The background and tech quite literally set the stage to show us what Regina was feeling in that moment - rage and vengeance. We end up seeing red light and a fiery, apocalyptic background. We start with a solid background, fading into the images depicting the lies she attempts to feed everyone. Not only do the lyrics tell the story but the set navigates us through Regina’s breaking point. The digital set was a personal favorite, specifically during “World Burn” where we see Regina (Hassan) carrying out her revenge - scattering the pages across the school to cause chaos and paint Cady, Gretchen, and Karen as the villains. The lyrics fit perfectly because they help magnify the horrible impact Regina has. The realization hits the “cool mom” and causes her to practically retreat and think about what’s she’s doing so wrong that she doesn’t know what’s going on within her daughter’s life. George is the one to inform Regina of Cady’s betrayal. George (April Josephine) also has a story. This is proven in many of the songs such as the opening number “A Cautionary Tale,” “Apex Predator,” and specifically the reprise of “What’s Wrong with Me?” In the latter, Gretchen (Megan Masako Haley) is spilling out how she truly feels about her manipulative ex-best friend Regina (Nadina Hassan). In so much of “Mean Girls,” lyrics tell the story working with the music instead of the musical relying solely on dialogue. This is vividly shown in the choreography as a bunch of teens acting wild in the mall and Cady witnessing it all as an outsider learning her new surroundings. It conjures the idea of teenage girls being predators and boys being pieces of meat. Her level of comfort shifts as she interacts with types of people she’s never encountered before. Cady, now in the halls of a Chicago high school, has to deal with the attitudes and hormones of teenagers instead of the familiar feeling of only being around her parents and animals. Dancers dressed as animals paint Cady’s life then, soon transitioning into the scene change not just physically, but situationally. The production used the power of musical theater to dig deeper than the film into the characters and capture the audience by the throat - thus proving some (namely mine) initial assumptions wrong.Īt the story’s outset, Cady (Danielle Wade) is in her comfort zone of Kenya which is backed up by choreography. But I truly didn’t get the hype about this musical until the beat dropped. The musical’s early warning made an interesting introduction that differs from the film adaptation. Casey Nicholaw directed and choreographed. Tina Fey wrote the book for the musical with music by Jeff Richmond and lyrics by Nell Benjamin. “Mean Girls,” the musical that premiered on Broadway in 2018, came to Louisville and ran from March 22 to 27 at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts. The energy these two characters gave showed their excitement to welcome new students but also caution them as they explained the school’s and its students’ imperfections. Melissa Chipman and Elizabeth Kramer ‘Mean Girls’ Proves Storytelling Takes More Than Acting, It Takes Musical Theater Magicīack to freshman year we go on the opening night of PNC Broadway in Louisville’s “Mean Girls.” Last Tuesday, Janis (Mary Kate Morrissey) and Damien (DeShawn Bowens) introduced the audience to North Shore High treating us as incoming freshmen. They help elevate youth voices and the arts. You can find their critiques below.Īrts Angle Vantage and the participants are grateful to PNC Broadway in Louisville and to LEO Weekly Arts & Entertainment Editor Erica Rucker and Editor Scott Recker, who practice the values of collaborative journalism and bring the community these young critics’ work. (Over that time, we had organized limited activities with alumni.) Workshop participants, local high school students, reviewed the show. This youth arts journalism program was able to continue limited work virtually with its alumni but faced dilemmas connecting with new young arts enthusiasts, writers and journalists.įinally, with PNC Broadway in Louisville’s recent run of the musical “Mean Girls,” Arts Angle Vantage offered its first workshop for newcomers in two years. During the pandemic, Arts Angle Vantage (formerly Arts Bureau Edge) had to halt many activities as arts groups had fewer offerings and gathering with young people proved challenging.
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