Review: With River Ridge High School's Talented Royal Knight Stage Company's Production, MEAN GIRLS Is So Fetch!

I remember that day in May of 2018 like it was the day before yesterday. The original cast recording of MEAN GIRLS had just been released, and I listened to it intently on my way to Jacksonville. I actually played it twice in a row, and...

...and...

...and I just couldn't get into it. I know it's musical theatre heresy to not like it, but I tried, I really tried. There was something so forced about the whole enterprise (and I love the original Tina Fey movie from two decades ago). Sure, it had some great numbers ("Meet the Plastics," "Apex Predator," "Revenge Party" and "Fearless"), but it also had its share of clunkers, songs that sounded generic and that could rear their ho-hum heads in just about any musical of the past ten years. "Whose House Is This?" brings new meaning to the word "obnoxious," while "Do This Thing," featuring rapping nerds, seems so random and pointless as an Eleven O'clock number. And then there's "Stop," a song that sounds so much like Book of Mormon's "Turn it Off," complete with cheery tap-dancing in an ode to halting things, that I'm shocked Matt Stone and Trey Parker didn't sue.

There are several scenes with teens running around, partying, pumping their fists, but to what end? When I first heard the original cast recording, I thought that the songs and the music would probably be more fun for the actors to sing than for the audience to hear.

With music by Jeff Richmond, lyrics by Nell Benjamin, and a snark-fueled book by Tina Fey, MEAN GIRLS as a show also goes on way, waaaay too long. Clocking in at two and a half hours, it gets its point across right at the start and there's really nowhere to go. (Maybe the pared down Junior version recently offered by MTI will solve this.) I know current teens adore this show--it like the darker Heathers is their Rent--and maybe I'm an old, get-off-my-lawn fuddy-duddy that just didn't connect with it. But I love edgy, dark, push-the-envelope type of shows, and MEAN GIRLS tries at this and tries hard, but it's just not my bar of Kalteen.

That said, I now have a better appreciation of MEAN GIRLS after watching the outstanding production of its high school version put on by River Ridge High School's Royal Knight Stage Company (it closed last Sunday).

First, if this musical is to work at all, it needs to be performed by actual teenagers, not adults-as-teens (a la the movie Grease). I once saw Pippin performed by teenagers at Alonso High and it was like seeing the work anew (since the entire cast was currently living out Pippin's search). The same is true here: With real teens, MEAN GIRLS has bite and leaves its fang marks long after the last curtain has fallen. If twentysomethings played these part, it would look like a parody of sorts and leave no lasting impression. With these teens, who are currently, actually inhabiting the real world of Cady, Regina and Damian, it just adds that much more to the experience.

Second, River Ridge's FAME Academy has produced an amazing troupe of young performers, leads and ensemble alike, that simply take this meh musical and turn it into something special. I may not be first in line at the next MEAN GIRLS fan club meeting, but I adore what this group did, guided by their legendary teacher and director, David O'Hara.

MEAN GIRLS centers on Cady, the new girl in a suburban high school outside of Chicago who's fresh from Kenya, Africa, and is naturally an outsider after years of being homeschooled. She befriends fellow outsiders Janis and Damian and eventually infiltrates the "Plastics," the queen meanies of Northshore High who remind me of the nasty girls from Carrie without the telekinetic bloodbath Prom. A boy from Cady's calculus class, Aaron, becomes a pawn in a chess game of love between Queen Bee, Regina, and Cady. Lots of problems ensue, including a "burn book," a main character hit by a bus, a teacher accused of selling drugs, and a math competition. It's like a John Hughes movie set to show tunes, especially with its pointed view of the hierarchy of high school cliques. ("Where Do You Belong" is nothing more than the dark side of High School Musical's "Stick to the Status Quo.")

Ever since the pandemic closed MEAN GIRLS early on Broadway three years ago, high schools from New Haven to New Port Richey have wanted to do it. It's easy to see why: teens can instantly connect with it and to celebrate what it's like to be young and mean in the age of social media (and they get to cuss onstage to boot!) And even with my misgivings of the script and the songs, I have to say that the performances from the stellar RRHS cast are tops.

Isa Cacciavillani and Maddox Padgett are standouts as Cady's best friends, Janis and Damian. Cacciavallani's Janis dons Rolling Stone and Fleetwood Mac t-shirts, which makes sense, because this performer is a rock star! What a voice! Amazing vulnerability, strength, likability, energy, attitude, all melded together to create a multi-dimensional performance. They have an Ann Wilson power to their voice, and when teens onstage start chanting "Janis! Janis!" at one point, we in the audience felt the same way. Wow!

