BY KELLY DOLEJSI
“Will she braid your hair? Will she eat your heart?” Have all your questions about Regina George answered this month as the Los Alamos High School Olions present Mean Girls, based on the Paramount Pictures film of the same name.
The musical — written by Tina Fey, lyrics by Nell Benjamin, and music by Jeff Richmond — will hit the stage Feb. 20 through March 1, with performances at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays at Duane Smith Auditorium, 1300 Diamond Drive. The understudy show will be Friday, Feb. 27.
Tickets at $20/$10 students are available at the door and online.
Maici Guise plays Regina (understudy Naomi Miller) and Mattea Clarkson plays Cady Heron (understudy Abby Clay) in this hilarious adaptation of the popular movie about high school cliques.
Cady Heron is new to the wild and vicious ways of suburban Illinois. Growing up on an African savanna might have given her some decent survival skills, but it couldn’t have prepared her for the hardest part of the American education system: the other girls.
This brave, naive adolescent takes on The Plastics, a trio of lionized frenemies led by the charming but ruthless Regina. When Cady and her friends devise a “revenge party” to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a queen bee without getting stung.
The show is tons of fun, with a script full of zingers that teens and adults will appreciate, everything from “I’m filled with calculust!” to “Sometimes alone is good because time to think is in short supply.”
The Olions, under the direction of Megan Pimentel and musical direction of Louisa Singleton, have assembled a strong supporting cast. The Plastics feature Gretchen Wieners, played by Anya Seet (understudy Annaelle Deburgomaster), and Karen Smith, played by Kaitlyn Seitz-Pruitt (understudy Bryanna Lierly).
The ever loyal Janis is played by Izzy Gletsos (understudy Iris Butcher), and Gyasi Attafyn plays Damian, Janis’s wry and witty best friend.
Other cast members include Alyssa Sanders, Anna Gattis, Anna Ferenbaugh, Aubrey Rushton, Eliana Lobato, Gloria Marksteiner, Ian Mackey, Jo Cambell-Martinez, Karly Seitz-Pruitt, Kat Didier, Keira Fichtl, Lily McDonald, Lily McDonald, Sumner Tholen, and Zach Sestric.
While a full list of tech and crew for the production is not available, many students and adult volunteers helped make the show possible. Pimentel singled out auditorium manager Joseph Santi-Unger for providing support throughout several months of rehearsals and the busy weeks leading up to opening night.
Mean Girls is presented in special arrangement with Musical Theatre International. All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI — www.mtishows.com.
For more about the high school’s Olions thespian club, visit https://www.onthestage.tickets/los-alamos-high-school/about.
And remember, “on Wednesdays, we wear pink.”