In the beginning of November, Texas A&M’ OPAS brought the “Mean Girls” musical to Rudder Theatre for 2 nights and it was definitely an experience that my friends and I won’t forget.
I went to the second night of the musical and didn’t really know what I was expecting. I had only watched the movie a couple times growing up and this was more of a bonding experience for my friend group, so I went in kind of blind. Once the musical started, my brain started matching plot points between the show & the musical and I noticed a few differences. First, I enjoyed the “breaking the 4th wall” narration from Janis and Damian – it seemed funnier than the actual jokes in the performance. Next, I felt that Regina’s mom had a bigger role because she’s the one that introduces the Burn Book instead of Karen, shares a musical number with Gretchen, and tells Regina the truth about the Kālteen bars. Third, for story differences, Aaron shows up during the Mathletes competition and Regina and Cady make up in the bathroom of the Spring Fling.
Now onto the actual review portion of this article. I am by no means a professional critic, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. I personally did not enjoy the musical numbers of the show. I know it sounds crazy because that’s a majority of the performance, but there was nothing memorable for me in the songs. The actors, however, were great! They delivered the jokes with great comedic timing and their vocals for the songs were strong. I would like to commend the actress who played Mrs. Heron / Mrs. George/ Ms. Norbury because from where I was sitting, I couldn’t tell they were the same person. As Ms. Norbury, she delivered the lines in the same manner as Tina Fey in the movie. I thought the ending was a little weird with Cady and Regina making up and becoming friends. Maybe I prefer them growing in their own ways, but it seemed a bit anticlimactic. I don’t know if I would watch the musical again but if I do, I’ll sit closer so I can actually see the actors’ faces.