As Damian, a sort of gayer than gay teen version of Corky St. Clair, Mr. Padgett owns the stage in what has to be deemed a flamboyant showcase of a role. It's a gutsy performance, especially in Florida these days, especially in New Port Richey, where this dynamo can show off his acting, singing and dancing skills. He has it all. And when he and Cacciavillani aren't onstage, as in much of Act 2 (the weaker of the two acts), the show falters some.

As Cady, Lana Greene is a shining light. With her in the lead, we understand her rollercoaster ride through high school cliques, the empowering ups and vomity downs, and her singing is off the charts marvelous.

As the Queen Bee of the Plastics, Regina George, Mileena Ruiz is sensational. She looks like Sue Snell from the movie Carrie but she brings out her inner Chris Hargensen from the same film. Looking like a dead-eyed kewpie doll sprung to life, she's a force to be reckoned with. There are times when she seems almost possessed by her popularity and power. (I like how she is always lifted onto a table--her throne--or off it; it's as if she can't busy herself with making an actual effort towards anything, so she lets her fellow classmates--her servants--do the work.)

As Regina's "plastic" besties, Gretchen and Karen, Kat Thomas and Emma Stanton are a hoot. In songs like "Meet the Plastics," "What's Wrong with Me?" and "Sexy," their vocals are phenomenal. Each talented girl carries a distinct personality and are 100% always in character; you can't imagine the show without them.

As the apple of Cady's eye, Aaron, Kyan Reiche is back onstage after a three-year hiatus and gives us the anchor of the show, its more nomal, everyday center. Mr. Reiche even sports a Samurai man-bun (or, since he's still a teenager, should we call it a boy-bun?) Carissa Amoroso shows no fear as Regina's "cool" mom, Mrs. George, and shamelessly throws all inhibitions out the window with her very physical, very funny interpretation.

As the nerdiest of the mathletes, Kevin Gnapoor, Nathan Poulette out-Eugenes any Eugene found in any production of Grease. He's like a hip-hoppin' Sheldon Cooper mixed with Urkell, a rapping Wally Cox. And Bella Boytsan does a great job as Ms. Norbury, who gets my favorite line after a student announces a love of calculus: "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me...and I've been married twice!"

The entire cast should be commended, including the exceptionally energetic ensemble: Lilly Grodszinsky, Alyssa Casbar, Trevor Cheatham, Haylee Smith, Gilbert Vasquez, Emma Zervas, Cecelia Grab, Ava Hayes, Blake O'Brien, Alyssa Torum, Zak Koutrakos, Riley Callegari, Tyler, Sophie, CJ Stannard, Talen Huerta, Allen Berberena, Antonella Cacciavillani, Alyan Hildago,Alex Martinez, Allyson Stanton, Morgan Westbrook, Veronica Zagerodny, and Annabel Perez. Darrell Huling, the music director who brings out the best of the best vocals from these youthful performers, gets lots of laughs as the school's principal, Mr. Duval.

Please note that even though this is the high school version of the show, it still teeters on the edge, especially for those with more delicate tastes. This is not My Fair Lady. In one scene, Coach Carr (an entertaining Bo Henson, who also plays numerous other roles) reaches into the back of his pants and then sniffs his fingers (and the audience rightly joined together with a chorus of "Ewww's.") Also, near the beginning, we also get a glimpse of Janis' artwork of female genitalia that I'm sure jolted the audience awake immediately. (This is Florida, so at least it's not a replica of Michelangelo's David.)

Rachel Knowles' clever choreography is nothing short of fabulous, a true workout for the cast members, underscoring the meaning and energy of the songs rather than literally interpreting them like some grammar school dance showcase. Her work on "Where Do You Belong," complete with lunch trays, is exemplary.

Backing projections of the high school setting, and various animated tidbits thrown in, are wonderfully rendered on the cyc at the River Ridge Center for the Arts. The microphones worked fine for the most part, and in Act 1 those without mics projected well. This became more of an issue in Act 2 when we couldn't hear several people who weren't mic'd up.

Director O'Hara has guided a show that is, at times, fast-paced and tight, and at others, appropriately meaningful, or as meaningful as a show like this will get. If the script and the songs aren't always up to snuff, and if the entire thing is too long for its own good, it's worth it just to hear and bask in this casts' glorious vocals. It's worth it seeing all of their talent, hard work, energy and, above all, heart onstage.

MEAN GIRLS may not be for me; I certainly won't be getting a tattoo of its logo anytime soon. But in the hands of these heartily talented youths from River Ridge High School, I have only one thing left to say about their production: It's so fetch!

Photo courtesy of Mike Carlson.