Hear about a party— here’s the procedure:
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At The National Theater in DC to welcome (back) the tour of Mean Girls! That’s so FETCH. NETworks is touring the cautionary tale this time around, bringing the iconic film-come-musical full-circle as it launched it’s pre-Broadway debut at The National in 2017. Directed (on tour) by Casey Hushion with musical supervision by Mary-Mitchell Campbell and touring choreography by John MacInnis, this peppy, up-tempo show has a solid life lesson for everyone to learn while being hysterical and engaging good fun all along the way.
NETworks’ overall production values are a bit uneven, feeling a little slipshod in places, but the cast is chock-a-block with talent and will more than make up for some of the less than stellar scenic and lighting offerings. Scott Pask’s scenic design— while effectively setting all of the furniture on rolling casters for fluid transitions from moment to moment— is somewhat minimal and relies a bit too heavily on painted/printed drapes that drop from the fly-tower to change the scenery around. The painted scenery itself is either muted or the lighting (designed by Kenneth Posner) is washing them out, creating some duller looking scenes. Though Pask’s disco-mirror-ball walls (all of the ‘walls’ are two sided rolling flats…creating a more minimal approach to scenic appearance than feels like is wise for this particular show) are a really sparkly innovation that serve their scene well. Brian Ronan’s Sound Design is also off-kilter, particularly when it came to mic’ing Janis and Damian. For a professional touring company production of a musical, the sound balance of orchestrations coming from the pit should never be so out of balance with the vocals on stage.
Where the production values do succeed for this tour with Costume Designer Gregg Barnes. The high school aesthetic is well-represented in Barnes’ look— everything from the pristinely polished pink couture featured on the plastics to the nerdy Mathlete jackets seen near the end of the production. One of Barnes’ finest sartorial selections in the production is the monster-bride dress Cady wears to the Halloween party; it’s impressive and it’s a fully-functional breakaway costume piece, making it even more fascinating.
John MacInnis’ touring choreography, inspired by Casey Nicholaw’s original choreography and direction, is also at times uneven. There are numbers that feel over-choreographed— like “Whose House is This?”, where the musical beat and pulse seems to be crying out for a more organic chaos— but then there are numbers where the choreography being executed isn’t as clean as it potentially could be, like the tap routine in “Stop.” That isn’t to say that watching all of the hip-hop inspired dance moves that infiltrate several of the numbers isn’t entertaining and likely to please the masses.
What holds the show together is the talent and the extraordinary performances coming out of the performers. With an enthusiastic ensemble (Thalia Atallah, Armani Brown, Paloma D’Auria, Kayla Goins, Chase Graham, Tyler Jung, Tay Marquise, Brandon Moreno, Emma X. O’Loughlin, Ariel Shani, Jocelyn Darci Trimmer, Ryan Vogt) numbers like “Where Do You Belong?” really snag your attention whilst numbers like “Fearless” and “I’d Rather Be Me” become social-power anthems that define the show. Shawn Matthews is an ensemble standout in his role as Kevin G., particularly when he takes vocal point on “Whose House is This?” Chase Graham, who serves as Mr. Heron, Coach Carr, and the Mathletes Moderator, also gives noteworthy performances in these roles, particularly as Coach Carr who is constantly misspelling words in his ‘health class’ lessons.
Natalie Shaw, who triples up not in the ensemble but all the adult female roles— Mrs. Heron, Mrs. George, and Ms. Norbury— gets a chance to shine vocally when she’s playing the ‘cool mom’ character of Mrs. George. While her portrayal of this vapid-hip-mom is on-brand for the George-family-verve of ‘plastic’ her vocals are really stellar for “What’s Wrong with Me? (Reprise.)” As Ms. Norbury, you also get a down-to-earth vibe from Shaw with a sharpened sense when she delivers her quippy one-line exchanges with Cady.
