Mean Girls may be a movie that will forever stand the test of time, but the musical version of the 2004 Tina Fey-penned comedy will be very of the now. According to The New York Times, Mean Girls: The Musical will be set in the present day and it's worth wondering what effect the 13-year time difference will have on the plot.
The musical — which is heading to Broadway next spring following a run at the National Theater in Washington, D.C., from October 31 to December 3 — is once again penned by Fey, this time in collaboration with her composer husband Jeff Richmond and lyricist Nell Benjamin. While Fey will likely bring the same wit that she did to the now-iconic teen flick, the modern-day twist will definitely change the story, even if it's only in a few small ways.
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It could mean that the Plastics will be obligated to wear Millennial Pink (hmm, perhaps this Nike line would do the trick?) in order to retain their place at the lunch table. Or perhaps, the 2017 of it all will mean that being kicked out of the lunch table is no longer the worst fate one can suffer in high school. Will Gretchen and Karen be boosted from the groupchat should they step out of line?
The biggest difference between then and now, of course, is the existence of a social life within one's smartphone. For Regina, the scope of her reign might extend well past the halls of high school. With endless possibilities for Insta-fame (will Regina tout hair-growing gummies a la the Kardashians?) that car commercial she filmed in Japan could be a viral sensation.
How the new time period will change the story of Mean Girls remains to be seen — however, The New York Times did specifically state that the Plastics will now "have Snapchat and Instagram in their arsenal." When you consider how The Burn Book seems almost archaic in an age where anonymous Twitter trolls run amok, it's not out of the realm of possibility that social media could alter fundamental parts of the story.
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