Courtesy Bass Hall
English Bernhardt (Cady Heron), Jasmine Rogers (Gretchen Wieners), Nadina Hassan (Regina George), and Morgan Ashley Bryant (Karen Smith)
The iconic Tina Fey-penned film, “Mean Girls,” returns with a musical adaptation full of the teen angst, drama, and cliques we loved about the 2004 movie. Fey, who stayed on board to write the musical’s book, manages to add even more witty one-liners — updating the classic cult movie into something fresh.
“Mean Girls” marks the final performance of the 2021-2022 Broadway at the Bass season, wrapping it up in a pink bow approved by “The Plastics.”
With the film’s popularity entering “classic” territory, Fey manages to make some tweaks to the script to modernize the stage adaptation.
“Mean Girls” is about a new student from Africa, Cady, who must navigate her high school experience while being tempted by the glitz and glam of the popular in-crowd “Plastics.” Cady compares this new environment to that of an African jungle and how high school cliques are similar to the food chain — and she doesn’t want to be at the bottom. Throughout the movie, Cady has to make choices that may alter loyalties, reputations, and perceptions to be quote/unquote popular.
Still, the musical expands on the script, adding hilarious dialogue, internal teenage battles, and more insight into the characters we loved from the film. Lindsay Lohan didn’t manage to make a cameo, but English Bernhardt was able to fill her shoes — or high heels — and give a perfect performance. Other noteworthy crowd pleasers were Lindsay Heather Pearce (Janis Sarkisian), Eric Huffman (Damian Hubbard), and Morgan Ashley Bryant (Karen Smith). The ensemble also includes Adriana Scalice (understudy for Nadina Hassan, who plays Regina George), Jasmine Rogers (Gretchen Wieners), and Adante Carter (Aaron Samuels).
One critical update from the original movie is everyone has traded their razor phones for smartphones, which naturally results in the use of social media to showcase how popular “The Plastics” really are. However, the overall plot remains the same and uses the characters, Damian and Janis, as narrators, starting with their opening song, “A Cautionary Tale,” describing the crux of Cady’s destructive thought processes.
Besides the script and actors, the set design was a vital ingredient to the storytelling, courtesy of scenic designer Scott Pask, lighting designer Kenneth Posner, and video designers Finn Ross and Adam Young. Instead of using a lot of props and set changes, the tour used digital panels, which made for flexible and frequent set changes. Graphics would appear on the screens instead of physical sets, which made it feel more realistic, and the forced perspective with LED lighting made it easier to change as opposed to the one set design of “Jesus Christ Superstar”, which showed at Bass Hall in July.
There were times the set design worked a little too well. An audible gasp from the audience wrapped around the theater when an almost life-sized school bus appeared on the stage, knocking a body- double of Regina George into the air. The body-double was probably a pillow with a wig, but the sequence happened so quickly, who’s to say?
The audience seemed engaged the entire time, and while some scenes might be deemed inappropriate for those under 13, the show was still a musical that everyone could enjoy. Even those — very few, no doubt — who had never seen the original movie would easily catch on to the story without much confusion. For those, like me, who are die-hard fans of the cult classic, you were probably continuously laughing and learning new insights into the characters. For example, Regina George reveals her parents would’ve named her Reginald had she been a boy.
For those who weren’t able to see “Mean Girls” at Bass Hall, don’t sweat it — there are talks of adapting the musical into a movie. It might be a minute before production begins, but fans can anticipate a musical adaptation on the big screen reasonably soon.
