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Mean Girls

King’s Theatre, Glasgow

Three stars

 

Arriving fashionably late is probably to be expected of a turn of the century clique of teen princess throwbacks. This is why  Tuesday night’s twenty minute delay to showtime for Tina Fey’s musical stage version of her 2004 film can be forgiven. Conceptually speaking, such divaish timekeeping is kind of in keeping with the classroom and cafeteria shenanigans new girl Cady lands in at the start of the show, but, y’know, whatevs. 

 

Cady has just jetted in from Kenya, and after a girlhood in the wild, has a lot of catching up to do in terms of making friends. She soon falls in with Janis and Damian, the outsider duo who become Cady’s guide through the social minefield of high school, as well as our narrators. As for who rules the school, cue The Plastics, the drop dead gorgeous trio led by the divine Regina George, who appears to be the ultimate Queen Bee until Cady comes along.  What follows in this UK tour of Casey Nicholaw’s production of Fey, composer Jeff Richmond and lyricist Nell Benjamin’s confection is an effervescent teen fable that taps into an age old cross generational guide to being a girl. 


Originally inspired by Rosalind Wiseman’s 2002 self help book, Queen Bees and Wannabes, it was inevitable that Mark Waters’ Fey scripted film would eventually be adapted for the musical theatre circuit. Some of Fey’s deadly one liners survive in a slickly realised whirligig of multi coloured cartoon fun, even if it lacks the attitude and snark of the original. 

 

This is brought to life by a peppy Emily Lane as Cady, who offsets Vivian Panka’s don’t mess vibe as Regina with relish. There is able support from Kiara Dario and Sophie Pourret as Regina’s fellow Plastics, Gretchen and Karen, with Georgie Buckland and Max Gill bringing attitude and sass to Janis and Damian. Faye Tozer, meanwhile, steps into Fey’s grown up shoes as teacher Ms Norbury, doubling up as Cady’s hippy mother and Regina’s pink clad ma’ with comic glee as the large supporting cast sing and dance their way to enlightenment. 

 

The show’s depiction of how peer group pressure can even turn nice girls like Cady bad and its overriding message of how learning to  be part of the same gang rather than tearing chunks out of each other has been the stuff of teen movies since teenagers were invented. The combination of Fey’s script with Richmond and Benjamin’s pop fused showtunes, however, makes for a delirious depiction of how everyone can be queen bee. 


The Herald, June 2nd 2026

 

Ends 

 

 

 

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