It’s 20 years since Tina Fey’s sharp-tongued tale of Plastics, Mathletes and non-regular moms laid bare the high-school jungle. The musical version – previously staged on Broadway, then filmed – brings the story bang up to date with gags about Ozempic, smartphone filters and social media. What it doesn’t have is one killer tune like Dead Girl Walking from Heathers: The Musical or It’s All Happening from Bring It On – or, indeed, those shows’ sleek, set-piece choreography.
Several songs almost get there such as Stupid With Love, performed by North Shore High newbie Cady (Charlie Burn), in the flush of “calculust” with Aaron (Daniel Bravo) from her math class. Each of the school’s clique of immaculate Plastics is given a solo. Georgina Castle, as the feared and revered Regina, arrives armed with a wicked glint and weapons-grade lipgloss, drawling her name as if she savours its taste. Her revenge belter Someone Gets Hurt, performed in the glow of the school photocopier as she disseminates her infamous Burn Book, is the high point of Finn Ross and Adam Young’s video design. Depth is given not to Cady but to Gretchen (Elèna Gyasi), whose despairing fragility makes her feel “like an iPhone without a case”, while Grace Mouat as the delightfully dim Karen perfects a dazed gait akin to Amanda Seyfried’s blankness in the role on screen.
