What with tonight being a Wednesday and all, I predict a preponderance of pink.
The national tour of “Mean Girls” closes its run at the Saroyan Theatre on a perfect day for fans of the movie. “On Wednesdays, we wear pink!”
Here’s a quick review:
[perfectpullquote align=”left” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”18″]Pictured above: Cady Heron (Natalie Shaw), Gretchen Wieners (Kristen Amanda Smith), Regina George (Maya Petropoulos) and Karen Smith (MaryRose Brendel) in the national tour of ‘Mean Girls.’ Photo: Broadway in Fresno[/perfectpullquote]
The storyline: Yes, this is the same “Mean Girls” that in the 2004 film brought us such phrases as “That’s so fetch” and forever reframed the high-school lunchroom as a ruthless, animal-kingdom-inspired killing fields. The plot has been plumped up and musicalized, as Broadway is wont to do these days, with a 2017 opening in New York, and – in another sign of endless adaptive synergy – a new Hollywood musical film. I’ve seen all three versions (original film, Broadway show, musical film) in the past year, so you’ll forgive me if I can’t quite track what’s different about each. The important thing to know is that all the biggie plot points are here: the home-schooled heroine straight from the gentle savannahs of Kenya, dropped into the cutthroat environs of an upscale Illinois high school; the terrifying clique of fashionista despots who “rule” said school; the fiendish plot to infiltrate the popular-girl social circle and use the knowledge for good, not evil. Plus, there are math-club dweebs, the lesbian-and-gay best friends and a smattering of calculus. Oh, and the school bus. That’s gotta be there.
The adaptation: Some movies slip more awkwardly into the musical mold than others. “Pretty Woman,” which last graced the Broadway in Fresno touring series, comes to mind. “Mean Girls” is a much better fit. Part of it has to do, I suspect, with M.G. comic genius Tina Fey’s intense involvement with the musical. (Her husband, Jeff Richmond, wrote the music, and she wrote the book.) And there’s also the material itself, which exists in that super-charged, mythic-high-school world in which the line between reality and exaggeration feels wobbly anyways. By introducing the villain with a kick-butt song, the calculating madness of queen Regina George – the apex predator of the mean-girl clique – becomes all the more indelible.
The sound: A little worse for me than usual. (Remember, it’s up to the tour to make the sound in the Saroyan work, and it can be done.) I had a particularly hard time understanding the characters of Mr. Duvall and Karen Smith.
The acting: There are nice performances all around, especially the vocals. This is a non-Equity (aka non-union) company, which tends to feature less experienced performers, and there are a number of performers nearly straight out of college. But their voices soar, and they’ve got a good take on the pointed comedy. I’m impressed by how the top-billed cast (Ethan Jih-Cook, Alexys Morera, Natalie Shaw, Maya Petropoulos, Kristen Amanda Smith and MaryRose Brendel) mesh on stage. Morera’s Janis, in particular, shines in the show’s best song, “I’d Rather Be Me.” Joseph Torres finds some depth in the character of Aaron, the love interest.
The appeal: In a soon-to-be-patented scientific formula I’m tentatively titling Munro’s Coming of Age Theorem, the appeal of staged, filmed and novelized entertainments either satirizing, glorifying or psychoanalyzing high school life is conversely related to the square root of one’s age multiplied by the number of uniforms/costumes worn (football, band, cheer team, theater, penitentiary), then factorized by how much acne you had and adjusted for household income, then expressed in inverse fraction form. The answer is 40. Always 40. And that’s the age when you begin to get bored by the never-ending reductive obsession with how high school is only slightly less appalling than World War I trench warfare, and that the cliques that form there are truly and seriously a Gomorrah-like invitation to just ask the universe to wipe out the human race once and for all. At intermission of “Mean Girls,” a woman in her 80s passed by my seat, nodded and said, “I’m done with this.” In other words, she wasn’t coming back for the second act. Hey. It happens.
The law of the jungle: Even though I’m much older than the 40 number in my theorem, I did not feel the same way as the woman above. I’m always up for an amusing reminder of the awfulness of people. The musical version of “Mean Girls” might not be as darkly satirical as “Heathers” (to which I will always remain steadfastly loyal), but it gets in some good bites on the rawness of human nature. At a significant turning point for Cady, the transplant from Kenya, she’s asked to make a decision about someone else’s social fate. For a moment, the action freezes and the ensemble turns into a jungle frenzy. Will the apex predator be taken down? Oh, yes. And it feels so good. Which brings us to …
The school bus: My favorite part of the show. Unfortunately, it was not available for a photo op at the stage door afterward.
