Danielle Wade (left) as Cady Heron, gets to know Megan Masako Haley as Gretchen Wieners, Nadia Hassan as Regina George, and Jonalyn Saxer as Karen Smith in “Mean Girls” through June 19 at the Fisher Theater.
The musical “Mean Girls” makes its Detroit debut through June 19 at the Fisher Theater, following an opening night cancelation for unspecified technical difficulties.
The stage show, based on the hit film, features a book by Emmy Award-winner Tina Fey, music by Emmy Award-winner Jeff Richardson and lyrics by two-time Tony Award-nominee Nell Benjamin.
The show was directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Casey Nicholaw.
Set in a suburban Illinois high school, naïve Cady Heron, who grew up on an African savanna, is not prepared for the ferocity of the cultural pecking order of the mean girl teen queens, nicknamed “the Plastics.”
Drawing on her knowledge of the survival of the fitness in the animal kingdom, Cady becomes “frenemies” with the teen royalty trio, led by the ruthless Regina George, along with her followers, Gretchen Wieners and Karen Smith. As Cady devises a plan, with Janis and Damian, to dethrone the queen bee, she learns that crossing someone with power can result in retribution.
Those familiar with the movie plot will enjoy the stage version, with the introduction of the show’s musical numbers and the immediacy of the characters, from the opening, “Cautionary Tale” in which classmates Janis and Damian break the fourth wall and introduce Cady to the audience, to the closing at the Spring Fling, “I See Stars,” which shows the formation of new friendships.
Along the way, one learns about fitting in amid the wilds of high school in “It Roars” and “Where Do You Belong,” while Cady is introduced to the reigning school royalty in “Meet the Plastics.”
Soon, Cady falls for Aaron, a handsome guy in her AP Calculus class in “Stupid with Love,” but turns down an invitation to join the Mathletes when she learns it is “social suicide,” and is further crushed when she learned that, since Aaron is Regina’s former boyfriend, he is off-limits to her.
At a Halloween party, Cady discovers the hard way that the holiday is a time during which teen girls devise to look sexy and not scary, a mistake she discovers in “Sexy.” Meanwhile, to keep him away from Cady, Regina manipulates Aaron into dating her again, devastating Cady, in “Someone Gets Hurt.”
Furious, Cady gets with Janis and Damian and begins to plot Regina’s fall from fame, from tricking her into gaining weight to learning her darks secrets by manipulating Gretchen into providing information on Regina, to counter the material on all the others in the Plastics’ Burn Book in “Revenge Party.”
The second act ramps up the action as the teen drama intensifies, with an attempted intervention for Cady in “Stop,” Gretchen’s self-worries in “What’s Wrong with Me,” and Cady’s house party when her parents are out-of-town in “Whose House is This?”
Cady’s crush Aaron confronts her about becoming a “Plastic” in “More is Better,” while Janis and Damian confront Cady about a betrayal in the reprise of “Someone Gets Hurt.”
Unless one was home-schooled, most can relate to some aspect of the social minefield that exists within American high schools, and audience will laugh and wince while revisiting the untamed savanna of senior high school during the show.
Showtimes are 8 p.m. June 10 and June 14 to 18 and 7:30 p.m. June 12 and 19, with 2 p.m. June 12 and 19 matinees.
Tickets start at $40 and are available ticketmaster.com, BroadwayInDetroit.com, and at the Fisher Theater box office.