Surfeit of Pink
“What does it mean to be a good person? “
Cady
I was there on a Wednesday, several years after Mean Girls was due to come to London but delayed by the pandemic. The press rep wanted me to go on a Wednesday or a Friday and an earlier date was cancelled because they didn’t want an understudy reviewed.
But Wednesday, it was with many wearing the dress dictat for that day of pink. Some wore their pink with a difference, the young man in the palest of pink T shirts that might have been a white one washed on a hot wash with a red sock, a dad in a pink polo and some in the Goth version of pink which is claret. There are lots of navels on show with ultra mini pleated shirts. I’m not sure I’ve seen buckets of popcorn sold to the seats in a theatre but, be warned, Savoy Theatre, your sticky carpets will need replacing when the run is due to end in February 2025.
I was bound to question the value system being projected by the show. Cady Heron (Charlie Burn) has moved to Chicago’s North Shore High School after being home schooled in Africa by her scientist mother. So she has no concept of school cliques and bullying. She meets two individual schoolmates despised by the clique, Janis (Elena Skye) and Damian (Tom Hubbard), who warn her about a dominant group called The Plastics. The Plastics are led by Regina George (Georgina Castle) a tall, long legged blonde girl with a nasty personality.
Cady becomes accepted as one of The Plastics, falls out with Regina after Cady falls for Regina’s ex-boyfriend, Aaron (Daniel Bravo) and eventually sees the error of her ways and makes amends. On the way Cady has fat shamed Regina and fed her weight-gain biscuits telling her they are slimming biscuits so that she can only wear sweat pants.
That is the pith of the story line. The singing is strong but some of the comic timing is lost and the jokes do not land well. The music is likeable but not groundbreaking. The lyrics do not reflect Tina Fey’s comedy and the lyrics were written and then put to music, which I think shows. The lighting is bright and often pink.
This show is probably critic proof because of the Mean Girls’ fan cohort stretching across a couple of generations but it is not one I can recommend.
Musical Numbers
Act One
Overture
A Cautionary Tale
It Roars
It Roars (reprise)
Where Do You Belong?
Meet the Plastics
Stupid with Love
Apex Predator
What’s Wrong with Me?
Stupid with Love
Sexy
Someone Gets Hurt
Revenge Party
Act Two
Entr’acte
I’m Blowing Up
What’s Wrong With Me? (reprise)
Whose House Is This?
More Is Better
Someone Gets Hurt (reprise)
World Burn
I’d Rather Be Me
Stupid with Love (reprise)
I See Stars
Production Notes
Mean Girls
Directed and Choreographed by Casey Nicholas
Cast
Starring:
Charlie Burn
Georgina Castle
Grace Mouat
Zoe Rainey
Ako Mitchell
Daniel Bravo
Tom Xander
Elèna Gyasi
Elena Skye
With:
Holly Willock
Jenny Huxley-Golden
Siobhan Diff
Annie Southall
Lucca Chadwick-Patel
Aharon Rayner
Liam Buckland
Tommy Wade-Smith
Corey Mitchell
Angus Good
Tia Antoine-Charles
Mervin Noronha
Georgia Arron
Shonah Buwu
Baylie Carson
Freddie Clements
Clíona Flynn
Fergie Fraser
Holly Liburd
Trézel Sergeant
Josh Singleton
Lillia Squires
Creatives
Director and Choreographer:
Casey Nicholas
Set Designer: Scott Pask
Costume Designer: Katrina Lindsay
Sound Designer: Brian Ronan
Video/projection designer:
Adam Young, Finn Ross
Information
Running Time: Two hours 30 minutes with an interval
Booking until 16th February 2025
Theatre:
Savoy Theatre
Savoy Court
The Strand
London WC2R 0ET
Website: london.meangirlsmusical.com/
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge at the
at the Savoy Theatre
on 17th July 2024
