Review: “Mean Girls” Is the Most Fetch Musical on Broadway

Back in 2004, a film came out that defined a generation; “Mean Girls” spoke to teenagers dealing with high school drama and gave them a hilarious lexicon to describe their plight. For those like me, “Mean Girls” was the most accurate expression of the zeitgeist. As an avid lover of the film and also a musical theater aficionado, I was excited but scared when I heard Tina Fey was adapting my beloved film into a musical.

But nothing about the “Mean Girls” musical disappoints. Quite simply, it is a triumph. It so perfectly adapts the beloved, generation-defining film on to the Broadway stage, adding fierce belts and group dance numbers with an ease that seems almost effortless. Composer Jeff Richmond, lyricist Nell Benjamin, and of course, director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw have certainly done an impeccable job. Often when movies are made into musicals the songs feel awkward and unnecessary, since audiences know that the original scene did not have (or need) songs. But this new musical makes it hard to imagine a “Mean Girls” without such soon-to-be iconic songs like Karen’s “Sexy” or Janis and Damian’s “Revenge Party.”

Adding any content into the already-iconic script of the musical was a risk — as was cutting some of the famous lines and scenes. Thankfully, Tina Fey has given the film’s devotees not only the “Mean…