Pioneer Theater Guild’s 2024 Spring Musical coming in May is “Mean Girls”! This show is going to be unlike other shows PTG has done in the past and since most of the characters are high school students it will relate to many Pioneer students. The cast and crew of PTG’s “Mean Girls” production are so excited to perform this show for everyone that comes and sees it.
For those familiar with the original “Mean Girls” movie by Tina Fey in 2004, this musical version will come as a familiarity. The musical has the same characters and plot of the movie. “Mean Girls” is mainly about a teenage girl, Cady Heron, who was homeschooled her whole life in Africa. She then moves to the suburbs of Illinois and experiences high school for the very first time — and experiences the challenges of navigating different cliques. One of the cliques is called “the Plastics’,’ the elite and “cool” students. Cady struggles to find where she belongs and who her real friends are. This movie became such a large hit with teens because it captures so much truth of teen life. The musical opened on April 8, 2018, on Broadway.
Mr. Leydenfrost, the co-director and producer of Pioneer Theater Guild, said he is very exited for people to see Pioneer’s production of “Mean Girls.” Leydenfrost said that this show is perfect for high school students because most of the cast are high school students, unlike other musicals PTG has done in the past. One of the best parts of Pioneer doing “Mean Girls,” he said, is that “we have a connection to the Broadway production.” Ashley Park, a Pioneer alumna, played Gretchen Wieners in the original Broadway Musical of “Mean Girls” and she made an appearance as the French teacher in the 2024 “Mean Girls” movie musical.
The director and assistant director of Pioneer Theater Guild’s “Mean Girls” production are Oluchi Nwaokori and Nile Andah and it will be choreographed by Abigail Aziz who are all students in the University of Michigan School of Music Theater and Dance. They are all so excited to be working with PTG one again since last school year’s fall musical of “Into the Woods.” Andah says that in “Into the Woods,” teens were playing much older parts. “We had high schoolers playing characters who were probably the age of their parents,” Andah said, “while in Mean Girls it’s in a much more contemporary pop/rock sound which makes it a bit more accessible to our generation.” They are all very excited to be working together again on a PTG production and one that is so loved by this generation. What draws Andah back to the PTG students is “how the cast and crew work so diligently to make the show the best that it can be. Their drive and determination inspire me as a performer myself,” said Andah.
The high school students who are part of PTG love the community, experiences and friends that they have made while being part of the program. Junior Chase Crownover has been part of PTG since his freshman year, and has auditioned with his friends for all of the shows. “I actually have hopes of majoring in Musical Theater for college so PTG means a lot to me,” he said. “Both my parents were professional actors so you could say it runs in the family.”
PTG gets the great opportunity to work with the University of Michigan student directors and choreographers that teach the students so much about theater. When working with the directors Crownover said he loves to see “how professional the final product is especially compared to the start when everyone is just learning the songs and dances.” He adds that “theater is a group that demonstrates that hard work pays off and you can see the dedication from everyone in cast, and crew, and the leadership.”
Pioneer Theater Guild is very excited to perform “Mean Girls”for everyone. “I believe Pioneer has one of the best high school theater programs in the district and even the state,” said Crownover.
The show will run May 2-5.