Many of us know and love the iconic 2004 Mean Girls movie, a film that explores themes of peer pressure, social hierarchy, and self-identity through an exciting and relatable plot. On November 21st and 22nd, the upper school theater group put on a production of Mean Girls, the Musical.
Starting in early September, the theater crew spent over two months practicing and preparing for the show. Mean Girls revolves around Cady Heron, who has just moved to America, joining a high school where a social hierarchy separates students. The three most popular girls, the plastics, are at the top. They are Gretchen, Karen, and their leader, Regina George Throughout the story, Cady navigates her friendship with the popular girls and explores the changes in her identity.
Mean Girls is a very relatable story for most teenagers. Freshman Isabella Weir, who plays Cady Heron, personally relates to her character, as she is new to the school as well. “I am kind of in the same situation as my character,” Weir shared. In the musical, Cady struggles with finding where she fits and changes herself to become one of the plastics. The plastics are very mean to other people, and they even created the Burn Book where they write horrible things about people they don’t like. Another theme in Mean Girls, Weir shared, is that “the people you don’t like are still people,” which is something everyone can benefit from remembering.
To bring together the hilarious and iconic Mean Girls Musical, the tech department and the actors work together. Junior Katie Hendricks, who is on the tech team explained, “We do everything from lighting to sound, set building, and costumes, which really brings the musical to life.” In order for a musical to be successful, many people are involved, not just the actors, which forms a community within the theater program. The cast this year is full of talented actors, with the three plastics being played by sophomore Sahana Siddharth (Gretchen), senior Grace Guminey (Regina), and senior Lily Plum (Karen). Cady is played by freshman Isabella Weir, and her two best friends Damian and Janis, played by junior JJ Beatty and sophomore Rebecca Jacobs.
The Mean Girls Musical involves a lot of fun choreography, catchy songs, and colorful sets. From hype songs like “Whose House is This”, to more meaningful pieces such as “I See Stars,” the musical tells an unforgettable story with great music. Hendricks said, “I hope the audience really takes the time to appreciate all of the work that has been put in set-wise, and lighting and sound, because those aspects don’t just appear out of thin air.” Congratulations to all of the Mean Girls cast and crew for a great performance!
