Tina Fey and \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d executive producer Lorne Michaels are revving up for what they\u2019re calling a \u201cdevelopmental lab\u201d of their \u201cMean Girls\u201d musical.<\/p>\n
The script, which Fey adapted from her popular 2004 movie, has gone out to just about every Broadway actress under 30 who can pass for a teenager. Casey Nicholaw, who\u2019s directing, has seen a batch of them, though none has been cast yet for the \u201clab,\u201d which will take place in April.<\/p>\n
Fey once joked that Broadway wouldn\u2019t see \u201cMean Girls\u201d until 2027, \u201cor whenever \u2018Hamilton\u2019 closes.\u201d But barring any workshop mishaps, the show is on a fast track. It\u2019s slated to play a tryout in the fall at Washington, DC\u2019s National Theatre and open in New York in the spring of 2018.<\/p>\n
Actors who\u2019ve read scenes from the script say it sticks fairly close the movie, which features Lindsay Lohan as a transfer student trying to pick her way through a minefield of teenage social circles.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I got was very funny,\u201d a source says. \u201cSome of the jokes from the movie are there, but there are new ones as well. The characters are big and fun to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Theater sources say there\u2019s been some discussion about whether to cast a star in the Lohan role, but it\u2019s probably not essential. \u201cMean Girls\u201d is an A-list title, guaranteed to lure the teen crowd as well as women who were teens when the film came out.<\/p>\n
And although she\u2019s not going to perform in it, Fey\u2019s name anywhere on the marquee is sure to be a draw.<\/p>\n
Performers praise the jaunty score by Fey\u2019s husband, composer Jeff Richmond, and lyricist Nell Benjamin (\u201cLegally Blonde\u201d). Richmond wrote music for both \u201cSNL\u201d and Fey\u2019s sitcom \u201c30 Rock.\u201d He\u2019s said to be a big Broadway buff who was delighted to write incidental music for last season\u2019s revival of \u201cFully Committed\u201d with Jesse Tyler Ferguson.<\/p>\n
Veteran producer Stuart Thompson (\u201cThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time\u201d) is helping Michaels navigate the Broadway terrain. Michaels co-produced Colin Quinn\u2019s one-man show \u201cAn Irish Wake\u201d on Broadway in 1998. And he was instrumental in bringing the late, great Gilda Radner\u2019s \u201cLive From New York\u201d stage show to the Winter Garden in 1979.<\/p>\n
\u201cLive From New York,\u201d by the way, was one of my favorite comedy albums as a kid. I can still sing every word to \u201cLet\u2019s Talk Dirty to the Animals.\u201d A few clips are available on YouTube, and you can find it on Amazon.<\/p>\n
Sources say \u201cMean Girls\u201d is expected to cost about $15 million. It\u2019s going to have a big cast, big production numbers, big hair and plenty of pink, especially on Wednesdays. As Amanda Seyfried\u2019s Karen Smith puts it in the film: \u201cOn Wednesdays, we wear pink.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Tina Fey and \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d executive producer Lorne Michaels are revving up for what they\u2019re calling a \u201cdevelopmental lab\u201d of their \u201cMean Girls\u201d musical. The script, which Fey adapted from her popular 2004 movie, has gone out to just about every Broadway actress under 30 who can pass for a teenager. Casey Nicholaw, who\u2019s …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[391],"tags":[1594],"yoast_head":"\n