Review: Mean Girls London
Ever since we introduced Eliza to Matilda the Musical a few years ago, she has been musical mad and for her birthday in January, at her request, we booked Mean Girls the Musical at the Savoy Theatre in London.
Last week we finally reached our booking date and we arrived, wearing pink of course, complete with Eliza’s own homemade “BURN BOOK” to see the show.
For those not familiar with Mean Girls – Meet The Plastics; Regina, Gretchen and Karen. They rule North Shore High and will burn anyone who gets in their way. Home-schooled Cady Heron may think she knows a thing or two about survival of the fittest thanks to her zoologist parents, but high school is a whole new level of savage. When Cady devises a plan to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a queen bee without getting stung.
The updated film came out earlier this year and the soundtrack has been played consistently in my car since, so I was excited to see how the adaptation was taken to the stage. Eliza, ever the keen study, has been listening to the original musical soundtrack too and warned me that some songs would be arranged differently, but we were both happy that they have updated some of the script to bring it up to date and the songs to be more like the newer version of the film.
The cast were all brilliant, but it was Tom Xander as Damien, who provided the comic relief with his obsession with George Michael, his sunglasses trick and a mobility scooter and his bestie Janis (Elena Skye) who really stole the show with their banter, reinforcing the message about friendship throughout the show.
That said, we adored the show. Elena Gyasi (Gretchen) was incredible as Regina’s insecure best friend, Grace Mouat played dim-witted, halloween loving Karen perfectly. Charlie Burn is very good at the switch between kind, clever Cady and horrible, manipulative Cady and Georgina Castle plays calculating and ruthless Regina to perfection, adding a more vulnerable and insecure side when needed.
We absolutely loved the show and the cast looked like they were having a blast, especially during the talent show at the end. Most of them were also more than happy to take pictures and sign autographs outside the stage door afterwards too, which made Eliza’s year!
Merchandise wise, it is quite pricey. Eliza’s hoodie was £50, T-shirts were £25, but they did have Mean Girls cups at the bar for £6.50 which were a more inexpensive way of getting a souvenir from the show.
Another highlight from our visit to the show was that we were sat right behind Mel B and her family. The husband and I starstruck, Eliza had no clue who she was – kids eh??!!
Don’t forget, if you book tickets to sit at the table, on Wednesday’s they wear pink!!
