In ‘Mean Girls,' an enduring portrait of adolescence
The answer is: More than you might suppose, especially if you were present Wednesday night for the show's curiously flat opening scenes. It seemed the audience was in for a long evening.
But then 'Mean Girls' found its mojo. The youthful cast amped up the energy level, powering the musical past the unevenness of Jeff Richmond's score and lyrics by Nell Benjamin that seldom match the wit she brought to the 2007 Broadway musical adaptation of 'Legally Blonde.' Fey's script for the musical 'Mean Girls' has some smart things to say about the need to belong and is one of its primary strengths.
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(Back in 2004, 'Mean Girls' elevated Fey's already-high profile as head writer and 'Weekend Update' cohost on 'Saturday Night Live.' She created '30 Rock,' which premiered in 2006 and went on to become one of the best sitcoms in TV history.)
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What became clear at Wednesday's performance is that 'Mean Girls' still speaks to teenage girls, current and former. (Many in attendance at the Colonial had not been born when the movie was released.) For instance, when the dialogue turned to the odiousness of boys coercing girls into sexting nude pictures of themselves, the audience vociferously made its opinion known.
Katie Yeomans, who seemed to grow in confidence as the performance went on, plays Cady, a socially insecure math whiz who is newly arrived at a high school in an Illinois suburb after years of home schooling in Kenya. The high school's environment goes beyond a social hierarchy; it's more like a snake pit of cliques and free-floating malice, and it isn't long before Cady is drawn into its drama.
At first, Cady becomes friends with a pair of students existing on the margins of the high school's social scene: the artistic, edgy Janis (Alexys Morera), and the highly theatrical Damian (Joshua Morrisey). But it's hard for Cady to avoid the gravitational pull of the school's 'apex predator': Regina George (Paloma D'Auria, stepping in as understudy Wednesday and doing an impressive job.)
Matters grow more complicated for Cady when she finds herself romantically attracted to Aaron (José Raúl), Regina's ex.
It was intriguing to hear the audience let loose a roar of approval — or at least welcome — when D'Auria's Regina made her entrance upstage in a tight-fitting, all-white outfit. But then Regina is the kind of villain you love to hate. 'Mean Girls' should have kept Regina as a figure of pure villainy longer than it does. And her comeuppance, when it occurs, is disproportionate to her offenses.
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At this point in its history, 'Mean Girls' is best seen as a showcase for talented young performers.
On that score the production at the Colonial succeeds, especially when it comes to the hilariously inventive and sometimes poignant performances by Kristen Amanda Smith as the aforementioned Gretchen and MaryRose Brendel as Karen, both acolytes of Regina. Smith and Brendel are the two best reasons to see this 'Mean Girls.'
There's been no shortage of plays and musicals about the challenges of adolescence in recent years, among them 'Dear Evan Hansen,' 'Be More Chill,' '& Juliet,' and '
In Boston, an indirect measure of the cultural impact of 'Mean Girls' can be found just a mile away from the Colonial. Starting Friday, SpeakEasy Stage Company is presenting Jocelyn Bioh's '
Fey, having crafted an enduring portrait of adolescence, has now turned her sights on middle age, as cocreator, cowriter, and star of '
If the past is prologue, we should probably expect to see a musical version at some point.
MEAN GIRLS
Book by Tina Fey. Music by Jeff Richmond. Lyrics by Nell Benjamin. Directed by Casey Nicholaw. At Emerson Colonial Theatre, Boston.
Through May 4. Tickets $49 to $149. 888-616-0272,
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Don Aucoin can be reached at
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