Show guide
Mean Girls
Mean Girls turns the beloved 2004 teen comedy into a sharp, funny Broadway musical about the brutal social politics of high school.
- Broadway premiere
- 2018
- Music by
- Jeff Richmond
- Genre
- Comedy
- Setting
- 2010s
Mean Girls: quick answers
What is Mean Girls about?
- Cady Heron, who grew up in Kenya, starts at a suburban Chicago high school, where outsiders Janis and Damian persuade her to infiltrate the Plastics, the clique ruled by Regina George, until she starts becoming one of them.
When did Mean Girls open on Broadway?
- Mean Girls opened on Broadway on April 8, 2018, at the August Wilson Theatre. It played 833 performances before the pandemic shutdown ended its run on March 11, 2020.
What kind of musical is Mean Girls?
- Mean Girls is a musical comedy with an original score, music by Jeff Richmond and lyrics by Nell Benjamin, adapted from the 2004 film. Tina Fey, who wrote the film, wrote the book.
Where and when is Mean Girls set?
- Mean Girls is set at North Shore High School in suburban Chicago.
Has Mean Girls played in London's West End?
- Mean Girls opened at London's Savoy Theatre on June 26, 2024, after previews from June 5, and closed on June 8, 2025.
Is there a Mean Girls movie?
- The musical adapts the 2004 film starring Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams, and it was itself turned into a 2024 movie musical starring Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, and Auli'i Cravalho.
The story of Mean Girls
Mean Girls follows Cady Heron, a teenager raised in Kenya who enrolls in an American public high school for the first time and quickly finds herself pulled into the orbit of the Plastics, a clique led by the ruthless Regina George. Encouraged by outsider friends Janis and Damian to infiltrate the group and undermine Regina from within, Cady instead starts to become the very thing she set out to take down.
Set in the exaggerated, hyper competitive world of contemporary American high school, the show skewers cliques, gossip, and social media driven cruelty while ultimately arguing for empathy over revenge. Cady's journey from awkward newcomer to reluctant queen bee, and back again, forms the emotional core of the story.
The music and the makers
Mean Girls features music by Jeff Richmond, lyrics by Nell Benjamin, and a book by Tina Fey, who wrote and starred in the original film and adapted it for the stage. The score mixes pop, hip hop influenced numbers, and comic patter songs, matching the film's quick, quotable sense of humor with an equally fast paced musical vocabulary.
Songs like "Meet the Plastics," "Stupid with Love," and Regina's villain anthem "World Burn" give the show its comic bite and theatrical energy. The score leans into satire and pastiche, borrowing from teen pop and musical theatre tradition alike to keep the show's tone as sharp and knowing as the movie that inspired it.
Mean Girls on Broadway
Mean Girls opened on Broadway in April 2018 at the August Wilson Theatre, directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, with Erika Henningsen as Cady and Taylor Louderman as Regina George. The production received twelve Tony Award nominations, though it did not win any competitive awards that season.
The show played its final Broadway performance on March 11, 2020, just as the pandemic shutdown began, and producers announced in January 2021 that it would not reopen on Broadway, though its North American tour later resumed. Its success helped cement a wave of film to stage teen comedy adaptations and reaffirmed Tina Fey's crossover appeal from screen to Broadway.
Mean Girls: frequently asked questions
Is Mean Girls still running on Broadway?
No. Mean Girls played its final Broadway performance on March 11, 2020, at the August Wilson Theatre, and on January 7, 2021, producers announced that it would not reopen after the pandemic shutdown.
Is Mean Girls a movie or a Broadway show?
Both. Mean Girls began as a 2004 film written by Tina Fey, who then wrote the book for the Broadway musical adaptation that opened in 2018. That musical was itself adapted into a film released in January 2024.
Is Mean Girls based on a true story?
Not directly. The musical adapts the 2004 film, which Tina Fey wrote after reading Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 nonfiction self-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes, about high school cliques. Fey also drew on her own experiences at Upper Darby High School in Pennsylvania.
When did Mean Girls open on Broadway?
Mean Girls opened on Broadway in April 2018 at the August Wilson Theatre.
Who composed Mean Girls?
Jeff Richmond wrote the music, with lyrics by Nell Benjamin and a book by Tina Fey.
What is Mean Girls about?
Mean Girls follows new student Cady Heron as she infiltrates a powerful high school clique led by Regina George and nearly loses herself in the process.
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