The 'Mean Girls' cast on taking Tina Fey's fetch musical to the West End

Tina Fey’s film about high school cliques has inspired the West End’s newest musical – and it’s so fetch. Charlie Burn, Georgina Castle, Elèna Gyasi, and Grace Mouat talk about becoming Mean Girls.

Meeting with the cast of Mean Girls ahead of its summer opening at the Savoy Theatre could have been an intimidating experience. After all, Charlie Burn, Georgina Castle, Elèna Gyasi, and Grace Mouat play, respectively, the musical’s ‘mean girls’: Cady Heron, Regina George, Gretchen Wieners, and Karen Smith. Thanks to Tina Fey’s 2004 film, their clique is firmly established in popular culture for its brutal putdowns, backstabbing, and flawless Noughties outfits — and I had shown up without wearing anything in their signature pink.

The musical was first seen on Broadway in 2018, adapted by Fey, with music by her husband Jeff Richmond (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), lyrics by Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde), and direction/choreography by Broadway legend Casey Nicholaw. A newly reworked version is now in the West End, telling the story of home-schooled teenager Cady, who moves from Africa to Illinois’ North Shore High School for an education in teen politics, social hierarchies, and what it means to be an outsider. When she joins popular girl group the Plastics, headed up by Queen Bee Regina, she learns how cruel this world can really be.

But sitting with the West End cast after a long day of rehearsals in north London, they’re wonderfully open, warm and friendly, sharing a pack of Jakemans throat lozenges to keep any nasty coughs at bay and to protect their voices. The environment is anything but bitchy.

“You were amazing,” says Castle to Burn with genuine affection – worlds away from their rivalrous dynamic as Regina and Cady. “You had all of your lines learned by the time we were even in the room.”

The cast caught up with London Theatre Magazine to discuss working with Fey and Nicholaw, how they’ve bonded offstage, and how much they’re like their characters in real life.

Were you all fans of the original 2004 movie?
Elèna Gyasi: It’s a film that was always there in our lives. I reckon my mum allowed me to watch it without my dad in the house. If my dad knew I was watching something like that when I was about nine, my mum would have been told off!

Georgina Castle: It’s so ingrained in our culture — all the sayings! “You can’t sit with us” and “She doesn't even go here.” It's for everyone. But my parents hadn’t seen it, and I was shook. I was like, “How have you not seen it? It’s Mean Girls!” It’s like saying you’ve not seen Titanic. So when I found out I got the part, we got very drunk and I watched it with them for the first time, and it was super cool seeing it through their eyes. They were loving all of the bits I was hoping that they would love. It's timeless.

Charlie Burn: That’s why generation after generation love it. Tina Fey based the movie on the book Queen Bees and Wannabes, which is a self-help book for [parenting] young girls. So I think that’s why it’s a family film. Every single person will relate to it in a completely different way depending on where you are in your life.

The characters are partly so well-loved because of the way actors such as Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams depicted them on screen. How are you making them your own?
Grace Mouat: What's so exciting about our version is that no one has seen it. Every version of Mean Girls has evolved into something different, and they can't be compared. I've definitely taken inspiration from and love all of the iconic Karens that have come before me. But [in our production] she has a few more moments to show more heart. We’ve had so much creative licence. Our director, Casey, has been so generous. He would just be like, “So Karen usually does this. But what do you want to do?” He usually says “Do whatever you think. If I don't like it, I'll tell you.”

Gyasi: I'm aware that there will be people coming to see the film just copied and pasted onto the stage, which is not going to happen. There will be some singing and dancing! But I want to bring the essence of the original Gretchen into my performance.

How much are you like your characters in real life?
Mouat: I auditioned for a couple of other roles, and when I got Karen, all of my friends were like, “But of course, that makes so much sense.” I relate to Karen — I’m very clumsy, [I say lots of] one-liners.

Gyasi: In terms of Gretchen, I feel like I do ramble a lot. It's something that I'm working on controlling.

Castle: People being perfect for their role is getting more and more concerning as we get to me!

Gyasi: She couldn’t be less Regina in real life.

Castle: It's always fun to play the baddie. Everybody has the capacity to be mean and to say mean things and to think mean things, it's just whether you act on them. So it's really fun to dive into any darkness.

Burn: It’s so scary, because I get the brunt of it on stage!

What has it been like working with Tina Fey?
Burn: The amazing thing about having Tina in the room is that she's never satisfied with a joke. We did a readthrough on day three, and she was ferociously writing on her notepad all the way through, because some of the jokes were landing, some of the jokes weren’t – because obviously it’s now for a UK audience. We came away from it and I was expecting her to be like, “Right, we need to work on delivery.” And [instead] we had pages of new jokes off the cuff.

Castle: There are still new punchlines all the time. How does her brain work? She has thousands of jokes.

For a show all about cliques and female friendship groups, how have you worked on your own bond offstage?
Castle: A huge bonding thing for us is the excitement to do this job. For all of us, it’s dream role territory.

Gyasi: I have one story about bonding, which is quite magical. Grace, Georgie, and I saw each other at auditions. We were like, “Should we read the lines?”. It was so busy, so much was happening in the room, so we read the scenes in the lift. We were laughing at each other’s jokes. There was a mirror in the lift, and Grace said “Guys, look, it’s just right.” It felt like a real moment.

Mouat: We all sent a very nice picture on the group chat this morning! Basically, we sent each other a mug shot. How can you bond more than that? Now we all have blackmail against each other.

Does the WhatsApp group have a name?
Gyasi: It’s called “Hi, what are we wearing tomorrow?”. I think we should keep the name, because there will be a press night conversation and a birthday conversation about what we are wearing.

Do you have a favourite song in the show?
Burn: The opening number is nuts. I literally feel, pardon the pun, like I’m getting hit by a bus on stage. It’s such an ensemble-driven show, they work their butts off and their energy is unmatched.

Mouat: End of Act One — “Revenge Party”. But as you’ve never seen it before!

What is the main message you want audiences to take away from the show?
Mouat: A lot of what I want them to feel is said before the final number by Cady, which is basically self-love. You don’t need to change yourself and you should embrace who you are. The words are so powerful, and it truly rounds up the whole show perfectly.

Burn: The main message of this show is to find good friends and hold them close. Friends that see you and love you.

Castle: Or don’t, and just be a badass bitch!

There’s nothing mean about these girls in real life, but when the curtain lifts on opening night, Castle and her clique will show they can rule the West End stage just as easily as high school.

Book Mean Girls tickets on London Theatre.

This article first appeared in the July issue of London Theatre Magazine.

Photo credit: Elèna Gyasi, Charlie Burn, Georgina Castle, and Grace Mouat. (Photo by Alex Rumford, hair and make-up by Alesha Ledeatte-Williams). Inset photos: the cast in Mean Girls in the West End. (Photos by Brinkhoff-Moegenburg)