Mean Girls (musical): History and Key Facts

Mean Girls is a rock musical with a book by Tina Fey, lyrics by Nell Benjamin, and music by Jeff Richmond. It is based on the 2004 film by Mark Waters, which was also written by Fey and was in turn inspired by Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes. The musical focuses on Cady Heron, a teenage girl who transfers to a public high school after being homeschooled her whole life in Africa. At school, she befriends outsiders Janis Sarkisian and Damian Hubbard who persuade her to infiltrate the "Plastics", a clique consisting of wealthy but insecure Gretchen Wieners, sweet but dimwitted Karen Smith, and "queen bee" Regina George.

Directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, and produced by Lorne Michaels, the original production of Mean Girls premiered on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre in 2018, after completing pre-Broadway tryouts in Washington, D.C. at the National Theatre in 2017. The show received positive to mixed reviews from critics and was nominated for twelve awards at the 72nd Tony Awards, including Best Musical. A recording featuring the original Broadway cast was released in 2018 by Atlantic Records. The show closed after 833 performances on Broadway on March 11, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A film adaptation was released in theaters in January 2024.

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