6th November 2023
Listen
Listen
In the world of movie to musical adaptations, Tina Fey’s Mean Girls has been, in my opinion, one of the most culturally relevant this decade. The 2024 movie adaptation notably brought many eyes to the show, and while it wasn’t necessarily a smash hit in the box office or in the court of public opinion, it surely reminded theatregoers of the stage show’s charms. Just months after the release of the movie, Mean Girls got a West End revival at the Savoy Theatre, which was once again – surprisingly to some – met with a fairly tepid reception and minimal recognition at the Olivier Awards, closing just a year later. Fast forward to 2026, the show is in its final couple of touring months, and I got to see it in the thick of its Liverpool residency.
The story of Mean Girls is iconic at this point. Plucky, fish-out-of-water Cady Heron is thrown headfirst into the confusing and overwhelming world of high school politics and its associated hierarchies. She’s quickly scooped up and guided along by fellow outcasts Janis and Damian, who encourage her to get in the good graces of the school’s apex clique “The Plastics”, led by top dog and bully supreme, Regina George. Our main trio formulate a plan to ruin Regina’s life and for Cady to get with Regina’s ex, but Cady gets sucked in to the cruelty, becoming unrecognisably mean and shallow herself. While the show I saw at the Empire told this story in an entertaining and even heart-warming way, it unfortunately struggles to emulate the sharp pacing, development and wit of its source material.
We were dragged through act one at a breakneck pace, leaving Kenya, meeting Janis and Damian and then meeting The Plastics before we’d even had a chance to breathe. Emily Lane’s portrayal as Cady is charming and delightfully awkward, but her weirdness doesn’t feel weird or prolonged enough to warrant her immediate social shunning. The events that lead Cady into the arms of Janis and Damian are played at double speed, as if someone is fast-forwarding to the scenes with the more quotable lines.
“Meet the Plastics” introduces us to the infamous trio, and despite the plot being desperately hurtled to this point, the song comes and goes with less weight than I expected. Little things like the lighting not illuminating each of the girls during their verses, or the choreographed lifts being about as daring as a child’s plastic slide, make the scene fall a bit flat. The drawbacks of a touring set are poignant at times; I found myself missing the massive LED screen of the Savoy Theatre’s production, which really helped to punctuate some of the book’s humour. I also wonder if that resource would help more audience members clock the parallels that Cady is drawing between Kenyan wildlife and high school teenagers in “Apex Predator” – any call-backs to that metaphor (e.g. Gretchen’s squawking when she’s angry) provoked no reactions or laughter from people around me.
The pacing stabilises as the show goes on, and we’re allowed to savour the talents of this touring cast. Kiara Dario earns big laughs playing the neurotic Gretchen, wailing outside of a prop door begging for Regina George’s approval. Thus her character’s eventual betrayal of Regina is easy to understand, striking a perfect equilibrium between sympathetic and simply pathetic in her performance of “What’s wrong with me”. Sophie Pourret is also a reliable laugh as ditsy Karen, and she makes some great choices at the beginning of fan-favourite “Sexy” that make you want to laugh even more. Overall the cast is doing the most it can with the material, although some characters seem to have been directed to deliver lines loudly for comedic effect, which progressively diminished the force of some otherwise good punchlines.
Vivian Panka’s take on Regina George was by far the most intriguing. In a distinct juxtaposition to the rest of the characters, this Regina is unbothered, nonchalant, outwardly emotionless at times. You watch her float above the mess of high school and understand why she’s been elevated to such a dominant social position. Her casually impeccable vocals in “Someone Gets Hurt” and “World Burn” were genuinely mesmerising, and watching her character slowly unravel is a joy. Despite the stripped back tour set and more underwhelming choreographed lifts, her presence fills the stage around her and its difficult to look away.
Fans of the show, movie musical or even just the cast album will notice a heap of changes to the music. Act two’s brand new opener “I’m Blowing Up” is the biggest change, and I like the way it showcases the new status quo, with Cady on top as a bona fide diva. It also gave Emily Lane the opportunity to flex her soprano capabilities, as well as Cady’s obvious mistreatment of her friends. The sprawling, diverse ensemble really comes alive in “Whose House Is This?” and present the iconic girl’s bonding scene in a hilarious way. I have to shout out Stefanos Petri who was covering the character of Kevin Ganatra on my night, who was super funny as the Mathlete. Towards the end of the second act, we get to see Georgie Buckland’s Janis defiantly reject the people who have wronged her throughout the show, in a great performance of “I’d Rather Be Me”. She expertly manoeuvres the pretty goofy lyrics in that song (“so your best friend screwed you over, acted nice when she not nice!”), and her rebellious spirit really resonated with the audience. In a show with such twisted plot beats during its climax, I find it really impressive how its uplifting message still shines through.
Mean Girls will never have my favourite score or lyrics, and the story told on stage will never compete with the 2004 movie. However, if casts like the one currently touring the UK continue to throw everything at this show, embrace the cringe and sing their hearts out, you can always guarantee an entertaining night out. Don’t forget to wear pink!
Catch Mean Girls at the Liverpool Empire until October 30th 2026. Further tour dates can be found on the official website.
