MEAN GIRLS JR. MUSICAL?! | I read the script so you don't have to | Theatre Teacher Review
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 16. 07. 2024
- This is my take on how appropriate "Mean Girls Jr." is for youth performers. Please note that this is NOT an all-encompassing review of the changes made between the full and jr. version - this is simply an overview and my general thoughts.
Link to Read the Script: www.mtishows.com/news/lets-do...
{Alternative Titles Mentioned in Video}
-Emma, A Pop Musical: Junior Varisty (Broadway Licensing)
-Freaky Friday: One Act (MTI)
-High School Musical Jr (MTI)
-Matilda Jr. (MTI)
-Dear Edwina Jr. (MTI)
{CHAPTERSđ}
00:00 Intro
00:49 History of Mean Girls
01:43 Disclaimer: I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST MEAN GIRLS
02:08 Pros
03:34 Changes Made from Full Length to Jr.
05:15 Changes that WEREN"T Made, But Should Have Been...
08:29 Alternative Titles for Jr. Shows
09:30 Outro
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â Better Nate Than Never: amzn.to/3DmZlCj
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â The BFG: A Set of Dahl Classroom Plays: amzn.to/3Y1jF44
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âCharades for Kids: amzn.to/3j7sURz
â Guesstures: amzn.to/3WNAwWS
â Danger the Game (Screen Cards before playing, not all appropriate): amzn.to/3HDDIjz
â The Storymatic Kids - Writing Prompts for Young Writers: amzn.to/3HBO7MG
â Yes And (Improv Game - Screen Cards before playing, not all appropriate): amzn.to/3WFo6Aw
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The fact that this was written as a junior musical at all is so goofy. What next? Heathers kids?
AGREED! I sincerely hope Heathers Kids isnât on the horizon, but I wouldnât be shocked đ.
@@cayleejo Heathers Teen Edition exists.
@@chriskaiias1007 youâre correct. My high school students begged me to do Heathers Teen/High School Edition several years ago and I did read through the script but it still included a lot of problems, including a PG-13 s*xual scene. I just didnât feel comfortable directing high school students in that storyline and felt we had so many better options, but I canât imagine if they were to make versions aimed at Jr performers (middle school) or even kids (elementary)! Yikes.
Sweeney Todd Jr.
@@joesensor4508There's a school edition.
Iâm surprised the song âSexyâ wasnât turned into the song âPrettyâ
Sounds like something would do lol
âI can be a pretty doctor and cure some pretty cancerâ
or sassy
as somebody who is currently trying to convince her theatre teacher that we should do this musical, this was helpful. mostly. i think. yeah.
I did a mean girls Jr summer camp and the youngest person was going into 7th grade and the oldest was going to be a senior. For rockin around the people you can make the choreo be appropriate and you can have Regina be wearing shorts or the skirt doesnt even have to completely fall off. Everyone involved in our production had a lot of fun and enjoyed it very much.
Our high school is doing the highschool version (I'm playing Damian which was almost an issue because a law was just passed that says I can't in Florida but we're doing it anyway-) The show is going relatively well and we're not really changing a lot of the themes or language since our teacher is retiring after the year ends â ïž we did have to cut the show down quite a lot though because there were issues with timing and getting our scripts and materials late so it's not exactly what we imagined but I think it will still be great!
Wishing you the breakage of many limbs!
@@cayleejo Iâm using that now đ
My middle school did Mean Girls Jr and it was âinterestingâ the jokes and the acting and the singing were very clunky and clumsy. I feel like the points you made really made me understand why Mean Girls Jr doesnât really work for some schools.
This is so true!, I'm doing Mean Girls High School Edition with my high school next year and we couldnt be more happy! However I do agree with the Jr.'s version problems.
I wish your future cast the breakage of many limbs!
When I did Mean Girls Jr. two years ago(we had the high school edition rights but we did the one act version) it was so so so fun!!!
I was watching mean girls in 2nd grade. The kids would love doing that way more than Garfield the musical or whatever they do now.
Just got cast as Aaron in mean girls Jr at a local theatre company in my area and am thankful for this video
Wishing you the breakage of many limbs!
same bro i got aaron
This is ironic, I'm doing Mean Girls Jr. right now. Also, I find a lot of kids enjoy doing Legally Blonde Jr.
