Burn books, the Plastics, and everything in between–Gen-exers prepare because Regina George is back and she’s headed to Broadway. That’s right. The 2000s teen classic is getting a makeover on stage, and it’s looking meaner than ever. Tina Fey, creator of the unexpectedly successful franchise, is smart to even consider adapting Mean Girls into a stage musical. But will it get the same reception as the movie did 13 years ago? We think so.
The show is currently doing a run in the DC circuit before it hits the tougher NY theater market, possibly as a test to see how it fares altogether. The show has also managed to acquire some of the best talents in the industry right now, no newbies but Broadway alums with shows under their belts such as Wicked, Legally Blonde, and The King and I. Tina Fey is also actively participating in the production of the shows, serving as writer as well. We can expect the dialogue to maintain its sharpness and smartness. Apart from the Mean Girls movie, we know Fey’s writing from other successful TV shows such as SNL, 30 Rock, and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Keeping it all in the family, Fey’s husband Jeff Richmond has also been hired to write the music for the Broadway show. This is good for everyone because these two know how to work together and know how to share the same vision.
The promo that has been released for the musical features The Plastics, the meanest girls around as we first met them in the movie. Everyone will forever remember the roles that Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, and Amanda Seyfried popularized. Erika Henningsen, who has done Les Miserables and Mamma Mia in the past, will portray the role of Cady Heron as played by Lindsay Lohan in the film.
One interesting change that the stage musical is adapting is the time setting of the plot. The original movie was released in 2004, and it couldn’t have been any better as a representation of teenage life at that time. The musical will be set in the current time, so that means that the mean girls will have more avenues to their disposal. There’s social media, first of all. Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat alone can be powerful weapons of teenage destruction. Are we going to see something different when it comes to the burn book in the musical? They’ll have smartphones now, after all. It’ll be interesting to see how they play these instruments out and how the current adaptation compares with the film.
The Broadway show is set to open at the August Wilson Theater on April 8, 2018 with previews starting March 12. The anticipation is lively to say the least, with fans expecting another great project from Tina Fey. Even non-fans are buzzing with interest, hoping to get a glimpse of what that generation really had to deal with. Regina George is one of the most universal characters ever written, and we’re pretty sure there are Reginas in every generation. We’ll find out more as soon as the show hits Broadway, and we can’t wait to see how times have changed or how they have not.
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