Morgan Gibson, Staff Writer
March 8, 2024
Every year, the Nobles Theatre Collective’s (NTC’s) winter musical is highly anticipated by the greater Nobles Community. With tickets for all seven show dates selling out within days of going on sale, NTC performances never disappoint.
This year, between February 15 and 23, the NTC put on their production of Mean Girls The Musical. Written by Tina Fey and based on the popular movie, many factors contributed to the decision to put on this particular show. Director of Theatre Daniel Halperin said, “Given the cast, character list, including the ensemble size and opportunities for them in the script and score, it was kind of unbeatable for us as a high school theatre company.” An additional benefit was the fact that the NTC had not performed a well-known title in a few years. Last year the company performed Twelfth Night, and the year before, Something Rotten. Halperin said, “We felt that it was time for our cast, crew, band, and audience to generate the kind of excitement that huge known title show can.”
Compared to the production of Twelfth Night from last year, Mean Girls The Musical differs significantly in the style, scale, and complexity of the show. “Twelfth Night gave us an openness, but creatively Mean Girls is pretty specific,” Halperin said. “I said to some people during intermission that ‘what we just did is significantly bigger than all of Twelfth Night.’” Much of this complexity stems from Mean Girls transitioning from film to stage. Comparing it to the screenplay, Halperin said, “It feels like they took the original movie, made some cuts in certain songs. And said, this is the musical.”
As Mean Girls The Musical is based on a film that takes place in many locations, there is an added layer of difficulty, particularly for those who participate in the technological aspects of the production. Performing Arts Technical Director Erik Diaz said, “Mean Girls being based on a film and having to traverse so many different locations makes it really complicated. You have that then translated onto the stage, and they still treat it like a movie so you find yourself in a predicament because [the producers] haven’t adjusted for that.”
For Diaz, the process of making the production come to life began in the summer of 2023 when he started meeting with other creative team members to think about what they were going to do with the show. Impressively, everything on stage (with the exception of the cafeteria tables) was made onsite, primarily by students. “They work on everything from carpentry, to hanging the lights, to building costumes, to creating props, you name it,” Diaz said. A major project for the “techies” (as they are lovingly referred to) was constructing the LED wall that brings much of the show to life. Made of over 8,000 individual LEDs, the wall took Diaz, Technical Theatre Faculty Anna Parker, and students about a month to build. Diaz said about the wall, “We wanted it to be more of a world-building environment.”
Another major element of shaping the production was the music supplied by the 13 students who sat unseen in the Pit Band. Conducted by the Instrumental Music Director Antonio Berdugo, the Pit Band had an incredibly challenging job focusing on all aspects of the show, while simultaneously playing their instruments. “Not only are we focusing on the music, but the action, acting, and the script,” Berdugo said. Learning Pit Band music is generally difficult, but there is an added level of challenge in Mean Girls. Berdugo said, “In Mean Girls, the score is more busy in terms of the orchestration. It is bigger; more instruments playing, and more things going on at once.”
Despite the challenge of the production, many cast members expressed that they were able to relate to the script and show more than in past years. Lauren Velasco-O’Donavon (Class II) who played Regina George said, “Mean Girls is definitively more our age, I find myself laughing a lot at the different jokes in the script and choices that actors are making.” Hailey Rashes (Class III), who played Karen Smith, agreed, saying, “ I think we can relate to it sometimes even though it’s like this, characterized version of high school.” Amelia Simons (Class I), who played Cady Heron, said, “[The production is] a labor of love. It’s just, you put in so much work because [you] love it. In the end, you can only hope and pray that everybody else in the audience loves it as much as you do.”
(Photo Credit: Avery Winder)
