Take cover, the Mean Girls are on their way!
THE hit Broadway musical Mean girls, written by tina Fey, is headed to the West End.
Based on the successful film starring Lindsay Lohan and rachel Mcadams, about tribal gangs of high school girls, and gossipy goings-on in and out of class, the show — directed and choreographed by Casey nicholaw (who’s already got the Book of Mormon, Dreamgirls and aladdin running in town) — is looking to open in the West End about autumn 2020.
‘We are sniffing around for a theatre,’ an executive on the new York production told me.
the show’s heroine Cady arrives in the U.S. after being home-schooled by her zoologist parents in africa.
Cady’s bedazzled by a trio of snooty alpha girls known as ‘the Plastics’, who somewhat grudgingly let her join them.
i saw the show at the august Wilson theatre on Broadway and felt like a fish out of water — there were girls everywhere, sitting with their parents, and during the interval i overheard them reciting the lines and comparing the script Fey wrote for the movie with the book she penned for the stage version.
it’s certainly not aimed at me, but once i relaxed, i enjoyed it. it’s slick, shiny — and very funny. Fey adapted the tale from rosalind Wiseman’s 2002 study Queen Bees & Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, gossip, Boyfriends & other realities of adolescence.
However, she added a lot of her own observations, particularly how schoolgirls (and boys) use ostracism as a weapon.
the mean bits apart, the show is very jolly, with a handful of numbers that wow you.
Producers Lorne Michaels (who also produced the film) and Sonia Friedman are checking schedules and getting their team in line for 2020.
there’s no hint about casting but i imagine the producers won’t have too much trouble finding stars who are triple threats — able to act, sing and dance ... and speak with good U.S. accents.
Can’t wait to listen to a packed theatre shouting ‘Fetch!’ or any of the other well-known phrases from the film and show.