Photo Credit: Patrick Burns

By Jenna Dodge

A&E Editor

Are you looking for a “fetch” way to start off spring? Go see Hammond Theatre’s production of Mean Girls! The show will be performed at 7pm on March 7th, 8th, and 9th, with an additional matinee performance at 2pm on the 9th. The production features over 75 Hammond students, in the cast, crew, production team, and pit orchestra. Mean Girls is a musical adaptation of the 2003 comedy film, created by Tina Fey. The book of this adaptation was also written by Fey, with songs written by Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin. The musical first opened on Broadway in 2018, and a film adaptation of the stage musical was released in 2021. 

Mean Girls tells the story of sixteen year old Cady Heron (played by Senior Jenna Dodge), who moves to the suburbs of Chicago after growing up in the African Savanna with her biologist parents. Cady starts public high school to “get socialized” and she is quickly torn into two directions: her artsy “real friends” Janis (Junior Julia Abernethy and Senior Jayda Barber) and Damian (Junior Nigel Cooper and Sophomore John Roberts), who take Cady under their wing to teach  her the ways of high school; and the queen bees of Northshore High: the “Plastics.” The Plastics are apex predator Regina George (played by Senior Majolie Tall), anxious sidekick Gretchen Wieners (Senior Shelby McNamee), and Karen Smith, “the dumbest person you will ever meet” (played by Junior Shuvai Chivanga). Meanwhile, Cady develops a massive crush on her AP Calculus classmate Aaron Samuels (played by Freshman Russell Sunday and Junior Logan Woodward). After realizing just how detrimental the power wielded by Regina George is on Northshore High, Janis and Damian convince Cady to take Regina down once and for all. In addition to the actors playing these principal roles, there is a fantastic ensemble of around 40 Hammond students featured throughout the show.

The  main storyline of Mean Girls has not changed since its original iteration in the 2003 film, but the morals it presents remain very relevant, especially in a post social media world. Senior Bert Roberts, the Production Manager for this production commented “I think it’s important to dig deep into the storytelling of Mean Girls because the message of this show is so important and still relevant to today’s teenagers.” This production is set in the year 2025, so it takes the classic cautionary tale about cliques and bullying and develops it for this present moment. Junior Brianna Dunn comments that “everyone knows Mean Girls, so it’s fun to see this iconic material interpreted in a new way and performed by your peers.” It is especially awesome to see your peers onstage when your peers are as talented as this group is. Sophomore Darsh Bhatt commented that “Being in rehearsal and seeing the talent of my fellow cast members has been incredible. Being able to come in and see the jaw-dropping talent of people like Majolie Tall, [who plays Regina George] has been the highlight of this process so far, and I’m excited for audiences to see how amazing this cast is.”

In addition to doing an excellent job telling an important story, the cast, crew, and pit orchestra of Mean Girls are having fun and making great memories. “The cast and crew have been very welcoming to me so far. This is my first time acting, which has been a huge change of environment for me, and I feel like I’ve grown a lot closer to everyone than I was previously.” said Sophomore Darsh Bhatt. This sentiment was echoed by many other students involved in Mean Girls. Junior Brianna Dunn said “I am grateful for the friendships I’ve gotten to form throughout this production process.” Tickets for Mean Girls: High School Version presented by Hammond Theatre are available now at hammondtheatre.org, so get yours today! It’ll be “fetch!”