Cappies Review: Annandale High's 'Mean Girls High School Version'

By Amelia Beard of Albert Einstein High School

On Wednesdays we wear pink! This dress code was definitely embodied in Annandale High School's production of the iconic musical "Mean Girls High School Version"

The hit musical Mean Girls follows the story of Cady Heron, a new student at North Shore High School and her mission to dethrone the queen bee Regina George. The show premiered on Broadway on April 8th, 2018, and closed on March 11, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The musical is based on the 2004 film of the same name written by Tina Fey. Fey wrote the book of the musical, with music by Jeff Richmond and lyrics by Nell Benjamin, and recently helped create and release the Mean Girls movie musical in January 2024, where she reprised her role as Ms. Norbury from the original film.

Annandale's set crew (Lucas Torres, Autumn Tremante, Niky Barrios De Leon, Nico Vargas) did a good job recreating North Shore High School. The colorful set pieces, including sliding doors and stairs that doubled as bleachers, were very useful in creating the different scenes throughout the story. The costume crew (Amelia Mongold, Haru Hernandez, Molly Corcoran, Ren Coleman) did an impeccable job of finding clothing with nostalgic brands, styles and logos that brought the audience right back to the 2010s.

A well-executed performance in the show was Amelia Mongold's portrayal of Regina George. Her vocal abilities were impressive and allowed her to carry herself through some challenging vocal numbers, including "Someone Gets Hurt" and "World Burn." Even though Regina George is a stereotypical mean girl, Mongold was also able to convey several different varieties of "mean," such as harsh yelling, saying very mean things but in a sweet-sounding voice, and passive aggressiveness.

Another standout character was Janis Sarkisian, played by Ren Candelaria. Candelaria's acting was very well suited to Janis' character and showed a noticeable range of emotions. But Candelaria's biggest wow factor of her performance was her singing. In the Act 2 number "I'd Rather Be Me," she stunned the audience with her powerful vocals.

The ensemble also deserves some recognition because they had an additional challenge: pre-recorded music. Not many people understand how difficult performing with pre-recorded music is. Staying in time with the track, especially with underscoring during dialogue is not an easy task. But Annandale's ensemble was able to stay on beat with the music, and that takes a lot of work.

Annandale High School's Theatre Company definitely gave a unique and memorable performance of "Mean Girls High School Version," and it was clear from watching it that the cast gave it everything they had.