Legally Blonde Jr is completely G rated. As a girl who was in Legally Blonde Jr it was a fun show! I also did Mean Girls Jr! I played Cady
I wish my school would do Mean Girls Jr (we canât because of budget reasons), I am doing Legally Blonde Jr with a drama program and it is really fun, although Iâm playing Callahan đ
My summer camp is doing Mean Girls Jr! How was it for you?
@@dumbsheep1134 It was alright. My play director personally thanked me after closing night saying I did a great job.
@@snoozersnail What role did you get?
Just did this version of the show with my theater company this summer. We consider ourselves a professional training program; so the cast learned the show in 5 days and the following week was tech. It was an intense process with all the material and the short timeframe but it turned out strong, the cast had a lot of fun, our houses were filled, and was a great summer show. Ultimately I think this show is better geared towards a company or like mine or high schoolers because it does toe the line. Prior to sign-ups we did provide parents the link to read the script and an alternative show option they could have their kid participate in. Many of the actors that participated in our show weâve also trained from a young age, so we knew they could handle the material; more so with the singing and acting than the content itself. I even asked some parents to read the script prior to announcing the show and they all said their kid has heard and seen worse at school. Parents also trust that we know what we are doing and that we would never put their kid in an uncomfortable situation. As for the cuts from the original I think what helped is Iâm not a huge MG fan. I saw it on Broadway and it was fine, but it was nothing to write home about. I was more bothered they cut down âApex Predatorâ than anything else. âRockingâ around the Poleâ is only about 10 seconds long and we had Regina and the girls wear Christmas aprons to mitigate any unneeded costume changes and make it easier for it to rip from Regina. Other than that I will say that it does teach an important lesson and we even had a kid thanking us because it allowed him to be his authentic self (he played Damian.) Again I get why it would be difficult for a middle school to do it, but it shouldnât be completely out of the running for other companies.
I think you're spot on! It's all about what works for each group
i was waiting for her to talk about the plastics still calling janice a space lesbian
i have read through the mean girls jr script
This is such a good point I didnât touch on, thank you for bringing it up! YES, it is problematic (in my opinion) that the bullying present in this show attacks sexuality and weâre expecting jr. high students to represent that, yikes!
space lesbian is less problematic than space d*** in the Broadway version. âčïž
@@chriskaiias1007 agreed!
In my production they called Janis a Living Freak Show
@@cayleejorue! itâs also odd that they chose to keep this part in because they remove talking about damianâs sexuality at all, specifically the famous line âtoo gay to functionâ. they also remove his song âstopâ in which he talks about a romance he had with another boy named philip. i donât like this because the only representation of queer people is negative đ
this show is happening at my theater in june - this was very helpful thank you!
Glad I could help! đ
I'm actually about to audition for this because I love Mean Girls but I also want to know if Mean Girls as a jr production will work onstage and decided that the only way to know for sure is by reading the script, listening to the soundtrack, and (fingers crossed) getting to be apart of the show.
Break a leg at your audition! I'm sure your preparation will pay off!
@@cayleejo thankssss
I absolutely agree with everything you said. I play Damian in my theater companyâs mean girls jr. While Iâm a high schooler, most people in there are around the lower end of middle school. I think itâs not the most problematic show ever, but I never viewed it as a jr. Itâs weird watching a bunch of kids recite monologues about counting calories and who theyâre hooking up with. I personally believe the jr should only be used as an alternative to the high school version for high schools that may be stricter with censorship.
my school's putting on mean girls jr in a few weeks for the sole reason that it's shorter (our town as an audience prefers short shows, we just want the best turnout) but it's super interesting to see someone discuss all of the changes made!!! i personally love the original musical but didn't pay too much attention to what had changed besides cut songs (rip someone gets hurt and stop), and now i'm kind of thinking over how weird it is to have mean girls as a musical directed to younger kids (our cast goes from 6th - 12th grade, but still). good video!!!!!
Break a leg!
This came up as a suggested video for me! My rising 8th grader is dying for her middle school to do Mean Girls! My oldest (she just graduated high school a few weeks ago) has done a lot of inappropriate musicals lol. In middle school she did Spelling Been- not the cleaned up version. The teacher gave the kid playing Chip the option to sing the clean song and he went with the original. She was just Queenie in Wild Party. She did Les Miserables School Edition twice. She also did Sweeney Todd School Edition last summer and Jeckyll and Hyde last fall. We joke that she either died or cried over a dead body in every show - sometimes more than once.