Playing love-interest Aaron Samuels, José Raúl has this awkward smart-jock charm about him this is both contradictory to the character’s stereotype and completely beguiling, which makes the audience fall for him as readily as Cady does. And while lyricist Nell Benjamin and librettist Tina Fey haven’t given the Aaron Samuels character much by way of musical numbers, you do get a great opportunity to be treated to Raúl’s smooth vocal capabilities during “More is Better” and one of the off-label reprises of “Stupid with Love.” His interactions with Cady feel genuine and are adorkable.
She is Regina George— Maya Petropoulos— and she is a massive deal. Queen Bee, total-top plastic, the it-girl; Petropoulos is channeling it all. Flanked by her cronies, Gretchen (Kristen Amanda Smith) and Karen (Maryrose Brendel), Petropoulos owns her role as severe ‘cool girl.’ (Some of the show’s major choreographic issues come from all the lift-and-carries done featuring the Regina George character, and the look on Petropoulos’ face during these moments does not instill her confidence in those lifting and carrying her, which creates distraction from what’s happening in those moments. But don’t let those moments detract from her overall bad-ass approach to the role.) Petropoulos lights up “World Burn” like a vocal conflagration and smolders a surprisingly sassy rendition of “Someone Gets Hurt” not unlike a golden song-girl of the Bond-films-era. Smith, as Gretchen, and Brendel, as Karen, are equal parts of the toxic-triangle-of-plastics. You get a heartfelt, soul-crushing wave of feelings from Smith during “What’s Wrong with Me?” and it just shakes you thoroughly in your emotional core. Brendel, as the ditzy-blonde third of the plastics, has nailed her comic timing— particularly when she’s doing the spoken-restart-intro to “Sexy”, which she nails hands down from both a vocal and a dancing standpoint.
The tales two fierce narrators take the form of Janis Sarkisian (Alexys Morera) and Damian Hubbard (Joshua Morrisey.) Playing with an extraordinarily dynamic but platonic chemistry, Morera and Morrisey fit into he roles of Janis and Damian respectively like a snug glove. Morrisey plays the character with an extremely heightened and campy edge, which spills hog-wild over into camptastic-caricature territory. Whereas Morera’s portrayal of Janis is much more grounded in a bitter, jaded reality. Both Morera and Morrisey have stunning vocal capabilities and nail their songs with gusto. “Revenge Party” unifies their voices in viciously delicious celebration. Morera gets to truly shine while she’s giving the world her voice (and a certain middle finger) for “I’d Rather Be Me.” They’re both perfectly suited for their respective roles and serve as a conduit for the audience as well as active players in the story as it’s revisited in live time
Cady Heron (at this performance Carly Ameling) gives the most versatile performance of the production, going from homeschooled hopeful to shiny, faux-in-pink plastic. Ameling embraces the initial ‘awkward’ phase of her character but shines brightly and boldly through her introductory number, “It Roars.” There’s a burbling effervescence that permeates her rendition of “Stupid With Love” as well, which really lets the lyrics land fully on the ear, allowing the audience to embrace and enjoy the puns loaded into that song. By the time Ameling hits “Fearless” at the end of the first act, there’s an undeniable vocal confidence in her singing, which was always present but intentionally muted to better showcase character growth, and when she blends her vocals with Aaron in the duet “More is Better” in the second act, it’s a sublime sound with sincerity that feels contrary to the ‘Plastic Cady’ she’s become, which is a perfect showcase of how the OG-Cady is still tucked away deep inside this nuanced performance.
Remember, calling someone stupid doesn’t make you smarter and people— at the end of the day— are all people. Mean Girls has the lessons you need to hear with all of the fun and humor to make them ingestible, palatable, and totally FETCH. Get your tickets to this limited-stop engagement in the nation’s capital before it moves on to someplace else.
Running Time: 2 hours and 35 minutes with one intermission
Mean Girls plays through October 20th 2024 at the National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets call the box office at (202) 628-6161 or purchase them online.
Hear about a party
Here’s the procedure
Text all your friends
Tell ’em where to meet you
