Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts & Nederlander National Markets
Broadway Comes to Reno proudly present
Dear Season Subscribers and Broadway Fans:
When Mean Girls premiered as a feature film 20 years ago it became an instant American classic. Actress and writer Tina Fey was at the height of her Saturday Night Live fame when this film cemented her reputation as an iconic comedy writer for the new millennium. When she, Lorne Michaels, and their fellow creatives tackled Broadway with a musical adaptation of Mean Girls in 2018, they struck gold again— but this was a Mean Girls for a new generation of young people reflecting their changing values and vocabulary. We are excited to bring you the professional northern Nevada debut of this Broadway musical. We know you’ll enjoy the humor, choreography, and storytelling.
The Broadway Backstory Newsletter is created by Pioneer Center Education to help you learn more about the shows in our Broadway Comes to Reno series. Below you will find information and links [in blue] to websites, videos, and articles about the history and creators of the show. Don’t forget to forward this email to the other subscribers and Broadway lovers in your party.
Your tickets to Mean Girls were emailed to you as a PDF attachment on February 27th. Look for the subject line “Confirmation of Order Number.”
We look forward to seeing you at the Pioneer Center soon!
Get the backstory on the Broadway musical Mean Girls
• Mean Girls originated with the 2002 selfhelp book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. It was adapted as a screenplay by Tina Fey who also drew from her own teenage memories. Directed by Mark Waters, the original Mean Girls hit theaters in 2004 starring Fey with Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Seyfried, and Rachel McAdams.
• Lorne Michaels teamed with Broadway veteran Stuart Thompson to lead produce the musical adaptation which began development in 2013.
• Fey returned as the book writer. She is best known as a head writer and star of Saturday Night Live for nine years before creating hits like 30 Rock, Baby Mama, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and others.
• Fey’s husband Jeff Richmond composed the music. He was the music director of Saturday Night Live, also creating music for several of Fey’s other writing projects like 30 Rock. Mean Girls was his Broadway musical debut.
• Nell Benjamin wrote the lyrics. She received a Tony nomination for Legally Blonde the Musical.
• Casey Nicholaw helmed the production as the director/choreographer. Tonywinner Nicholaw is known for Broadway hits like The Book of Mormon, Spamalot, The Drowsy Chaperone, Disney’s Aladdin, Something Rotten, and Some Like It Hot.
• After various readings, the first staged workshop was held in New York in Spring 2017. Mean Girls had its outof-town developmental premiere at the National Theatre in Washington D.C. in October 2017.
• The production immediately transferred to Broadway, officially opening at the August Wilson Theatre on April 8, 2018. It was nominated for 12 Tony Awards including Best Musical and in almost every other musical category. After 804 performances, the show closed March 11, 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic began. It never reopened in New York.
• The first US national tour began in Buffalo, NY in September 2019, paused during the pandemic for a year and a half, and continued to run until May 2023. The tour playing the Pioneer Center began in September 2023. A West End production is scheduled to begin in June 2024.
• A new Mean Girls feature film, this time an adaptation of the Broadway musical, premiered worldwide in January 2024.
• Visit the tour’s official site HERE.
Learn More About the History and Cultural
Significance of Mean Girls
• Though behavioral situations depicted in Mean Girls are drawn from Queen Bees and Wannabes, many elements are based on Tina Fey’s own life experience, as described HERE.
• Listen to the Original Broadway Cast Recording on Spotify HERE.
• Director Casey Nicholaw shares his approach to creating musical theatre in a video interview HERE.
• Rosalind Wiseman, author of the source material, explores what happens when “mean girls” grow up in a New York Times article about relationships. Read it HERE.
• Tina Fey shares why Mean Girls translated well to the musical form HERE.
