www.broadwayworld.com: Mean Girls features a book by nine-time Emmy Award winner Tina Fey, based on her screenplay for the film, music by three-time Emmy Award winner Jeff Richmond; and lyrics by two-time Tony Award nominee Nell Benjamin. Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw directs and choreographs.
3 comments:
From the initial reaction of the original Broadway premiere, these reviews are not surprising. I am happy to hear that the tour has found a truly solid cast, including my dear friend, Sam Gerber, but I understand that the show still lacks in the overall writing and structure. It is always interesting to see the shift from the original production to the first tour, because it usually attempts to replicate the original production as well as possible while factoring the new issues of travel and a completely new cast. The show is always bound to change, but I am thrilled that this piece kept its joyful nature and found worthwhile talent. While I am not a huge fan of musical adaptations, I do believe they serve a purpose, to bring in audiences with less experience or interest in theatre, which is something our community always needs in order to grow and spread the love. Already, this show is very close to sold out for its run here in Pittsburgh, but I do hope I will have the chance to possibly rush it when it arrives.
Though I do have to disagree with the comment about the lyrics of the show not sticking in their brain, I am not surprised by the other comments in this review. I saw the show in NYC with most of the original Broadway cast, and even then some of the technical elements, which most likely stick with the tour on show, were underwhelming. The media design was amazing but some of the lighting felt clunky and the movement of scenery wasn't as fluid as I might have expected from a production at that level. On the other hand I am really happy that the level of the performers seems to be at an acceptable level, if not at the same level as the full broadway cast, because I have been following Mariah Rose Faith for a while through the performance group "StarKid". Overall, I think that even if the writing panders a bit too heavily to the nostalgia of it being a production based on a musical, the musical is really enjoyable to watch and has amazing energy. Its usage of video walls and chair-ography are amazing to watch and I think it is really reflective of the direction that new musicals are moving in.
Mean Girls is one of the most entertaining shows I've seen on Broadway. While there are MULTIPLE elements of the show that are completely lackluster, and a lot of the technical elements were kinda lazy, there is a lot of spirit there. I am glad that their cast for the tour shaped up the way that it did, it seems as though the whole show is a lot of fun even when on tour. I'm interested to see in person what the screens look like, because I feel like the entire wall of screens might not be traveling around. Something so interesting to me about Mean Girls is how I can fully recognize the lyrics are bad, and even the popular songs like "I'd Rather Be Me" are kind of stupid and funny when you sit down and listen to the lyrics, I still listen to the cast album. Maybe there is something about the spirit of the show that draws people in even though it's somewhat poorly done, or maybe I'm just an easy consumer. Either way, I am glad the Mean Girls tour isn't getting too tremendous of backlash.
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