You Can't Just Ask Someone Why They are Seeing Mean Girls at Chrysler Hall

Words by Penny Neef. Images courtesy of Seven Venues.

I was a ghost in high school. I floated through the halls, blindly, because I refused to wear my glasses. I saw no one, and I was convinced no one saw me. Everyone, no matter how young or old, has core high school memories. High school is imprinted on our brains like a bad case of PTSD. I’m old, really old, and high school still pops up in my nightmares.

Leave it to Saturday Night Live alum and Emmy winner Tina Fey, to turn those old, dark memories into a sharp-witted, sarcastic, and very funny Broadway musical Mean Girls. Mean Girls is coming to Chrysler Hall from Tuesday, October 22 through Sunday, October 27. Buy your tickets now.

Mean Girls is a fish out of water story. Cady Heron is the fish. North Shore High School is the water. Cady grew up in the savanna of Africa, and is plucked down into North Shore at the beginning of junior year without a clue. I grew up in the blue collar suburbs of Detroit. I was plucked down into the wealthiest town and the top public high school in Michigan at the end of ninth grade without a clue. I relate to Cady’s deer in the headlights look of awe when she encounters The Plastics, a trio of the “it” girls at the top of the heap, led by the most popular girl in school, Regina George.

Unlike me, the ghost of Bloomfield Hills HS, Cady has the nerve to take on The Plastics. Cady wants nothing more than to fit in. Cady gets more than she bargained for. Cady finds out who her true friends are, and Cady, of course, learns some life lessons. It’s a universal story. Everyone who has been to high school can relate, although I can’t speak for the male species. Girls, you know this story. 

Here’s what makes Mean Girls special. This story of high school angst and drama is all wrapped up in Tina Fey’s wicked humor and smart jokes. To that, add in the delightful music by Fey’s husband, Emmy winner Jeff Richmond and lyrics by two-time Tony nominee Nell Benjamin.

Mean Girls, the musical, is based on Mean Girls, the 2004 film, also written by Tina Fey with music by Jeff Richmond. When it came time to adapt the film into a Broadway musical around about 2015, it was almost a whole new world. Fey says, “We saw that our culture had actually gotten meaner since the movie came out in 2004, and that ‘calling someone stupid doesn’t make you any smarter’ could be a valuable reminder to more people than just young girls.” Then there needed to be something, something funny but thoughtful, about phones. There were no phones, much less smartphones, in school in 2004, and no social media. 

The result is Mean Girls, the Broadway musical. It’s a thoughtful and funny look at the complex social situation of high school, with diverse characters who aren’t always just bad or good, right or wrong. Teachers who are trying their best. Parents who are trying their best. Kids who are still just learning. High school is a jungle way more treacherous than anywhere in Africa. Fey and company have found a way to make it funny.

For more information, and to purchase tickets, go to the Broadway in Norfolk website.