Review: MEAN GIRLS, King's Theatre
Mean Girls runs at the King's Theatre until 11 July
Direct from the West End, Mean Girls is a musical based on the 2004 hit film of the same name. It follows Cady Heron (Emily Lane), a teenager who has been homeschooled in Kenya for her entire life, and she enrols in a high school in Illinois with little idea of the social norms.
North Shore High School is run by a trio of popular girls known as The Plastics, who eye sweet naive Cady with curiosity. After making friends with quirky but kind art students Damian and Janis, they decide that Cady should infiltrate the popular group to find out their secrets, but pretending to be one of the mean girls soon isn’t an act.
With book by Tina Fey, Mean Girls is jam-packed with all the iconic lines from the original film. While the script has been brought up to date for 2026, it doesn’t feel like its trying too hard to be modern and it doesn’t lose any of its original bite. A film fan favourite, Damian has been well cast with Max Gill, who brings the biggest laughs of the night.
Georgie Buckland gives a star turn as Janis Sarkisian and her songs “Apex Predator” and “I’d Rather Be Me” are the musical highlights of the show. Her voice is incredible, and she plays the spirited role with sass and vulnerability.
For this performance, Lillia Squires takes on the role of queen bee Regina George and she is perfect as the savage teen who rules the school. Faye Tozer puts in an impressive shift as Ms Heron/Ms Norbury and Mrs George, with some super-quick costume and wig changes.
The music by Jeff Richmond with lyrics from Nell Benjamin is high-energy contemporary pop rock, and most sit well in this show, but there are quite a few filler songs.
Mean Girls takes all the best bits from the iconic film and presents it as a fun-filled dynamic musical production.
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