Mean Girls

It was so fetch sitting amongst the excited youngsters as they joined in all the fun of the plastics in a real show stopper.

Straight from success in the West End, Mean Girls has arrived at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow, and everyone was pretty in pink watching the musical based on the iconic 2004 hit film of the same name.

With the emblem of North Shore High School teasing the audience before the show, there was a real buzz of excitement as the curtain opened to reveal a pastel coloured set packed with energy and panache.

Mean Girls was originally written by Tina Fey, and the script has been brought up to date for 2026, without trying too hard to modernise and it works beautifully.

The story follows Cady Heron (Emily Lane), a teenager protected from life by her mum (Faye Tozer, who also plays Ms Norbury and Mrs George) as she home schools her in Kenya.

Feeling Cady is missing out socially, the couple relocate to Illinois and Cady is thrown into North Shore High School at its most energised, full of hormones and tension.

There she meets “the plastics”, a trio of street wise girls ready to pounce. Led by Regina George (played on the opening night by Lillia Squires), there’s gossiper Gretchen Wieners (Kiara Dario) and naïve, sweet natured Karen Smith (Sophie Pourret) and they decide to take Cady under their wing.

What they don’t know is that Cady has already made friends with alternative art students Damian Hubbard (Max Gill) and Janis Sarkisian (Georgie Buckland) who plant Cady in the plastics to find out their secrets.

But as time goes on, Cady turns into a mean girl herself as she pursues Regina’s ex-boyfriend, Aaron Samuels (Ben Oatley) and the story spreads the social message “to be yourself and be kind to everyone else”.

It’s a fast moving, slick performance led by resident director Karen Edwards with original music by Jeff Richmond and lyrics from Nell Benjamin. The orchestra under Tom Slade provides real passion to the show, with much of the audience joining in favourites such as “World Burn”, “I’d Rather Be Me”, “Apex Predator” and “Someone Gets Hurt”.

There’s fun, heart ache and a bit of meanness, all combined to produce a night of real sparkle!

Mean Girls runs at the Kings Theatre, Glasgow until Saturday 11^th July, then moves to the Cliffs Pavilion, Southend from 14^th to 18^th, Venue Cymru, Llandudno from 20^th to 25^thJuly, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury from 3^rd to 8^th August, Blackpool Opera House from 18^th to 22^nd, Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin from 25^th August to 5^th September, Bristol Hippodrome from 8^th to 12^th, Hawth Theatre, Crawley from 28^th September to 3^rd October, Bradford Alhambra Theatre from 5^th to 10^th, Theatre Royal, Norwich from 13^th to 17^th, Liverpool Empire from 19^th to 31^st October, Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, from 3^rd to 7^th November, Sheffield Lyceum from 9^th to 14^th, Edinburgh Playhouse from 17^th to 21^st, New Wimbledon Theatre from 24^th to 28^th, Birmingham Alexandra from 14^th December 2026 to 2^nd January 2027, Oxford New Theatre from 4^th to 9^th, Mayflower Theatre, Southampton from 11^th to 16^th and Newcastle Theatre Royal from 20^th to 30^th January 2027.

For ticket information, check out www.atgtickets.com and www.meangirlsmusical.com.

Author Bio:

Rebecca Hay is an experienced travel writer and member of The British Guild of Travel Writers. Follow her adventures with her family on Twitter and Instagram @emojiadventurer and on Facebook via EmojiAdventurers2.

Photographs by Paul Coltas