“Mean Girls: The Musical” is officially being turned into a movie – and some familiar faces from the original film are set to return. During a Feb. 16 appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” Tina Fey – who also wrote the script for the musical – revealed that she’ll be reprising her role as math teacher Ms. Norbury in the onscreen adaption. Tim Meadows, who played Principal Duval in the original, will also appear in the same role in the movie musical.
Fey didn’t share too much about the new “Mean Girls” adaption, but she did tell Meyers that the music in the movie musical will sound a bit different from how it did onstage. “The songs are sounding really more kinda pop,” she said. “In Broadway everything has to play to the back of the house and in movies everything can come back in and things can play really intimately.”
While Ms. Norbury and Principal Duval will look familiar, most of the rest of the movie’s principal cast will be played by fresh faces. On Dec. 9, casting for the movie – which is based on the Broadway musical based on the original 2004 film – was announced by Paramount, and it includes “Moana”‘s Auli’i Cravalho and “The Sex Lives of College Girls”‘s Reneé Rapp, who appeared in the original Broadway production, according to Deadline.
Cravalho will play Janis, Cady’s best friend. Lizzy Caplan played the role in the original film. Meanwhile, Rapp will reprise her role as Regina George, which was originally played by Rachel McAdams in the film. Additionally, Angourie Rice will play Cady, the role originated by Lindsay Lohan. Rice appeared in Paramount+’s “Honor Society” with Gaten Matarazzo earlier this year and played Betty in “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” Tony-nominated actor Jaquel Spivey, who stars on Broadway in “A Strange Loop,” will play Damien, who was played by Daniel Franzese in the movie. Paramount did not immediately respond to POPSUGAR’s request for comment on the news.
Related: Mean Girls’s Reneé Rapp on “Master Manipulator” Regina George: “She Knows What She’s Doing”
“Mean Girls: The Musical” debuted on Broadway in 2018 and launched a national tour a year later. The music was written by Fey’s husband, Jeff Richmond, with lyrics by Nell Benjamin. It was nominated for 12 Tony Awards. The show played its last Broadway performance in March 2020, with producers deciding to close the show during the pause caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fey announced the movie had been put in development in January 2020. Like the original movie, the film is produced by Fey and “Saturday Night Live” head Lorne Michaels. The musical largely follows the same plot line as the 2004 film of the same name, but there’s no telling how closely the second movie adaptation will stick to the original script.
“I’m very excited to bring ‘Mean Girls’ back to the big screen,” Fey said of the film back in 2020. “It’s been incredibly gratifying to see how much the movie and the musical have meant to audiences. I’ve spent 16 years with these characters now. They are my Marvel Universe, and I love them dearly.”
In December 2022, Lohan and her “Mean Girls” costar Amanda Seyfried both said they’d be down for a “Mean Girls” sequel about their characters as adults. There’s no word yet on a release date, though the movie is set to debut on Paramount+.
“Mean Girls: The Musical” Movie Cast
Fey will reprise her role as Ms. Norbury and Meadows will once again appear as Principal Duval. Rice plays Cady Heron, Rapp plays Regina George, Spivey plays Damien Hubbard, and Cravalho will play Janis Ian. Additionally, per Rolling Stone, Bebe Wood will play Gretchen Wieners, Avantika Vandanapu will play Karen Smith, and Christopher Briney will play Aaron Samuels.