At this point, you might as well make "Camp Rock" a middle-school theatre production cause it seems more wholesome than "Mean Girls." I don't know why, but "Camp Rock" seems like a much better idea than "Mean Girls" for middle schoolers, cause it still involves a group of three girls who are bullies (at least the blonde leader is the bully, and the other two girls follow) just not as serious as what happens in "Mean Girls." Next thing you know they're gonna make "Wicked The Musical Jr.". Imagine how they would adapt that for kids!
Well Mean Girls Jr is super lighthearted and funny, and when I did the show there seemed to be no problems at all. It was a very fun, wholesome, cute show when we produced it!
Iâm preforming Mean Girls jr with my small theater company, the age is 10-18 and Iâm playing Cady, we are adding Sexy and Someone gets hurt I personally love the soundtrack and Iâm really excited for the show!
i used to listen to the musicals soundtrack while doing homework đ
We are actually doing this musical for our theater camp itâs really fun and our choreographer changed the talent show dances but most of our kids are late middle school and Highschoolers so if it was only middle school then I get why because it feels kinda weird hearing some of the lines but other than that itâs really fun and I think that itâs a great experience
I can't wait for Next to Normal JR.
Gypsy, Jr?
@@joesensor4508Gypsy rose lee is just a professional model now lmao
I (a senior in High School) am doing Mean Girls Jr. at the end of April with my community theater and I am so conflicted about it. Mean girls is my favorite musical and I ADORE this show, but I am so upset that I canât do the High School version because my High School doesnât have a theater program. I am still SO excited, but the show is watered down and doesnât have the same wow factor. The songs are shortened EXTENSIVELY in the Jr. or just cut completely unlike the HS version which is just the full show thatâs available to high schools pretty much đ„Č
I am sorry that you won't have the opportunity to do the version that you prefer, BUT on the plus side, you are at the top of the age bracket for a Jr. show, meaning you are more likely to be considered for those larger roles. I would make it a personal goal to take whatever role you earn and infuse them with as much passion as if you were doing the longer version - your fellow castmates will feel your energy and try to match it, and the audience will clearly see your effort. Do not fret, make this the best experience yet, and I hope you have an opportunity in the future to do the longer version. Break a leg!
My middle school did freaky Friday- our director was a janitor, our set was a table, and they cut half of the show đ
Iâm planning on auditioning for Damien and I was so sad when I realized that they cut Damienâs song! (At least from what I found)
Me who though she was actually going to read the entire script in 9 minutes: đ
The studio where I live just got the rights to this but they are doing freakin finding dory?? đ
i donât think that 22 songs would be too hard to learn considering seussical is just songs and barely any lines
I love suessical, and was in the jr version. I donât quite remember what was changed in the jr version
I convinced my drama teacher to do mean girls jr and im playing Regina George
Some of the changes and stuff they left in are REALLY odd, especially the mention of drugs and "raise your right HAND?! (What?!). I think the script needed at least another few passes before release. Yikes.
That said, I feel if the subject matter is discussed beforehand with the kids, it could open up an interesting discussion about how the situations in the show reflect their daily lives, and perhaps be a good breaking ground for how they can work at building healthier relationships with one another. As someone who wasn't in middle school too long ago, the situations are quite realistic to the real world (which, yes, is a problem) and perhaps it could be incredibly cathartic to play out these very real (to them) scenarios onstage without judgement.
Still, it baffles me that this exists. Do Legally Blonde instead. It's even a better-written show.
Yeah, that's a good point. Discussing the subject matter with the kids beforehand would help them understand what you should and should not do in certain school and non-school situations. Especially girls, cause I'm sure there's things that happen in the musical that middle-school girls can relate to.
We just said(in my show): Ms Norbury is a pushy old creep
my high school is likely gonna do this in the spring. it's a jr adaptation that i don't mind, I like that they did keep some of the more campy/raunchy humour and stuff. hoping to get cady or janis! my friends think id be good as either of them so fingers crossed đ€
Break a leg!
i feel like the mean girls jr musical was more for highschool than middleschool
TIL SOMEONE GETS HURT GETS TAKEN OUT? thats my 13th reason
I have a question about one of the changes you didn't mention. So, Stupid with love got removed from the JR version and I'm a little new to Mean Girls but I feel like that song was kinda important to Aaron and Cady's story and with Regina and Aaron breaking up. Did they remove it for a specific reason or just to shorten the show?
