A stage musical adaptation of Tina Fey’s 2004 hit comedy film Mean Girls, which starred Lindsay Lohan as a high school transfer student trying to navigate teenage social cliques, will have its world premiere in fall 2017 at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., according to The New York Times.
The show will be directed by Tony winner Casey Nicholaw (Aladdin, The Book of Mormon), and will be produced by Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels in collaboration with Broadway veteran Stuart Thompson (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time). Michaels previously produced two Broadway shows, both featuring SNL alumni: Gilda Radner—Live From New York in 1979, and Colin Quinn—An Irish Wake in 1998.
No cast or specific production dates were reported.
The city and time frame had been announced October 3—the day fans have dubbed Mean Girls day, in reference to a line in the film—on the official Mean Girls Facebook page and verified Twitter account. The Facebook post was taken down minutes after the announcement, but the tweet remained.
A representative on behalf of the creators confirmed the news to Playbill.com at the time, stating that “they are all really excited and will have a formal announcement with additional information very soon.”
The tweet follows:
BREAKING OCT 3rd NEWS! The “Mean Girls” musical is coming to Washington, D.C. Fall of 2017! #MeanGirls #OctoberThird #ThatsSoFetch #grool pic.twitter.com/oFfLmTFrAt
— Mean Girls (@MeanGirlsDC) October 3, 2016
Tony Award-nominated Legally Blonde lyricist Nell Benjamin is collaborating with Golden Globe winner Fey and Fey’s husband, composer Jeffrey Richmond. Fey told the Tribeca Film Festival crowd that the pregnancy of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Ellie Kemper had given her the chance to focus on the new musical.
Read 15 MUSICAL MOMENTS WE WANT IN THE MEAN GIRLS MUSICAL
“We’re working on the musical adaptation, and thanks to Ellie Kemper’s pregnancy, we have this whole summer to work on it,” she said. When asked whether the musical would be updated to include the impact of social media, Fey answered, “The thing about social media is… it doesn’t dramatize well.” Fey previously told Watch What Happens host Andy Cohen that she has no plans to star in the musical, which will have a “classic Broadway” sound. She also joked that Broadway will see the musical in “in 2027… whenever Hamilton closes.”
Mean Girls was directed by Mark Waters and also starred Rachel McAdams, Lizzy Caplan, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried, and Fey.