FETCH NEWS!! Husband and wife duo Arturo Perez Jr. and Samantha Jayne (Quarter Life Poetry) have both been tapped to co-direct the upcoming film version of the musical adaptation of Mean Girls.
They join the previously announced lineup of the musical’s Tony nominated creative team consisting of bookwriter Tina Fey, producer Lorne Michaels, composer Nell Benjamin, and lyrist (plus Fey’s hubby) Jeff Richmond via The Paramount Players project.
Official details for casting, filming, and the release date will be announced at a later time.
For those who may not know, Mean Girls is a musical based on the popular 2004 film of the same name (starring Lindsay Lohan and Tina Fey). It tells the story of “Cady Heron”, a 16 year old girl who attends public school for the first time ever after many years of being home schooled by her Zoologist parents in Africa. Along with slowly fitting in, her world turns upside down as she becomes the attention of the High School’s popular and nastiest rulers THE PLASTICS. Notable songs include IT ROARS, WHERE DO YOU BELONG, APEX PREDATOR, REVENGE PARTY, WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME, FEARLESS, STUPID WITH LOVE, I RATHER BE ME, I SEE STARS, and more.
MEAN GIRLS: THE MUSICAL has been in the works of turning into a stage musical since 2013. It went through 2 1/2 years are early development readings and workshops. It officially had its world premiere debut in our Nation’s Capitol in Washington D.C. at the National Theatre in 2017. It immediately made its way to our New York City backyard at the August Wilson Theatre. The show was playing to packed houses till the pandemic hit. Sadly along with the pandemic and recent low ticket sales, it was announced that the Broadway production would not be closing. The show played its official final performance on March 11th, 2020 after 29 previews and 805 regular performances.
Under the direction and choreography by Casey Nicholaw, the cast was led by….
Erika Henningsen (later and Sabrina Carpenter) as “Cady Heron”,
Tony nominee Taylor Louderman (later Reneé Rapp) as “Regina George”,
Tony nominee Ashley Park (later Krystina Alabado) as “Gretchen Wieners”,
Kate Rockwell (later and Laura Leigh Turner) as “Karen Smith”,
Barrett Wilbert Weed (later Olivia Kaufman) as “Janis Sarkisian”,
Tony nominee Grey Henson (later Chad Burris) as “Damian Hubbard”,
Kyle Selig (later and temporary Cameron Dallas) as “Aaron Samuels”,
Cheech Manohar as “Kevin Gnapoor”,
Tony nominee Kerry Butler (later Tony nominee Jennifer Simard and Catherine Brunell) as “The Adult Women Figures” (consisting of “Mrs. Herson”, “Ms. Norbury”, and “Mrs. George”),
and
Rick Younger as “Principal Duvall”.
The Broadway production of MEAN GIRLS was nominated for a full total of 12 Tony Awards including BEST MUSICAL. However, it lost all its categories.
The National Tour of MEAN GIRLS originally kicked off in the Fall of 2019 where it was still playing to packed houses every night all over North America. It was abruptly shutdown as well due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it will be coming back this Fall 2021. With the original creative team on board, it’s set to relaunch in Tempe, AZ, from November 2nd-7th, 2021 before making its way to over 40+ cities all over North America including….
Portland, OR,
Seattle, WA,
Salt Lake City, UT,
Albuquerque, NM,
Oklahoma City, OK,
Milwaukee, WI,
Nashville, TN,
St. Louis, MI,
Omaha, NE,
Indianapolis, IN,
Washington D.C, (where the show had its pre-Broadway tryout),
Memphis, TN,
New Orleans, LA,
Schenectady, NY,
Baltimore, MD,
Atlanta, GA,
Houston, TX,
Hartford, CT
San Diego, CA,
and more.
Talks for a London company and international productions are also in the works.
Who is excited for the MEAN GIRLS film?!!!
