From the mind of Tina Fey, MEAN GIRLS is a ferociously funny musical about the wild dangers of high school. From an award-winning creative team, including book-writer Fey, director Casey Nicholaw, composer Jeff Richmond, lyricist Nell Benjamin, experience the iconic humor in a new, unimaginable way.
Cady Heron may have grown up in African, but nothing prepared her for the vicious predators of her high school hallways. By taking on Regina George, the queen bee of the terrifying clique known as The Plastics, Cady learns that being popular is not the same as being loved.
MEAN GIRLS gets to the hilarious heart of what it means to be a true friend, a worthy nemesis, and above all, a human being.
Fans of the original movie should be reassured that nothing important has been purged from the story. Cady falls for Regina's ex-boyfriend, Aaron (a very clean-cut Kyle Selig), which causes her former friend Regina and her brat pack to come after her with claws bared.
That this "Mean Girls" takes place (still at an Illinois high school) 14 years later than the film has proved no obstacle to Ms. Fey. After all, social media only increases opportunities for social climbing and subversion. The disconnect that troubles this musical isn't a matter of adapting to changing times. Scott Pask's set, Gregg Barnes's costumes and Finn Ross and Adam Young's video designs render sociological exactitude with flat comic-strip brightness. No, the trouble lies in the less assured translation of Ms. Fey's sly take on adolescent social angst into crowd-pleasing song and dance. Mr. Richmond and Ms. Benjamin's many (many) musical numbers are passable by middle-of-the-road Broadway standards (though Ms. Benjamin's shoehorned rhymes do not bear close examination).