I walked into the DHS auditorium last Saturday night never having seen the Mean Girls musical before. With excited anticipation, other audience members turn out in full force, eager to get front row seats. 

The show kicks off with an introduction from director Lindsay Soson. Damian (Nelly Jones) and Janis (Kate Tocci) then walk on stage singing “A Cautionary Tale,” warning the audience about the musical’s events. The curtain opens to a jungle scene, featuring Cady Heron (Areti Tiglianidis) singing about leaving her old life behind in Kenya to move to Chicago, Illinois. Cady, having previously been homeschooled, is excited to go to high school for the first time, but also nervous about the new challenges she may face. 

On her first day of school at North Shore High School, Cady meets Damian and Janis, who immediately take her under their wing. They are determined to help Cady find her place. All of a sudden, all eyes are on Regina George (Maeve Keogh) and her minions as they sing “Meet the Plastics.” Regina is the “Queen Bee” and everyone else at the school bows down to her will. Gretchen (Jackie Luszcz) and Karen (Olivia Annatone) are her sidekicks. To Cady’s surprise, Regina invites her to sit at their lunch table tomorrow. Cady consults with Damien and Janis who tell her that she should spy on Regina. 

In Cady’s AP Calculus class she meets Aaron (Lucas Boisvert) and is immediately enamored with him, singing “Stupid With Love.” However, Cady finds out from Gretchen that Aaron is Regina’s ex and that dating him would go against “the rules of feminism.” 

After sitting with Regina, Cady thinks she’s not so bad, until Janis warns her that she is the “Apex Predator” and cannot be trusted. Cady soon finds this to be true, as Regina ends up taking Aaron back at a Halloween party. 

Cady rants to Damian and Janis about what happened at the party. They decide to help her get revenge on Regina through “Revenge Party,” a super fun song. Cady finds out that Regina is cheating on Aaron with Shane Oman (Liam Papsadore). Cady purposefully tells Aaron, leading to Aaron breaking up with Regina. 

Regina, reeling from her breakup, shows up to lunch wearing sweatpants on a Thursday. This being deemed a “fashion crime” results in her being kicked from the Plastics. Gretchen, Cady, and Karen sing “Fearless” now that they are free from Regina’s hold on them, an enthusiastic end to Act 1.

Act 2 begins yet again with Janis and Damian as they continue to tell this “cautionary tale”. Cady’s personality has completely changed: she has become a clone of Regina. Damian tries to warn her about mistakes through “Stop!” but Cady doesn’t listen. In the next scene, Mrs. George confronts Regina and reveals Cady is having a party without her.

Karen and Gretchen convince Cady to throw a party at her house, which ends up being a lot bigger than Cady wanted. Kevin (Peter Tittler) and the ensemble sing “Whose House Is This,” during which Kevin shows off his sick dance moves. Cady gets super drunk for the first time and ruins her chances of getting together with Aaron during the song “More is Better.”

Cady runs out of her house after Aaron and sees both Janis and Damian. Janis is hurt and upset that Cady chose a party over her friends.  In the next scene, Regina plans to make Cady pay in “World Burn” when she brings out her Burn Book and purposefully leaves Cady, Gretchen, and Karen out of it. Maeve’s amazing vocals really stand out in this song. 

Chaos ensues at school when everyone sees what is written in the burn book. Cady then confesses to writing the burn book and gets suspended from school. The following scene, Regina gets hit by a bus while in a heated argument with Cady. 

Since Cady can’t go to the Spring Fling, Kevin, the captain of the math team, convinces her to go to the mathlete competition. North Shore High ends up winning and Cady finds her true self once again. Cady goes to the dance with the help of Ms. Norbury (Susie Plunkett), and wins Spring Fling Queen,  but decides to share her crown with everyone else. The show ends with the song “I See Stars,” a beautiful and empowering song. 

During the bows the audience gave a standing ovation. Suddenly, the person in the lion costume came onstage and was revealed to be none other than Derek McGary, who congratulated the seniors one last time. 

The cast and the tech crew did a wonderful job putting together this musical. It was obvious from the first scene that everyone worked really hard to make the show the best it could be. The lighting was spot on, and the set was so cool! I especially loved it when Regina was illuminated with red light; it really set the mood of the scene. 

Additionally, I was stunned by the acting, singing and dancing of everyone in the cast. The actors embodied their characters superbly. Being a high schooler myself, I related to many of the students at North Shore High.

I would also like to give a shout out to the PIT Orchestra, a mix of students and adults, who brought the show to life with their music. Fantastic job!

Mean Girls delivers an impactful message: being popular is unimportant and we should all be kind to each other. It is more important to be true to yourself than pretend to be someone you’re not. Mean Girls also tells us that people deserve second chances and that anyone can change.  

One of DHS’ best musical productions yet. I enjoyed the performance so much that I went back to see it again the next day!