Iâm not certain why it was removed - I agree it was important to the relationship between those two characters - but I imagination your inclination that it was to shorten the show is correct!
They still have stupid with love in the jr version
I never realized the right finger thing until now.
Did they cut Stop from the Jr. Version? Itâs not listed on the MTI site as a song in the show.
Yes, it was cut.
We cut Stop in our production
my highschool is doing mean girls this year
One thing you didnât mention was that they also removed stop. Which is fair considering⊠some of the lyrics. But as someone who got cast as Damian it made me a little sad that I donât get to sing it
Thankyou for pointing that out - I'm so sorry you weren't able to sing that song as Damian, but what an awesome role to have.
@@cayleejo Of course. Itâs no big deal Iâm still soooooo excited Iâm doing it
iâm doing this musical this summer haha
as a 7th grader*
I did it as a 4th-5th grader at a local theatre, it was hectic but amazing
@@theyluvtwoset.13 DANG thats young for this musical. I bet the experience was fun though! Our cast is 7th and 8th graders
@@vividxox It was awesome! I was Cady and the understudy for Janis! Who do you play?
@@theyluvtwoset.13 its very late summer so auditions are in june! iâll update you when i find out who i get :)
Iâve seen a production and thought Sexy was turned to Sassy? And Rocking Around the Pole was cut? Just referenced? Has it changed?
i did mean girls jr, i was regina, im 16, in a 14-16 class. they definitely cut out some stuff that couldve stayed in but otherwise it isnt bad at all.
We wouldn't have been allowed to do this show at my high school, let alone earlier than that.
Also they had to have cut/changed Karen's part in Stop, right? That'd be THE most inapproriate part of this show for middle schoolers IMO.
I had to pause the video after she mentioned 'Id rather be me' just to pick my jaw off of the floor because i thought she meant they got rid of the song entirelyđđ
Iâm doing mean girls jr in maybe two weeks, I read through the script at least 3 times because I both wanted to prepare and laugh at the changes đ
weâre doing dear edwina, itâs not for middle schoolers cuz itâs too childish but it was the only option with our small elementary+middle school
Iâm hoping i can be in MG Jr at the very start of my senior year đ€
Wishing you the breakage of many limbs!
The problem with it as a Jr. musical is literally its essence. I don't think it works
I'm actually in dear Edwina Jr! I'm playing Abigail and our first show is tomorrow.
That's very exciting! A community theatre group I worked with when I was younger is actually opening that show today as well! (SLT - located in the Midwest, just in case we happen to be talking about the same place ;) ). Regardless, break a leg!
Could you cover legally blonde jr and talk about the changes
Yes! Itâs on my to do list âșïž
Do you think you could do Newsies Jr?
YES! It's on my to do list!
I'm doing Mean Girls JR at my school
honestly terrifiedđ§ââïž
I did it at my local theatre
Can you do a review of legally blonde jr?
I can! I appreciate the suggestion.
DEAR EDWINA IS MY FAVOURITE MUSICAL
Can you do 13? Also my sister is an a 14-16 class and sheâs Kevin G in mean girls jr! (Sheâs not white dw)
Iâll see what I can do! Thanks for the suggestion!
NO WHY DID THEY CUT SOMEONE GETS HURT THATS THE BEST SONG
frr
How come Someone Gets Hurt was removed? Warranted I canât really remember the song, the way I took it it was Regina relaying her life in a way that paints herself out to be a victim of life to manipulate Aaron.
It was a little bit more inappropriate for a jr adaptation
Im doing it lmao
Please do this with some others, especially shrek
I just auditioned and I think that i did well, but I love the original musical, I want to know the difference
Iâll see what I can do! Thanks for the suggestion!
It is aporoet
Read beetle juice jr next
THAT'S A THING? I do know that a PG13 version of Beetlejuice exists(I saw the PG13 version on Broadway)
I myself, just find jr musicals kind of whack, my secondary school (11-18/16) did les mis, unchanged, and had 11 year olds swearing and stuff.
Why is this goofy ah