We last saw those bad girls in 2019. Did you miss them?
Well, good news for you then. The musical version of Mean Girls is back for a brief run at Playhouse Square’s State Theatre (through November 10).
The musical combines song and dance to tell a satiric/comedic mashup tale about teens (mostly girls) finding their “place” in high school. Based on the 2004 film (also called Mean Girls), it features a book by Tina Fey, music by Jeff Richmond, and lyrics by Nell Benjamin.
Casey Hushion, tour director, still has a few kinks to work out. It was hard to hear all the sassy, often vulgar, dialogue, and lyrics because either the actors haven’t learned to enunciate well enough yet or because they didn’t want to be heard. Overall, the music conducted by keyboardist Julius LaFlamme was loud, especially when the vocalists yelled their lines. Most tunes were indistinguishable from one another.
On the other hand, thanks to tour choreographer John MacInnis, there were a few lively and well-done numbers. An example? “Stop,” (led by Joshua Morrisey’s Damion), combined fun, quick steps, and good advice.
Scott Pask’s set design veered toward the economical. At times, it looked brilliant, as when the students turned their desks in four different directions to shift focus from one teacher/class to another). Kenya, Cady’s African home, was bland, however, with a few pastel vistas and not much else.
As I’ve noted before (last time Mean Girls rolled around), adjusting to high school can be hard, even for those already acclimated to urban public school systems. Here, our main character, Cady Heron (Carly Amerling), is not a mean girl — at heart anyway. Her adjustment is especially hard since she had been homeschooled in Kenya. Her parents decided that living in an African veldt would not prepare her for life, so they all moved to Chicago.
What??? (Best guess, it’s a premise that Tina Fey would think funny: jungles are friendlier and safer than Chicago public schools.)
But it’s not all awful. Thanks to Cady’s “kindly native guides” Janis Sarkisian (a spicy Alexys Morera) and Damian Hubbard (an outstanding Morrisey), the newcomer is provided friendship and guidance. Both new friends point out various groups, jocks, nerds, and so on.
And as a result, Cady soon wins the approval of the ruling females, dubbed “The Plastics.”
The head “Plastic,” Regina George (a sweet-voiced, if not sweet-natured, Maya Petropoulos), smiles a lot, but judges everyone. She has two followers: Gretchen Wieners (Kristen Amanda Smith) and Karen Smith (Maryrose Brendel). Brendel’s Karen is delightfully dumb and has the best (funniest) lines.
The ensemble included Kristen Seggio (as all the adult women authority figures), José Raúl (as Aaron Samuels), Shawn Matthews (Kevin G.), Tym Brown (Mr. Duvall), Megan Arseneau, Thalia Atallah, Connor Buonaccorsi, Paloma D’Auria, Chase Graham, Tyler Jung, Tay Marquise, Oshie Mellon, Emma X. O’Loughlin, Brandon Moreno, Kevin Ivey Morrison, Jamal Stone, Jocelyn Darci Trimmer, and Ryan Vogt.
The production included costumes by Gregg Barnes, lighting design by Kenneth Posner, sound design by Brian Ronan, hair, and makeup by Josh Marquette and Milagros Medina-Cerdeira.
It’s not Carrie or Heathers (no one ends up dead, although someone does get hit by a bus), but it is definitely one of those “high school is hell for girls” musicals that teaches a lesson about how to treat others (which is, “as you would like to be treated,” of course).
Bottom Line: There are funny moments, the cast is good, but the story seems dated. Yes, we know growing up is hard, but get over it. (I feel like a mean girl now, but there’s something about this show that brings out the snark. If you’ve already seen it when it was in Cleveland in 2019, you don’t need to see it again.)
[Written by Laura Kennelly]
Cleveland, OH 44115