Mean Girls the Musical is a stage musical adaptation of the famous 2004 film. It’s a fun show, but didn’t wow me as much as I’d hoped. Here’s my Mean Girls the Musical theatre review.
Overview and plot synopsis of Mean Girls the Musical
Mean Girls the Musical follows the story of Cady Heron, when she moves from Africa to a Chicago High School. My Mean Girls the Musical theatre review will first give a short overview and plot synopsis of the show, and then talk about what I liked and what I wasn’t so sure about.
Act One
Cady Heron moves from Kenya to a suburban Chicago high school, where she meets Janis and Damian. They explain the school’s social structure, and point out to Cady the Plastics: Regina George, Gretchen, and Karen.
Regina invites Cady to join their lunch table, and Janis asks Cady to accept so she can report on Regina’s behaviour. Cady also meets Aaron Samuels in her maths class and instantly develops a crush on him. However, Gretchen warns her that she can’t go out with Aaron, because he’s Regina’s ex boyfriend.
As Cady spends more time with the Plastics, she starts to change to become more like them. She learns about their Burn Book – a scrapbook of insults about other students. Regina pretends to be friendly, but reclaims Aaron as her boyfriend when she discovers Cady’s interest in him. To get revenge, Janis and Damian encourage Cady to help undermine Regina’s status, leading to a plan involving misleading Regina about nutrition bars and exposing her secret relationship with Shane Oman. But the more time Cady spends with Regina and the Plastics, the more she starts to act like them, hosting a house party and distancing herself from Janis and Damian.
Act Two
When Regina finds out about Cady’s plot to undermine her, Regina retaliates by releasing the Burn Book through the school. All the girls see what’s written, leading to fights. The school teachers try to restore the girls’ friendships and trust, but in the chaos, Regina is hit by a school bus.
Cady is forced to acknowledge her actions and her role in the events, and repairs her relationships with Janis, Aaron, and Regina. She finally accepts joining the Mathletes, and reconciles with her school friends and Aaron at their Spring Dance. The musical concludes with the characters reassessing their roles within the school and establishing more balanced relationships.
What I liked about Mean Girls the Musical
I did enjoy Mean Girls the Musical, but I wasn’t wowed by it. But there were still some elements that I enjoyed.
The plot that follows the film faithfully
The plot follows the 2004 film very faithfully. So any fans of the film will be pleased that it doesn’t try to be too original. There are some updated jokes, and some new references to social media that wasn’t around in 2004. But in general, Mean Girls the Musical is faithful to the film. I guess that’s a safer choice – most of the audience seeing the musical are going to be fans of the film. The musical includes all of the famous lines – including ‘that’s so fetch’, and ‘on Wednesdays we wear pink’.
The set and performances
I thought the set was good, and did everything it needed to do for the show. There were some good moments in the set, such as the change from the African sun at the beginning to the school locker room, and then some clever movement with the school desks, moving each one by 90 degrees to show Cady going to different classes. The set clearly showed where each scene was set, and added to the show feeling like it was a good production. There were good dances too, especially a big group dance with red trays in the school canteen.
I thought Regina George gave the standout performance in the show. Her voice, movements and costumes fit the role perfectly. I found my eye drawn to her every time she was on stage – which is exactly should happen for Regina. She’s the type of character who everyone is drawn to whenever she enters a room, and this show portrayed that.
The final song and final messages
My favourite moment in the show was the final song. It was the first song in the show that really stood out to me, and I liked this song. It felt like this was the moment where the show came together, and it felt nicely warm that the whole school was coming together. It’s a shame that it took until the final song for the musical to feel like it was hitting the mark…but it was still nice at the end, and meant I left the theatre feeling ok about it.
I preferred the second half, and the ending, to the rest of the show. The second half and the ending felt like they had a bit more depth, with a few moral messages about girls being friends and standing together. It didn’t feel overly preachy, and still kept the light-hearted fun that this musical was definitely aiming for. But it was nice to have something just a little bit more emotional. There was a nice line here: calling someone stupid doesn’t make you any more clever. It was a nice message, which along with the nice final song, saved the whole show for me.
What I wasn’t so sure about
I thought Mean Girls the Musical was ok enough. It was fun, light-hearted, and there were nice things about it. But it really didn’t wow me. There were times that I felt a bit bored. The audience was very fidgety, especially in the first half, with a lot of snacks and talking, so it felt like no one in the theatre was very engrossed or into it.
Basic songs and lyrics
Apart from the final song, none of the songs in Mean Girls the Musical really stood out to me. They were all fairly forgettable. Even listening to the soundtrack afterwards, I wasn’t impressed by the music. It would have been nice to have had just a couple of songs that stood out.
The lyrics in the songs often felt quite basic as well. The song where the Plastics introduce themselves felt very basic, where the lyrics were them saying their name…surely there could have been something a bit more impressive than that.
Often, it was difficult to understand the lyrics in the songs – especially from Cady. But maybe that wasn’t a bad thing if the lyrics weren’t all that great.
Characters not quite hitting the mark
I also felt like some of the characters didn’t quite hit the mark. Cady came across a lot more simpering and unintelligent than her character in the film. There’s a whole scene where she’s just saying stupid rubbish to Aaron because she’s gone all shy and giggly. Cady is meant to be one of the top maths students in the school, so I didn’t like this portrayal of her as a giggly simpering girl.
Aaron also got nearly no character development. I think he only had a couple of lines of singing in the whole show. While I like a show that focuses on the female cast, there definitely could have been space to develop Cady’s love interest a bit more. I didn’t get the sense of whether Aaron was meant to be a cool guy, or a geeky maths guy – could have been either. And the portrayal of Karen didn’t hit the mark for me either. I get that she’s meant to be not the most intelligent girl, but she as portrayed quite child-like, which I wasn’t a fan of.
Would I recommend Mean Girls the Musical
If you’re looking for a light-hearted, fun-ish evening out, then I would recommend going to see Mean Girls the Musical. It’s a nice enough show, with a nice ending that means you leave the theatre feeling like it was ok. If you’re a super fan of the film, then you’ll probably enjoy this stage version. But the show definitely didn’t wow me. If you’re looking for a show with any depth, emotion, or stand-out songs, then this might not be the show for you.
Hope you enjoyed my Mean Girls the Musical theatre review! Check out my other theatre reviews for more shows in the West End, across the UK and the world.
