Theater Review: Lean 'Mean Girls' Wears Out Its Welcome

"Mean Girls, The Musical" doesn't need a rave review to succeed; what the current non-Equity company needs to fill a theater are as many likes on social media as it can get. They would likely encourage the musical's built-in audience – Gen Z women and gay men – to attend. This demographic was very much present at the Boston opening last Wednesday, where they welcomed this musical adaptation like an old friend (which, of course, it is) to an entire generation who appear to know every line of the 2008 teen comedy by heart.

Mark Waters' tart film, written by Tina Fey (inspired by book Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 book "Queen Bees and Wannabes"), has achieved cult status over the years, which is likely why it was musicalized in 2018, with a book by Fey and music and lyrics by Jeff Richman and Nell Benjamin. When it opened on Broadway, that production was given a high-tech look, with LED visuals integral to its set design and seemingly endless movement by director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw, which glossed over the deficiencies in the clumsy story-telling and generic pop score. It had a healthy run until COVID forced it to close; but it didn't reopen. Instead, it turned up as a successful film released last year that truncated some of the musical numbers and reduced the musical's cumbersome length.

Alas, the film's edits are not present in the current tour, nor are the original's high-tech designs replicated. Instead, it makes do with painted drops and clumsily moved-about set pieces. "Mean Girls" may take place in a high school, but it shouldn't look like it is being presented by one, at least not on the stages of theaters like the Emerson Colonial, where it had its brief Boston brief stopover.

Still, the show's devoted fanbase happily respond to the film's memorable lines and situations, and don't appear to mind that the 87-minute film is bloated to some two-and-a-half hours. For the less invested viewer, it makes for heavy going, especially during the long resolution of protagonist's rehabilitation from good teen, to bad, to good teen again. In short, the plot follows Cady Heron, a transfer student from Africa who lands friendless in an American high school. She is quickly befriended by Janis and Damian, who, in the social beehive, are outcasts for being queer. She is then befriended by Regina, Gretchen, and Karen. Regina is the queen bee, and Gretchen and Karen her acolytes, and they sit on the top of hierarchy in part because Regina is mean and controlling. Cady falls for Aaron, a boy from math class, and plays dumb to get his attention. Seeing this, Regina sets her sights on Aaron and steals him away; but Cady strikes back, becoming her own queen bee in the process.

Here is a case where less should have been more, because the score by Richman and Benjamin features schlocky pop/rock melodies and generic lyrics that don't so much drive the plot as act as emotional outlets for its angst-ridden teens. Perhaps if the songs had more interesting pop hooks and more specific lyrics about such weighty subjects as self-esteem, peer pressure, and personal empowerment, the show would have some interest; but the score's relentless sameness made every song cue wince-inducing. Nor is Fey's book well integrated; instead, she simply stuffs as much of the film as she can into the mix, which only leads one to wonder if the creative team have any understanding of how a musical works.

Nonetheless, the cast delivers Nicholaw's high-energy staging with great verve, thanks to Casey Hushion and John MacInnis as tour director and choreographer, respectively, who are responsible for the restaging. Still, all this busyness can't hide that "Mean Girls" derives its comedy from dated teen stereotypes, and has a narrative that plays like a John Hughes retread without a great soundtrack.

The only bright spot turns out to be its tireless cast. Katie Yeomans made for a winsome Cady and has a nice belt. Stepping up as Regina was understudy Paloma D'Auria, who played this comic villainess with all the Kardashian gusto she can muster. (Though somehow her weight gain, seen in her larger silhouette at the end of the first act, all but disappears in the second. What, did she do Ozempic during the intermission?) Alexys Morera's angry Janis appeared to have wandered out of "Jagged Little Pill," but she certainly can sing. Joshua Morrisey lacked the snap to be a convincing Damian; José Raúl had charm as the object of Regina and Cady's affection; Kristen Amanda Smith brings some poignancy to insecure Gretchen; and MaryRose Brendel quickly won the audience's approval as the dim-witted Karen. Tym Brown and Kristen Seggio were capable enough as the adult teachers and, in Seggio's case, as a number of parents; and the rest of the company played with such energy that you wondered if Adderall wasn't dropped the school's drinking water. Also, there were a few tech problems, such as sound design that was frustratingly loud and muffled throughout.

But does any of this matter with a property with such a built-in audience? There was a palpable synergy between the cast and the audience that makes any criticism seem crotchety. That "Mean Girls" lacks the fun of "Hairspray," the wit of "& Juliet," the warmth of "Legally Blonde," the depth of "Jagged Little Pill," the resonance of "Spring Awakening," or even the surreal weirdness of "Carrie," makes little difference. It is teenage musical that succeeds on brand recognition alone, which, for many, is "fetch" enough.

"Mean Girls" played Boston's Emerson Colonial Theatre April 30 through May 4, 2025. For more information on the tour that continues through June 1, 2025, click here.