'Mean Girls' Musical, Now at Playhouse Square, Is Out of Tune

Mean Girls, through Nov. 3 at Playhouse Square Credit: Courtesy Photo

Sometimes you see a show and wonder how good it might have been if different people were involved in its creation. Because the version you saw felt lame and limp in virtually every respect.

So it is with Mean Girls, the musical version of the iconic and super-sassy film that is now making a brief tour stop at Playhouse Square. The musical hews closely to the original material as it tells the story of Cady, a 16-year-old girl recently returned from Africa with her nerdy scientist parents.

Now, Cady has to survive the only environment more treacherous than the Kenyan outback—an up-scale high school filled with female snark-oids in training. They are led by the villainous Regina and her two catty cohorts, insecure Gretchen and beauteous but ditzy Karen. Cady is supported by two “artsy” pals, cynical Janis and cheeky gay boy Damian.

Trouble is, this touring company rarely puts the sizzle into this stew of adolescent angst. The book by Tina Fey has all the requisite jabs and gags but as delivered, many of the reliable japes fall flat.

And speaking of flat, the music by Jeff Richmond and lyrics by Nell Benjamin seem to fight each other at every turn. Indeed, the words seem like they were written in seclusion and then superimposed over a defiantly non-melodic score. Perhaps it was some strange experiment to see if songs could be created without one hand knowing what the other hand is doing.

The result is more than 20 tunes without a single decent musical hook. Instead, they dutifully lay out the character profiles of all the major participants. Forget about humming something as you leave the theater, these songs barely distract you in the moment.

Of course, all of that is of little importance to true Mean Girl fans, who will carry their film memories into the theater and use them to spackle over the multitude of pits, gaps and rough edges in this production.

Under the direction of Casey Hushion, the cast fails to breathe life into the warmed-over material that kicked ass in the film version. As Cady, Carly Ameling seems more like an onlooker than the center of the plot, since we never get a sense of who she really is. And while Ameling’s singing voice is powerful at moments, it never resolves fully leaving her songs feeling unfinished.

In a similar way, the supposedly venom-drenched Regina comes across as more of a sad outcast in the hands of Maya Petropoulos. This robs the audience of the joy when she gets her comeuppance later. Even her ever-faithful posse of Gretchen (Kristen Amanda Smith) and Karen (Maryrose Brendel) only manage some faint chuckles here and there.

As for Cady’s pals, Alexys Morera doesn’t make Janis the force she should be. Joshua Morrisey is more successful with in the showy role of Damian, but he often seems to run out of breath so the ends of his sentences (where the punch lines reside) are often garbled.

Oh, and if you’re looking for the scenic design by Scott Pask to offer a visual oasis, never mind. The bland walls of North Shore High are constant throughout, with small set details (a door here, a chair there) rolled on and off to represent different locations.

The one saving grace are the dances as choreographed by John MacInnis, which are often high-energy and frenzied—even if the synchronicity of the moves often leave much to be desired.

So, if you love the original Mean Girls throw on anything pink, grab a cocktail, and find a way to make this a “fetch” experience. Other than that, you might want to watch the original flick and top it off with a viewing of Heathers. That’ll satisfy your yearning for saucy teenage trauma.

Mean Girls
Through November 3 at Playhouse Square, KeyBank State Theater, 1615 Euclid Ave., clevelandplayhouse.com, 216-241-6000.

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