(L to R) Maryrose Brendel, Maya Petropoulos and Kristen Amanda Smith star as the Plastics. (Courtesy of Jenny Anderson)
The hit Broadway musical "Mean Girls" performed to packed crowds at Santa Barbara's Granada Theatre for a night full of frenemies, queen bees and revenge parties. The Jan. 8-9 performances served as part of the 2024-25 season of Broadway in Santa Barbara through the American Theatre Guild.
The high-energy comedy is an updated iteration of the 2004 film "Mean Girls," written by comedian Tina Fey. The film chronicles Kenyan-raised teenager Cady Heron's struggle to acclimate to American public high school, which proves to be just as vicious as the food chain on the African savanna in its own way. The musical adaptation of "Mean Girls" features an updated script also written by Fey, alongside music by "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" composer Jeff Richmond and lyrics by "Legally Blonde" lyricist Nell Benjamin.
Before the start of the performance, the Granada Theatre's standard announcement reminding patrons to silence their phones was followed by a cheeky prerecorded message from Fey: "You don't need to film this! It was already a movie!" The audience, which ranged from middle-aged individuals in pearls and peacoats to ten-year-old girls dressed in head-to-toe pink, giggled at Fey's quip with anticipation of the show ahead.
The musical began with Janis Sarkissian (Alexys Morera) and Damian Hubbard (Joshua Morissey) sliding onstage to address the eager audience directly. They regaled the crowd with the opening number "A Cautionary Tale," singing "This is a cautionary tale / About corruption and betrayal / And getting hit by a bus!" Morera and Morissey perfectly captured the banter and camaraderie of Janis and Damian's friendship, warmly welcoming the audience into their world, as if every member of the crowd was also new to North Shore High School.
The curtains opened to reveal an African sunset backdrop reminiscent of "The Lion King" accompanied by marimbas and woodwinds. Cady Heron (Katie Yeomans) emerged singing "It Roars," a hopeful Disney-esque number about her desire to experience life amongst peers her age. Yeomans played Cady with pluck and rowdy determination that served as a stark but welcome departure from that of Angourie Rice, whose performance as Cady in the 2024 "Mean Girls" musical movie was panned by critics.
Through rowdy lunch tray-ography and zany, colorful outfits ranging from varsity letterman jackets to Hawaiian t-shirts, North Shore provided an overwhelming welcome to their newest student alongside quips like, "Just ignore her!" In a high-energy, vaudeville-esque number complete with can-can kicks, Damian showed Cady the ropes of North Shore's social landscape during lunch period: "You'll be judged on sight / And made to fit / So find a clique and stick with it!"
The entrance of the Plastics was accompanied by a signature, ominous brass motif, the walls of the cafeteria opening to reveal Regina (Maya Petropolous), Gretchen (Kristen Amanda Smith) and Karen (Maryrose Brendel) wheeled in like a composite Greek statue on a table. In perfectly tailored white skinny jeans and heels, Regina introduced herself in no uncertain terms. "I'm the prettiest poison you've ever seen / I never weigh more than 115," she sang with a vocal fry that conveyed equal parts menace and nonchalance. Petropoulos' brunette mane diverged from the blonde 'do of previous Reginas, but her commitment to portraying the queen bee's intimidating aura -- along with the perfectly coiffed state of Petropoulos' locks -- made the color of her hair a detail that could be easily overlooked.
The lovably anxious Gretchen and iconic ditz Karen followed with musical intros of their own. Karen's joyous "My name is Karen / I may not be smart!" particularly elicited laughs from the audience. Smith's talent for a well-timed reaction and biting one-liners conveyed in a bubbly voice made Gretchen's presence a highlight of the night.
The remainder of Act One portrayed Cady's conflicting alliances towards Janis and Damian and the Plastics and the hilarious escapades that occur in both worlds. In the nonsensical, high-energy dance number "Sexy," Karen touted the merits of Halloween while ensemble members paraded onstage as costumes mentioned in the song -- sexy corn, sexy Quint from "Jaws" and even sexy Rosa Parks. Like Amanda Seyfried and Kate Rockwell before her, Brendel shone in the role of Karen as a master of self-aware deadpan comedy. A particular bit in "Sexy" where Karen realized she messed up the lyrics, left the stage, and walked back on to start over received uproarious laughs from the crowd.
The standout moment of Act One was arguably "Fearless," a joyful song celebrating Regina's fall from grace. Yeomans brought to the role of Cady a courageous heroism that soared as she led the girls of North Shore in this triumphant number, resplendent with an iconic dance break and effortless power belts.
Act Two opened with Janis and Damian reprising "A Cautionary Tale," foreshadowing Cady's subsequent fall from social power. The chaotic fun of Act One returned with a decidedly dark twist: the Damian-led tap number "Stop" echoed "Where Do You Belong" in flavor, but quips like "Stop when you're babysitting kids / And you make them go to bed / So you can take their mom's Oxy" helped ground this act of the musical in the reality of mistakes that come with teenagehood. However, the song's emphasis on the pitfalls of social media (an attempt to update the source material for a modern audience) ultimately felt forced instead of impactful.
When Cady decided to ditch a family outing and host a party instead, the ensemble wreaked havoc on Cady's house while she got messily drunk for the first time ("Whose House Is This?") and unintentionally wrecked her emerging friendship with love interest Aaron Samuels (Jose Raul). During Cady-Aaron duet "More is Better," the audience cringed with secondhand embarrassment at Cady's relatable efforts to hide her safari past from Aaron under a cool-girl exterior.
Meanwhile, Regina vowed to reclaim her social power through "Mean Girls'" most iconic number, "World Burn." Petropoulos brought the house down with this performance, perfectly capturing the deliciously evil essence of Regina George through menacing verses building up to an incredibly executed, belt-heavy bridge. And though the majority of the show's wardrobe is a far cry from that of the original film, Petropoulos donned Regina's iconic black off-shoulder top as she strewed pages of the Burn Book about the school. She was backlit by the Plastics' signature bright pink, signifying her return to her reign as North Shore High School's top dog.
The end of the musical was as fast-paced and high-stakes as the rest, as Cady took the fall for the Burn Book's creation and got into a confrontation with Regina that resulted in Regina being hit by a bus. When she joined the Mathletes team to bring her calculus grade up in a moment of applause-worthy redemption, audiences held their breaths during rap-heavy "Do This Thing" as Cady scored the winning point to clinch a championship for North Shore. "Maybe the haters gonna make fun of you / All you can solve's the problem in front of you," the Mathletes chanted, bringing the hype to this key moment.
The show's sentimental finale, "I See Stars," was a tonal departure from the chaos of the rest of the musical, as newly crowned Spring Fling queen Cady distributed pieces of her crown to attendees of the dance in celebration of the show's theme: competition is the antithesis of friendship. When Cady, wearing a Mathletes jacket, joined hands with Plastics and "art freaks" alike, resounding applause reverberated through the crowd.