Theater News

Mean Girls Has Closed on Broadway

The musical, based on the 2004 comedy, will not reopen at the August Wilson Theatre.

The cast of Mean Girls.
The cast of Mean Girls.
(© Joan Marcus)

The Broadway production of Tina Fey's musical Mean Girls will not reopen as a result of the continued industry-wide shut down due the pandemic. The production's final performance was Wednesday evening March 11, 2020, having played 805 performances and 29 previews in a record-setting run at the August Wilson Theatre. It features a book by Fey, with direction and choreography by Casey Nicholaw.

Based on Fey's 2004 film (which itself was inspired by Rosalind Weissman's 2002 self-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes), Mean Girls takes place in perhaps the world's most insidious jungle: high school. After her parents' research funding runs out, Cady Heron (Erika Henningsen, an absolutely endearing leading lady) moves back to Illinois from Kenya, where she was raised among the animals, and must assimilate herself into a vicious landscape unlike anything she experienced on the Serengeti.

The show ran at the National Theatre in Washington, DC, before making its Broadway premiere on Sunday, March 8, 2018.

The opening night cast was led by Erika Henningsen as Cady Heron, Taylor Louderman as Regina George, Ashley Park as Gretchen Wieners, and Kate Rockwell as Karen Smith, along with Kerry Butler (Mrs. Heron/Ms. Norbury/Mrs. George), Grey Henson (Damian Hubbard), Cheech Manohar (Kevin Gnapoor), Kyle Selig (Aaron Samuels), Barrett Wilbert Weed (Janis Sarkisian), and Rick Younger (Mr. Duvall). The production also features scenic design by Scott Pask, costume design by Gregg Barnes, lighting design by Kenneth Posner, sound design by Brian Ronan, and an original score by Jeff Richmond, with lyrics by Nell Benjamin.

The Mean Girls North American tour, which had been playing to sold out houses across the country pre-shutdown since it launched in 2019, plans to relaunch this summer or as soon as performances can resume.

As previously announced, the musical is set to be adapted to a major motion picture from Paramount Pictures produced by Lorne Michaels and Tina Fey, with a script by Fey and featuring music by Jeff Richmond and lyrics by Nell Benjamin. More details to be announced.