Despite a rocky start to the season, you will fall, like, in love with the Marquis Players’ performance of “Mean Girls” (2017), or something.
The play, based on the 2004 film, follows Cady Heron, a mathematically gifted transfer student from Africa at her new high school in Illinois. She befriends two art nerds, Janis Ian and Damian Leigh, and navigates her loyalties between them and queen bee Regina George and her “Plastics.”
It’s easy to picture each actor as their character from the movie. Regina George, lacking a blonde head of hair, might seem sacrilegious to some, but Emma Dwaileebe ‘27 fully embodied Regina’s fabulously evil nature. She is flanked by comedy gold miners Kelsie Bouyer ‘26 and Adeline Smith ‘28 as Gretchen Wieners and Karen Smith — who can tell when it rains with her chest — respectively.
Speaking of, Gwendolyn Brown ‘27 as Mrs. George, Regina’s mother, has perhaps the funniest costume. You’ve got to see it to believe it.
Sadie Gagliardi ‘26 leads the charge as the adjusting Cady, playing a fully believable nervous high schooler as a near-graduated college senior. Damian, Riley O’Connor ‘26, and Janis, Amanda Belej ‘27 play distinguished high school outcasts. Real-life jock and theater kid Jake Pryor ‘27 as love interest Aaron Samuels just makes sense.
The vocals will knock your socks off, as per usual, especially from Gagliardi and Dwaileebe. Corey Stein ‘28, as Kevin G, also did an excellent job at rapping during “Who’s House Is This?”
The play, of course, would be little without its fantastic and unified ensemble choreographed by Charlotte Farrelly ‘26 and Emma Serpi ‘28. Each background character is dressed uniquely and accurately for a high school setting, but the whole cast blends into their dance numbers. From someone who has not seen the musical, there was an unexpected tap number, but consider this reviewer impressed.
The costuming felt very authentic. The Plastics were marked with short skirts and heels, and, of course, their iconic Santa costumes for “Rocking Around the Pole.” Janis wears what any alternative-identifying high schooler would (lots of black).
It was difficult to hear characters at times because of technical difficulties, especially during music numbers, with a live orchestra playing over dialogue. Hopefully, this has since been resolved.
The settings were slightly hard to follow at times, as there were many sets and few set pieces. However, the crew did a great job moving efficiently and smoothly to create an authentic atmosphere.
It’s refreshing to see how excited the directors were, such as head director Juliet Minadeo ‘27. It’s easy to love a show with such passionate people behind and within it.
If you didn’t already snag tickets to “Mean Girls,” you may have to beg, borrow or steal; both the Friday and Saturday shows sold out earlier this week.