Musical Theatre vs. Movies: Why Mean Girls is Receiving Backlash
Image Courtesy: Stageberry
Musical theatre is an acquired taste—not everyone listens to show tunes in their free time. However, for all the Broadway buffs out there, the new Mean Girls musical adaptation may be a bit of a letdown.
The original Mean Girls movie, released in 2004, was written by Tina Fey and directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. The film was adapted into a Broadway show in 2018 and has recently returned to theaters as a somewhat confusing mix of the two.
The main issue seems to be that the writers and directors have tried to market the film to two different audiences: theatre lovers and the classic Mean Girls fans. Unfortunately, they’ve fallen short of both parties’ standards.
Image Courtesy: Slate
To start, Liz Morin with The Rearview explains that the creators, “didn’t advertise the film as a musical. My theory is that they wanted to convince those who wouldn’t typically watch a musical to get tickets.” This caused the shock of many original Mean Girls fans when they sat down in the theater and discovered a somewhat lazy opening musical number. “They also adjusted many of the songs to be less...theater,” Morin said. “This made pretty much every fan of the musical upset.”
In 2024, Reneé Rapp was cast—who previously starred in the role of Regina George on Broadway. However, in the new adaptation, they cut beloved songs “It Roars” and “Where Do I Belong.” Although most fan favorites remain, they seem to be toned down from the original musical. Composer Jeff Richmond stated, “I wanted to bend the songs a little bit more to sound like radio hits, so we were changing the palette from Broadway to radio.”
Image Courtesy: Teen Vogue
However, this attempt seems to have angered Broadway fans and frustrated movie-goers who are not all that interested in show biz. Musical theatre shows are known for having over-the-top actors who belt out the lyrics to their songs. With this, Richmond’s decision to turn beloved musical numbers into radio hits may not have been the best course of action.
Stephanie Zacharek from Time described the new film as “overworked and garish.” Zacharek explains that the characters “don’t just express feelings, they belt them out in an expository blast.” However, instead of “taking flight,” Mean Girls(2024) “just keeps grinding away.”
She argues that the charm and wit of the original movie barely made it through in the new adaptation. “Maybe the architecture of the modern musical is to blame: actors can't just be subtly appealing; they have to fill the room, or the screen, with aggressively enthusiastic singing,” she said. “A gorgeous tone and a knack for phrasing are no longer enough; you’ve now got to have those dreadful things known as pipes.”
I suppose the moral of the story is: you can’t please everyone… and you shouldn’t try to.
Strike Out,
Writer: Layne Schulte
Editor: Lindsey Limbach
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