the beginning and not at the end. Right now, it just feels like a means to get the rowdy audience filing into the theater slowly (I’ve never seen so many late audience members) to quiet down. There’s absolutely no reason to 1) have these characters be the narrators or 2) have them deliver the exposition that they do. Why do they need to tell us that Regina is hit by a bus and doesn’t die? Why do we need to be told this is a cautionary tale? The movie gets along perfectly well without it.

Boy, I hated this so much. Largely because I was so hoping it would succeed. I’m a big fan of Legally Blonde and Heathers and think they’re excellent examples of movie-to-musical adaptations. Mean Girls is one of my all-time favorites. What works so well about the movie - the bite, the quick humor, the cleverness - is all completely missing from the musical. And I wouldn’t be so quick to compare the two if the entire team hadn’t gone so far out of their way to replicate the movie onstage.

The audience was eating it up and I’ll admit there are some killer moments sprinkled throughout, so clearly there’s an audience for this. (Fun story: we sat next to a group of drunk girls from Pennsylvania who proclaimed their lone gay friend “Our Damian.”) Ashley Park, Kate Rockwell, and Taylor Louderman come away with the best material and the best performances all around, but they largely exist as comic relief instead of any driving force of Cady’s undoing. Cady in the musical already seems ready to make a fool of herself in the name of popularity from the minute she arrives in America.

I will forever have the hook from “Fearless” stuck in my head though. So... success?

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 3/17/18 at 11:32am

I saw it the other night, and while I and the group I was with overall enjoyed it, it definitely needs some work.

1. The script needs some rewriting, especially in the second act. It is much too long, going from a 90 minute movie into a 2-1/2 hour musical. The framing device with Janis and Damien narrating needs to be tightened up and made more clear. They seem to try to hit every single piece of minutiae in the first act but just breeze past most of the major plot points in the second act, like Regina's accident and Cady taking the blame for the Burn Book. On that note, did anyone else notice that the principal just kind of forgets that he banned Cady from the Spring Fling dance? He says she's banned, and then two scenes later, he's handing her the crown with a smile on his face with no real explanation. I just need one line explaining it.

2. The lyrics do have some wit to them, but the music is very bland. I've never watched much of 30 Rock, so I can't speak for the quality of Jeff Richmond's music in that show, but there is a world of difference between composing underscore for a TV show and writing the score of a musical. It's hard to pick up motifs and reprises when everything just sort of floats together. I can probably only remember one motif, which is the one Cady always sings in her inner monologue.

3. They really need to rework the projection design. There's parts where it works, but it's overall too obnoxious. There's a very fine line between stylized overindulgence and making a stage musical look like a cartoon, and this looked too close to a cartoon.

 

All that being said, I still enjoyed the show. I enjoy the original movie, and Tina Fey's writing didn't disappoint. There's a lot of really funny one-liners, both in the spoken and sung text. Casey Nicholaw is a fantastic choreographer, and most of his staging was very inspired, especially with Damien's two numbers. The cast is all fantastic (what a treat it must be to get to write a song for Barrett Wilbert Weed). 

[MadsonMelo]

Posted: 3/17/18 at 11:54am

So, what are the Tony prospects for the show based on the preview? Im curious to which cast members are most likely to Get noms. Also, is it possible that Fey can Win book over Bands Visit?

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 3/17/18 at 11:57am

I could see the actresses playing Janis and Karen, and the actor playing Damien getting nominations, but Tina Fey winning over The Band's Visit? Not a chance in hell.

[VotePeron]

Posted: 3/17/18 at 12:51pm

I saw this the other night after being a huge fan of the film since the day I saw it in movie theaters. And trust me, I had a blast. This show is a non stop thrill ride, showcasing Casey Nicholaw's best choreography and direction I've seen in years (it felt like Something Rotten on steroids).

My biggest problem with the show - and yes, I had problems - was that the tone was so different than the movie. The only thing I can directly relate it to is Finding Neverland, where you take a movie with such a distinct tone and energy, and transform it into a 2.5 hour Broadway Musical. It felt inauthentic. The music completely works against the piece, and it feels like a parody of itself at times. Perhaps I'm crazy, but I much prefer the musical style of Heathers, Bring It On, Legally Blonde, and Freaky Friday compared to the aggressively non-pop sound that Mean Girls is trying to be.

My favorite screen to stage adaption of memory is School of Rock, which I think perfectly captures the movies tone without changing any of the heart and soul of the material. I feel Mean Girls is compromised in this space, and the story itself is all over the place, kind of hard to follow, and muddy. I was trying to think of if I would have understood the entire plot - which is not complicated - had I not seen the movie, and I honestly don't know if I would have. The show is also way too long. I hope they make some strategic cuts, and maybe consider rewriting the opening number, whose lyrics almost felt like a joke to me.

