The drama and intrigue of female friendships has filled works from the sublime (Margaret Atwood’s 1988 novel Cat’s Eye) to the louche (any installment of the Real Housewives franchise). Tina Fey’s 2004 film Mean Girls mined some of the same cutthroat teenage frenemies territory as 1988’s Heathers—though it was directly inspired by Rosalind Wiseman’s 2002 self-help book about surviving high school cliques, Queen Bees and Wannabes.
Crucially, the narration that frames the story, voiced in the film by Lohan’s Cady, now comes from Janis and Damian, which serves to distance us from Cady’s own growing awareness of what her attempts to fit in have cost her personally and socially. And though the “Burn Book” that sets the high school world on fire still has pride of place, the musical updates the toxic gossip for the age of Instagram and other social media, captured, a la Dear Evan Hansen, through projections of posts and comments. (Finn Ross and Adam Young are credited with video design.)
Through 1/26: Tue 7:30 PM, Wed 2 and 7:30 PM, Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 PM; also Tue 12/31, 2 PM and Sun 1/5, 7:30 PM; no performance Wed 1/1, James M. Nederlander Theatre, 24 W. Randolph, 800-775-2000, broadwayinchicago.com, $30-$120.
