Mean Girls producer Lorne Michaels confirms London production still being prepared
© Joan Marcus
Mean Girls and Saturday Night Live head honcho Lorne Michaels has reassured UK audiences that the hit Broadway show will be sailing to London in the future.
Issuing a statement just as the Broadway production announces its closure, Michaels (who co-produces the show with Stuart Thompson, Sonia Friedman, and Paramount Pictures) said: "We remain excited to bring this musical to the big screen, relaunch the tour and prepare for a London production. I look forward to the day, hopefully soon, when theaters can open their doors again."
Dates and possible venues for the London run are to be revealed – originally a 2021 premiere had been hinted but the global pandemic may have disrupted plans.
Based on Fey's 2004 film (which itself was inspired by Rosalind Weissman's 2002 self-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes), Mean Girls takes place in perhaps the world's most insidious jungle: high school. After her parents' research funding runs out, Cady Heron (Erika Henningsen) moves back to Illinois from Kenya, where she was raised among the animals, and must assimilate herself into a vicious landscape unlike anything she experienced on the Serengeti.
Mean Girls was seen by over a million people during its New York run, grossing $124m dollars. It had a book by Tina Fey (based on her screenplay for the film) as well as music by Jeff Richmond and lyrics by Nell Benjamin, as well as choreography and direction by Casey Nicholaw.
The production's final performance was Wednesday evening March 11, 2020, having played 805 shows and 29 previews in a record-setting run at the August Wilson Theatre.
Mean Girls mania does not stop simply because the show has closed on Broadway – the piece's North American tour will resume as soon as possible, while a new musical film (based on the stage show, based on the film) is also in the pipeline.
The film is produced by Michaels and Fey and set to be distributed by Paramount Pictures. According to producers, "more details are to be announced."
