Mean Girls – Savoy Theatre

Charlie Burn, Elèna Gyasi, Georgina Castle, Grace Mouat and Elena Skye in Mean Girls at the Savoy Theatre, London. Pictures: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg

Mean Girls continues at the Savoy Theatre, London (booking until 16 February 2025).

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

It used to be that musicals got made into movies. But now, has your movie really been a success until it’s been made into a musical? Is Mean Girls just the latest in the lineage of Back to the Future, Mrs Doubtfire, Pretty Woman and so many more?

Perhaps the closest comparator on paper is Heathers; musical-ing a cult-classic teen drama about the new girl in town taking on an evil trio of high school queens is, evidently, fetch right now. This time, it’s the big one, the one that every other movie wishes it was (especially Mean Girls 2024) – it’s the Regina George of the genre, if you will. And, honestly, this Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin creation might just be the Regina of its school: Mean Girls the musical is fresh, punchy, often clever, and continuously funny.

While it’s slightly disheartening to see yet another stage littered with big digital background screens, which generally seem to stymie creative set work, here Scott Pask’s scenic design and Finn Ross and Adam Young’s video work often serve to highlight some clever staging of classes, corridors and luxurious pink bedrooms. North Shore High is thus brought to vivid life, populated by a brilliantly choreographed student ensemble, whose performances are memorably recognisable when useful, but flexibly diverse otherwise, making both stage and school feel packed and bustling.

Elena Skye, Tom Xander and Charlie Burn

Charlie Burn (Cady) leads with aplomb, up against Georgina Castle, clearly delighting in the gift that is Regina’s role and making excellent use of it. Grace Mouat is hilarious as the adorably air-headed Karen, while Elèna Gyasi’s Gretchen is the emotional soul of the show. However, the standouts among a thoroughly great cast are Elena Skye (Janis) and Tom Xander (Damian): narrators, student officials, and my new favourite double act. It would be wrong to ruin some properly great jokes, so you’ll have to take it on trust that it’s hard to get more laughs than these two do out of the story’s low death rate, a mobility scooter and lots of pairs of sunglasses. Skye also absolutely rocks an unusual vocal role, while Xander’s performance – what would happen if Kristen Chenoweth as Glinda and Josh Gad as Olaf the snowman raised a child – can’t be beaten.

Often, adapting such an era-specific, cult-followed, truthfully pretty dated piece like Mean Girls will win fans at the expense of alienating the uninitiated, but director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw’s production manages that alchemical balance which retains in-jokes (you’ll never hear a bigger cheer for someone saying “she doesn’t even go here”) but has the originality and wit to draw everyone else in too. I could have done with one fewer song about stars, but even Plastics aren’t perfect.

Tom Martland