Mean Girls Has Some Mean Moves

Let me start by admitting that I don’t think I have ever seen the movie, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t absorbed all the fetch pop culture that Mean Girls created. Perhaps we all get trapped to some degree in our teenage selves, but even in my middle-agedness I can appreciate a good teen moment in song and dance. Mean Girls’ choreography and costumes were especially fun to see. The teen years are intense and Mean Girls captures many of those moments so well with caricatures of teachers that were spot on (at least for my 90’s high school years) and showing choices and decisions that a teenage brain allows us to make. The Broadway musical Mean Girls is at the Emerson Colonial Theatre through May 4th.

The theatre filled with a lot of theatre-goers donning pink. There were groups of friends, many mothers and daughters, and spectators of all ages bubbling over with excitement as they took their seats. The show is full of big musical numbers including a couple tap numbers.

I loved the choreography, it had a very teenage musical feel, which is just right for this type of show. The show had some raunchy moments that I was not expecting, but nothing that would prevent me from bringing kids to see it. I have this general philosophy that children only understand what they understand and the rest goes over their head, which works out well. Of course in the age of web searches and such that may not be 100% accurate, but I’m still okay with it. As a parent, you can choose what to explain to your kids and how detailed you want to be. Hiding them from things helps no one, and what better way than a musical and the drive home to create a safe space to ask and answer a few questions.

Katie Yeomans as Cady Heron was excellent. She had a beautiful singing voice and navigated her two faced character well transforming from her home schooled in Kenya self to a “plastic” and back again. MaryRose Brendel plays a fabulous, deadpan Barbie-esque airhead Karen Smith and brought great levity to my day. As for Kristen Amanda Smith, the way she was able to tap into all our moments of all-consuming insecurity was spot on. Maya Petropoulos was the perfect Regina George playing queen bee (or rather apex predator) in a way that highlighted her power and plastic prowess but we were still able to feel a little sympathy for her in the end too. Joshua Morrisey as Damian Hubbard was a great narrator of sorts taking us through the story with plenty of sassy commentary and a great lead in the tap number. Alexys Morera as Janis Sarkisian had some powerful vocals throughout the performance as well and brought a level of authenticity to the whole high school scene. Thank goodness for those visual arts students right? Kristen Seggio killed her roles and I especially loved her as Ms. Norbury. I won’t mention them individually but the ensemble was a strong one each bringing their characters to life and quite a few lead-worthy dancers and singers in there as well.

Mean Girls will be at the Emerson Colonial Theatre through May 4th. Tickets start at $71 and can be purchased here or by phone at 888.616.0272 Monday-Friday: 9am-8pm (EST) Saturday-Sunday: 10am-8pm (EST) or in person at the box office at Friday 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., Saturday 12 – 8:30 p.m., and Sunday 11:00 to 7:00 p.m.