Tina Fey is giving the inside scoop on the upcoming musical adaptation of Mean Girls and it is so fetch! Wait, that’s still not a thing? Okay.
Before Smash became the onscreen trainwreck we all know and are still disappointed in because it didn’t have to end this way, NBC–sorry off topic…but anyway, back when Smash was first getting started I was so impressed with the novel idea of a musical about Marilyn Monroe and I started wondering which movies/cultural icons I loved could make the transition from the silver screen to the Great White Way. Mean Girls has always been on the top of that list, so I’m beyond excited to see this musical getting a shot and hope it does well enough to make it to Chicago.
The cast is grool
Fey just unveiled the first look at the infamous Plastics. According to Entertainment Weekly, notorious queen bee Regina George will be portrayed by Taylor Louderman (Bring it On: The Musical, Kinky Boots, Peter Pan Live!).
Ashley Park (Mamma Mia!, The King and I) will play secrecy-challenged Toaster Strudel empire heiress Gretchen Weiners. Karen Smith, the resident ta-ta meteorologist will be played by Kate Rockwell (Hair, Bring it On: The Musical, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast).
Fey made no secret of her excitement about the women selected to play Northshore Senior High’s most intimidating and glamorous trio.
“Taylor Louderman not only has this giant voice and great comic timing, but she instinctively understood the idea of Regina George, that there’s power in making people come to you,” Fey told EW. “Kate Rockwell so quickly found the zone of the sweetness that’s at the core of Karen. And Ashley has this incredible, beautiful voice, but also this nice timing and this fragility of Gretchen, because Gretchen’s, like…just barely hanging on to her status and her sanity.”
The main roles of Cady Heron, Aaron Samuels, and loveable outcasts Damien and Janice have also been cast. Erika Henningsen, Kyle Selig, Barrett Wilbert Reed, and Grey Henson, will be filling those roles, respectively.
No word on if Kevin Gnapoor, Mr. Duvall, or Fey’s own perpetually unlucky Ms. Norbury will be in the musical. However, this cast already has me bursting with excitement. I’m especially interested in seeing Barrett Wilbert Reed as Janice. Reed was the original Veronica Sawyer in the Broadway adaptation of Heathers. I’m interested to see how she plays another outcast who was cruelly stripped of her popularity.
A production team that’s almost too amazing to function
In addition to Fey and her husband Jeff Richmond, the musical will also feature the talents of lyricist Nell Benjamin and director Casey Nicholaw.
This pair couldn’t be more perfect. Benjamin has Legally Blonde: The Musical under his belt and Casey Nicholaw also hails form The Book of Mormon fame. This is probably the perfect combination of minds to work on a musical adaptation of Mean Girls.
I’m most excited to hear the music for this play. I tend to have trouble just listening to the original cast recordings of musicals because I’m a visual person and like to see the actual full interpretation of the song from costumes to choreography. But having seen Mean Girls more times than I’d like to admit, I feel like I’d really enjoy listening to the music and piecing together which songs go with which scenes. Broadway musicals also always add depth to a lot of characters that may not have been as fleshed out in earlier adaptations. There’s already talk of Janice getting her own song, which I can’t wait to hear. I’d love to get inside the mind of characters other than Cady, although her narration is great, and this musical will provide a perfect opportunity to do just that. I hope that there are more sneak peeks to come from Ms. Fey!
Next: Pocket-sized Golden Girls are coming, so that you have their strength at all times
*Patiently waits for them to announce musical adaptations of School Daze (I’d love to see Issa Rae’s version), Drumline and Bridesmaids.