REVIEW: Mean Girls at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts
Mean Girls is playing at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts now through April 13.
Originally, I saw the musical Mean Girls back in 2019. It was one of the last shows I saw before the world shut down for the pandemic. A lot has happened since then, including a movie... based on the musical... based on the original movie. And if that sentence confused you, don’t worry — we were confused too when it was first announced.
Mean Girls begins with Cady Heron moving to Chicago after spending her entire life in Africa with her parents. As she transitions from the plains of Africa to the jungles of high school, she begins to realize just how much she missed by being homeschooled all those years. After befriending Damian and Janis, two other outcast students, Cady also meets the Plastics, a trio of popular girls led by the deviously ruthless Regina George. She quickly relearns the food chain and devises a plan with her new friends to take down the Queen Bee. However, no matter how many large cats she may have met in Africa, nothing has prepared her for the fight she now faces with catty teenage girls.*
The musical sticks relatively close to the original movie. It features the same storyline, same characters, and even some of the same punchlines. Overall, it carries the same message: that high schoolers are not only mean, but creatively twisted in their meanness. With all these similarities, why does it sometimes feel a bit off? Maybe it’s the delivery of certain lines. After seeing the movie countless times, you become accustomed to how they hit, and when a different actor wants to change it up to make it their own, suddenly it’s not as funny anymore. Lines like “She doesn’t even go here” and “So you agree... you think you’re really pretty?” just don’t hit the same. Is that the actor’s fault? Of course not. But I think it’s a testament to why we should focus more on creating new musicals instead of adapting existing movies.
While the book struggles to maintain a sense of freshness, some of the music breathes new life into the story. Songs like “Apex Predator,” which explores Regina’s status atop the high school food chain, allow the actors to find more depth in their characters and the show’s satire. “World Burn” is the knockout number. It heightens just how incredibly psychotic teenagers can be, as Regina sings about how Cady may have won the battle, but won’t win the war, all while scattering copies of the Burn Book through the school halls. “World Burn” is arguably one of my favorite musical theatre songs of the last decade.
The cast is led by Katie Yeomans as Cady Heron. While her singing is impressive, I felt her characterization of Cady never quite found its spark. Alexys Morera and Joshua Morrisey play Janis Sarkisian and Damian Hubbard, respectively. They are a dynamic duo and play off each other well. Morrisey deserves a special shoutout for executing some demanding dance numbers without ever compromising his strong vocals.
I love what the musical does with the three Plastics: Regina, Gretchen, and Karen. From the moment they’re introduced in “Meet the Plastics,” you know exactly what kind of ride you’re in for. And let me say, all three of them hit it out of the park. Maryrose Brendel as Karen Smith is delightfully stupid and brilliantly hilarious. Kristen Amanda Smith plays Gretchen Wieners and perfectly personifies what it’s like to be an anxious teenager. And then we have the Queen Bee herself, Maya Petropoulos as Regina George. There are some shows where you think, “If this part isn’t cast right, the whole thing falls apart,” and Regina is one of those parts. If she can’t be venomously funny with incredible vocals, there’s no show. Thankfully, Petropoulos is all that and more. My only complaint? Get that girl a damn blonde wig. Having Regina as a brunette is like having Belle from Beauty and the Beast in a red dress or Cinderella losing a leather Doc Marten instead of a glass slipper.
While Mean Girls plays on the nostalgia and punchlines of the original movie, it’ll never be that. It will never have the same effect or cultural impact as its predecessor.
Mean Girls is playing at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts now through April 13.