Was it entertaining as hell? Yes. But I think if Tina Fey's name wasn't attached to this, it would not be getting the overall warm reception it is. I can't imagine this winning any Tony Awards, but it's employing a ton of really talented actors who are operating at 110% the entire night, and I hope they run for a long time.

On a side note, the audience was the absolute rudest I've ever encountered. Drunk patrons beyond belief, leaving and returning the entire show, SCREAMING lines to the actors before they spoke them, and talking amongst themselves the entire night. I would say this will subside in time - but I doubt it will. 

 

 

[Jimmyb1969]

Posted: 3/17/18 at 12:57pm

Wow I had high hopes walking into this show...and let me first say the young audience - which I loved seeing on Broadway -was eating the show up BUT OH BOY this is a clunker. It started out strong and then it was like all the energy began to drain out of it. I know there's lots of Casey Nicholaw fans out there but we thought the choreography and direction was dismal. And the acting was all over the place...but primarily overacted. At one point I turned to my friend who works for a celeb tv show and said this is rough...she agreed. No star turning performances...the writing is a series of one liners...and what was up with that framing device? Why? Didn't love the set, didn't love the costumes, the music is forgettable, nothing stands out and nobody stands out. The gay best friend Damien was mugging the entire show and totally irritating. The "big" transformation at the end of act one is a big MEH. Her skirt didn't even fit her right? Yikes! The kids in the audience loved it so maybe that's all that matters but seriously if you're looking for an amazing night at the theatre save yourself 400 plus on this one. I feel totally ripped off. Sorry folks.

[bk]

Posted: 3/17/18 at 5:47pm

Let me just put a period on the obvious: A bookend is not a bookend unless it BOOKENDS the show.  You cannot have a bookend without coming back to it, so I don't know what they're doing in this show but it cannot be called a bookend.  A flashback?  Something else, but not a bookend.  The audience alone would keep me far, far away from this show, but I'm sure this is exactly the audience these creators want AND encourage.  Nothing like a bunch of twenties alcoholics fueling a production.  Not for me.  In fact, this overreaction to everything by mostly young folks keeps me far away from mostly everything on stage these days.  It's like seeing a high school production with all your screaming, whopping and hollering friends in the audience.  Again, not for me, thanks.

[EPDD1000]

Posted: 3/17/18 at 5:50pm

Do Janis and Damien not return at the end with "the moral of our story is...calling someone xyz doesn't make you cuz... even the people you don't like have feelings, so get off their d*cks" like in DC?

Updated On: 3/17/18 at 05:50 PM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/17/18 at 6:07pm

Janis and Damian address the audience briefly while in their spring dance outfits, but that is still in the flashback- not back to the framing device in present day where they are telling us this story at the talent show.

The musical begins with the framing device of them telling us this story at a talent show a year in the future. The top of act two also starts off with us back at the talent show and the two of them warning us here’s where things really start to get bad. (I believe we see them at the talent show another time near the end of act one.)

If you’re going to frame each act with this device then you need to end the musical back to the present day talent show so they can sing, “so this was our tale- hope you enjoyed it and learned the lessons from our hero’s mistakes, etc. You could even have the plastics and Cady come out to join them and let us see what happened to them after a year’s time. It would be hilarious if the Plastics were now working at Greenpeacs and Habitat for Humanity or something and Cady has just taken a gap year to travel the world before going to MIT to study math or something.

You just can’t leave the framing device, which they’ve return to several times, hanging from the end.

[blm2323]

Posted: 3/18/18 at 1:29am

Are there usually a lot of drunks or was it due to St. Patrick’s Day?

[kcconley]

Posted: 3/18/18 at 12:55pm

I've seen the show twice and didn't have any problem with drunks in the audience or people yelling out.  I think this must have been a bad night.  Also, there are people of all ages in the audience, not just 20 year old girls.  Yes, there are a lot of women at the show, but they are of all ages.  And there are plenty of men seeing this show too.  Don't let these few posts scare you off, because you'll be missing a really fun night of theater!

[jbird5]

Posted: 3/18/18 at 1:12pm

It’s a really small sample too considering it’s only been in previews for a week. I was at the matinee on Saturday and nobody was drunk.

[dougs9797]

Posted: 3/18/18 at 3:40pm

Am I the only one that finds the framing device complaints exceedingly nit-picky? I saw the show. and it didn't bother me a bit. It's not like the word "bookend" appeared in the Playbill. Maybe, just maybe the creative team didn't feel the device was needed at the end of the show.  So many 'experts' on this board. Thoroughly enjoyed this high energy show.