“A fun show [with] meaningful messages at its core”
Based on the 2004 film, this musical tells the story of Cady Heron (Emily Lane), a teenage girl who has recently moved from Kenya to America, and is struggling to fit in at high school. This is, in many ways, your standard American high school story, with the teenage characters obsessed with looks and romantic relationships and often neglecting their own friendships as they strive to be ‘popular’. It is a message that perhaps feels more important than ever in the world of social media, and the stage show updates many elements of “Mean Girls” to make it relevant for a 2026 audience, so expect plenty of references to things such as Instagram and Ozempic. Tina Fey’s book borrows elements from her screenplay, whilst embellishing and adding lots of other throwaway comedy moments, and Jeff Richmond’s music is very much in the pop genre of musical theatre, mimicking other contemporary musicals such as Heathers.
In fact, the comparisons to Heathers don’t end there – when the mean girls themselves are introduced in song “Meet the Plastics”, it is with a blast of dry ice and backlit to emphasise their silhouettes, akin to the introduction of the Heathers, although not quite achieving the same level of impact. Leader of the pack is Vivian Panka’s Regina George, who provides a masterclass in bitchiness, strutting around the stage and sucking her teeth at the other teens’ questionable choices and reactions. She exudes main character energy, and her vocals are effortless. Although she is particularly nasty to some of the other girls, especially Cady, there is part of us that cannot help but like her, which is testament to Panka’s performance.
Regina’s clique is completed by Kiara Dario as Gretchen and Sophie Pourret as Karen. Gretchen is a more sympathetic character, desperate to please Regina and willing to do whatever it takes to remain in her favour. This culminates in ballad “What’s Wrong With Me?”, where Gretchen shows the audience that she is fully aware of the toxic friendship that she is trapped in, but cannot quite bring herself to break out of it. This song perfectly captures teenage insecurities, and the pervading desire to “fit in”. There is some growth for Gretchen when she eventually stands up to Regina, but she then finds herself in a similar friendship situation with Cady, and this character arc never feels like it is properly resolved. Pourret’s Karen is a little more one-note, a pretty, gullible girl who self-describes as “stupid” (although thankfully Pourret’s dark hair means we move away from the dumb blonde stereotype). Karen enjoys some great comedic moments, particularly when she demands to start her song “Sexy” again, which the orchestra, under the direction of Tom Slade, willingly obliges. Karen leads the reprise of “Stupid with love” in the second act, which seems to be trying to make some sort of point about how women can be perceived, although doesn’t quite stick the landing. It would have been nice to undermine everyone’s perception of Karen with an insight into something she was actually good at (just because someone isn’t academically bright doesn’t mean they aren’t intelligent), but instead Karen mostly finds herself reduced to a few quick quips and nothing deeper.
Lane’s Cady excels at the teenage awkwardness, particularly when tripping over her words whilst trying to impress heartthrob Aaron (understudy Charlie Barnard). As we see Cady slowly transition from naïve wannabe to fully-fledged mean girl, we find our allegiances slowly changing from one character to another. Some audience members may be quick to dismiss this show as surface-level fluff, but despite the flimsy plot, there are some seriously well-written character arcs here. The fact that characters often make bad decisions means that they feel real, although when everyone “makes friends” during the final song, it is a little too neat to be properly believable.
Our narrators for this ‘cautionary tale’ are Damian (Max Gill) and Janis (Georgie Buckland), a pair of misfits who seem determined to take Cady under their wing. Gill is phenomenally camp, described by others as “too gay to function”, whilst Janis takes sarcasm to a new level, and the fact that the two are polar opposites is what makes them work so well. It is also nice to see two openly gay teenage characters who are not landed with too much baggage surrounding their sexuality – although the fact that they are regarded as ‘outsiders’ is probably rooted in some unconscious homophobia, the musical doesn’t make that homophobia too overt, and for the most part Damian and Janis both seem very comfortable and accepted by their peers.
The set design is fairly simple, making use of multiple backdrops to bring to life different locations such as the school hall, the shopping mall and the plains of Africa, whilst set pieces such as a bed, canteen tables and a whiteboard are simple yet effective in moving the action from place to place. Tom Youings’ lighting makes great use of strip lights during “World Burn”, mimicking a photocopier as Regina takes copies of her ‘burn book’ to get revenge on Cady. The choreography is lively and upbeat, and occasionally sees the cast members mimic animals (Regina prowling the stage as a lioness whilst Gretchen and Karen flap around like birds), harking back to Cady’s Kenyan upbringing.
This is a fun show that appears frivolous but does contain some more meaningful messages at its core. The strong, feminist themes are most apparent in Janis’s song “I’d Rather Be Me”, which feels like a thematic climax and leaves the final twenty minutes acting as an elongated epilogue that has to tie-up lots of loose-ends such as Cady’s maths competition. I’m not going to pretend that this musical will appeal to all audience members (it certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea), but for the young women in the audience (and the majority of the audience were made up of teenage girls for the performance that I saw), this will be a brilliantly meaningful piece of theatre. Elements of the original ‘Mean Girls’ film may feel a little dated now, but with this musical update, it shows that the themes surrounding looks, popularity and insecurity are just as important as ever.
Tom Morley, November 2026
Review Round-up:
Theatre & Tonic: Mean Girls – 4* from T&T, who call this “a vibrant and polished production that has enough in it for audiences to enjoy” and “leans heavily on nostalgia in all the right ways”
Beyond the Curtain: Mean Girls – Also 4* from BtC, who commend the ensemble, saying “the choreography is sharp throughout, and the ensemble proves to be a huge asset”, remaining “ever-present, constantly pulling focus in the best way”
Lisa in the Theatre: Mean Girls – 3* from Lisa, who calls the production values “a major step down from the West End presentation”, calling the backdrops “lacklustre” and the lighting “patchy”
