Theater Review: 'Mean Girls' Tour at Waterbury's Palace Theater

Hartford - The NETWorks Presentations tour of the musical “Mean Girls” made a “Stop” at Waterbury’s Palace Theater last weekend. With a book written by Tina Fey ( “30 Rock,”) music by her husband Jeff Richmond and lyrics by Nell Benjamin, this is a show that appeals to fans of the 2004 Paramount Pictures cult classic film of the same name. The story is based on the 2002 book “Queen Bees and Wannabes” by Rosalind Wiseman.

The musical is the coming-of-age story, "A Cautionary Tale," that made its debut on Broadway in 2018 and marked ed Fey’s Broadway debut. The book writer recently adapted the Broadway version of “Mean Girls” into a feature film for Paramount.

There were some sound issues at the performance I attended. Set design by Scott Pask is contemporary and seemed a bit toned down from the last time I saw a touring production. The contemporary costumes designed by Gregg Barnes, with hair design by Josh Marguette and makeup by Milagros Medina-Cerdeira, look great on this young cast. The lighting by Kenneth Posner added some good looks to the scenes.

Casey Nicholaw originally directed and choreographed the show, with tour direction by Casey Hushion and choreography by John MacInnis. The props include rolling desks and cafeteria tables (and plastic red trays) that are integrated into the strong choreography by Nicholaw. The excellent dancing was a highlight of the performance for me, especially for “Whose House Is This?” and “Where Do You Belong?”

The traveling orchestra, under the direction of Julius LaFlamme on keyboard 1, makes the orchestrations by John Clancy sound great. It is the voice of Fey that makes the house announcements.

Triple threat Alexys Merera makes her national tour debut in the role of Janis Sarkisian and powerfully sings all of her musical numbers. Ethan Jih-Cook makes his debut in his dream role of the gay Damien Hubbard (Janis' best friend) and his performance is a delight to watch, especially his tap dancing for the second act opener “Stop.”

Cady Heron, the new kid at North Shore is played well by New York-based performer Natalie Shaw. The actress adds this encouragement at the end of her bio. “Finally, for all the actors out there who are getting rejected, rejected and rejected again: I see you. Keep going! You’re one job away.”

Then there are the Plastics. Maya Petropoulos, a Detroit native, is appropriately catty in her national tour debut as the “Apex Predator” Regina George, Kristen Amanda Smith is the self-doubting Gretchen Wieners and the statuesque Maryrose Brengel is delightfully dimwitted in her role as Karen Smith in her national tour debut.

Kristen Seggio covers the roles of Cady’s mother, Ms. Norbury, and the “cool mom” Mrs. George. In the Tina Fey role of calculus teacher Ms. Norbury, she could be heard relating Cady’s homeschooling to “stealing money from my union.” Joseph Torres makes his national tour debut as Aaron Samuels, Regina's ex-boyfriend and Cady's love interest. Chase Graham covers the roles of Mr. Heron, Coach Carr and the Mathletes Moderator.

The inclusive cast also has Shawn Matthews, who plays Kevin G, Tyler Jung as Martin J, and Kevin Ivey Morrison as Tyler K. Tym Brown has some great lines as the high school principal Mr. Duvall. Jung, Jonah Nash and Jamal Stone appear as art students.

Also dancing in the ensemble are Thalia Atallah, Mia Davidson, Reagan Kennedy, Oshie Mellon, Victoria Mesa, Brandon Moreno, and Mikaela Rada. Emily Ann Stys is the dance captain.

You can say “I See Stars” at one of the remaining performances at the Palace on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The show is recommended for ages 10 and up.