Based on the 2004 film starring Lindsay Lohan, Mean Girls has become a modern day cult classic, with fans around the world celebrating ‘Mean Girls Day’ on October 3rd (a famous reference in the film). So when on this day in 2016, it was announced that a Musical adaption of the film was in the works, fans were overjoyed. After a try-out run in Washington DC in October 2017, Mean Girls opened on Broadway at the August Wilson Theater in April this year. The cast recording has been released digitally (CD’s to come soon) and I have not been able to stop listening to it.
With a book/script by comedy actress Tina Fey and songs by Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin, Mean Girls the Musical has been nominated for a huge twelve Tony Awards (matching nominations received by SpongeBob SquarePants) including Best Musical, Best Book and Best Score. And it deserves to win everything!
Having not seen the show yet on Broadway, it is hard for me to talk about anything other than the music, however, from the few clips I have seen on YouTube, I feel that the show is going to be so much funnier than just the songs and the comedy dialogue in between the music will bring this show to a whole other level. But just taking the songs themselves, they are all INCREDIBLE!
Opening with a School of Rock/American Idiot vibe rock song ‘A Cautionary Tale’ the listener is given a short and snappy overview of the show which really sets out to show that things aren’t always what you think they are. ‘It Roars’ is a hilarious number where Cady (who has grown up in Africa) is told the family are moving back to America. She lists the things she is most excited about like meeting an obese person and going to a Starbucks. ‘Where Do You Belong’ introduces Cady to the different cliques in the school, the jocks, band geeks, mathletes etc and then it’s time to ‘Meet The Plastics’ – the group that Cady ends up falling into.
Stupid In Love is a great catchy song about how Cady once got rejected by a boy and so turned to academic studies to avoid getting hurt. What is clever about this song is when she talks about her life in Africa, the music is more reminiscent of that country and when she is talking about America it is not. The song itself sound a bit like Crazier Than You from The Addams Family and is a great song.
I could talk about every song on the album but I will try not to. Other highlights include ‘Sexy’ which is hilarious and is everything I would expect the Mean Girls Musical to sound like and ‘Stop’ is brilliantly reminiscent of ‘Turn It Off’ from The Book of Mormon. ‘Whose House Is This’ is a cringeworthy rap/party number which is probably the worst song on the album (but also the one that is most stuck in my head and I find myself repeatedly singing).
The cast recording is totally fetch and the best thing I have heard for a while (yes it beats Frozen and even SpongeBob). Every song is clever, funny or shows the incredible vocal ability of the cast and I simply can’t recommend you listen to it enough!
You’re welcome!
Reviewed by West End Wilma
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