Mean Girls, musical review: Tina Fey makes fetch happen

Mean Girls has premiered on the London stage (Photo: Brinkhoff/Mögenburg)

Mean Girls review and star rating: ★★★★

Twenty years after Mean Girls was “fetch” for a generation of teenage millennials, the story about three fake girls and their relationship with a high school newbie is back with a double helping. Earlier this year an adaptation hit cinemas but got lukewarm reviews, which put pressure on the success of this musical. Thankfully, this stage version is much better than the new film: it feels freshly powerful for a new generation rather than treading in the footsteps of the original.

That’s mainly thanks to Nell Benjamin’s pumping musical score that neatly translates the sassy characters’ stories onto the stage, and Casey Nicholaw’s direction and choreography, which is gripping and pacey. Of course Mean Girls should be a musical: the larger-than-life characters aren’t a million miles from pantomime, and with their high fashion and dramatic attitudes, the stage brings a new palpable intensity. Instant ear worms include ‘My Name Is Regina George,’ and ‘Revenge Party,’ two of a gamut of well constructed pop bangers.

It also looks like the type of show the plastics would have demanded be made for them. Scott Pask’s scenic design offers floor-to-ceiling washes of millennial pink and crisp yellows on high def screens; there’s never a moment where you aren’t confronted by something shimmering and fabulous. Tina Fey gives her usual spark to the script, though it’s not a million miles from the film.

There are some spectacular performances, especially Georgina Castle’s ringleader of the plastics Regina George. Castle plays the antagonist as more sticky and formidable than ditzy; on stage, she’s a genuine threat. Charlie Burn’s new girl Cady Heron is a force and Tom Xander extracts plenty of warm comedy from the outdated gay best friend character Damian Hubbard.

I’m saying it: two decades on, Mean Girls is so fetch (again.)

Mean Girls plays at the Savoy Theatre until 16 February 2025

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