'Mean Girls' still seems sweet after 20 years
“Mean Girls” runs through Feb. 18 at Belk Theater
This review by longtime Charlotte arts critic Lawrence Toppman was published by The Charlotte Ledger on February 14, 2024. You can find out more about The Charlotte Ledger’s commitment to smart local news and information and sign up for our newsletter for free here. And check out this link for Toppman’s archive of reviews in the Ledger.
Review: Amusing, energetic ‘Mean Girls’ musical keeps the high school drama fresh
YOU CAN’T SIT WITH US: Cady Heron (far right, played by Natalie Shaw) is sized up by The Plastics, led by Regina George (center seated, white top, played by Maya Petropoulos). (Photo by Jenny Anderson, 2023)
by Lawrence Toppman
You might not expect me to be the target audience for the breezy musical “Mean Girls:” I left high school 53 years ago, when harassment had to be done in person rather than cyberspace. But my dweeby teen self was indeed bullied by mean girls, not to mention mean boys, surly custodians, grumpy bus drivers, crabby assistant principals and a particularly ferocious dachshund who lived within striking distance of my bus stop.
So I empathized with Cady Heron, a transfer from home schooling in rural Kenya to clique-ridden North Shore High School in an upscale Chicago suburb. She struggles to avoid being stereotyped by her fearsomely popular classmates, a group called The Plastics led by Regina George, and then to avoid becoming a snob herself once she wins acceptance.
The story, now at Belk Theater in the Broadway Extras series, has a long pedigree. It opened as a non-musical film 20 years ago this spring, making stars of Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams as Cady and Regina. A TV sequel, “Mean Girls 2,” followed in 2011. Then came the Broadway musical in 2018 and a film version of that musical last month, starring Charlotte’s Reneé Rapp as Regina. Meanwhile, this national tour keeps the stage version going.
The show’s long — 150 minutes including intermission, against 97 for the original film — and even fans wouldn’t call it subtle. Generic songs titled “Fearless,” “I’d Rather Be Me,” “Do This Thing” and “I See Stars” hammer the message home again and again.
It’s also amusing, exuberant, musically energetic and a lot of fun. From the opening sequence in Kenya, which includes a good-natured poke at “The Lion King,” to the “Anna Karenina” school bus sequence near the end, theater geeks should have a ball.
Though it’s a non-Equity show, which means cast and crew can be paid on a lower scale, I saw no drop-off in talent from the usual tours that come through Blumenthal Arts. I didn’t catch the show on Broadway or on its first national tour, but the simple sets and mid-sized ensemble worked for me. The eight-person orchestra sounded full and crisp.
The show’s constructed, as the movie was, to give most of the big moments to Cady and Regina, and big-voiced actresses seize them here without milking them too hard. (What does it tell us that Regina gets the noisiest audience response when she arrives and, later, sings the rage-filled “World Burn”?) Natalie Shaw’s winsome appeal as Cady never cloys, and Maya Petropoulos plays Regina with a chilly indifference more disturbing than sneering contempt.
Yet the supporting cast also has strengths. Ethan Jih-Cook and Alexys Morera make a fine fey/ferocious pair as Cady’s new mentors at the school, who swear vengeance on Regina. MaryRose Brendel stands out as Karen, the most apparently dimwitted of the Plastics; every simpering or babyish movement suggests someone whose intelligence has been questioned so often she dare not assert herself.
Even Karen comes into her own by the uplifting finale, where Cady sings, “We’re all stars. We shine as bright as day/I will look out for you/We'll light each other's way.” I don’t remember bullies responding to such sentiments at Rancocas Valley High School in the 1960s, but I expect times have changed.
➡️If You’re Going: “Mean Girls” runs through Feb. 18 at Belk Theater at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday.
Lawrence Toppman covered the arts for 40 years at The Charlotte Observer before retiring in 2020. Now, he’s back in the critic’s chair for the Charlotte Ledger — look for his reviews about two times each month in the Charlotte Ledger.
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