New Mean Girls film makes big changes from the stage musical

Big changes from the stage musical have been revealed for the upcoming Mean Girls movie.

Based on the Broadway show, in turn adapted from the original 2004 flick, the new Mean Girls film stars Reneé Rapp as Regina, Angourie Rice as Cady, Auli’i Cravalho as Janis and Jaquel Spivey as Damian, Avantika as Karen, Bebe Wood as Gretchen and Christopher Briney as Aaron.

While we will get to see Reneé Rapp belting out World Burn, not all the songs from the original stage show have made the cut.

The film is set to feature a new opening compared to the Broadway musical, with the songs It Roars and Where Do I Belong gone.

In their place is a new song, with producer Lorne Michaels making clear the new film was a “a new interpretation” of the stage adaptation.

“It isn’t a remake, it’s a new interpretation,” he said. “It feels like a familiar enough story, but it’s for today.”

Other songs still set to feature in the film include Meet The Plastics, Sexy, Revenge Party, Someone Gets Hurt, I’d Rather Be Me and the finale, I See Stars.

However don’t expect a like-for-like from Broadway.

Composer Jeff Richmond shared: “I wanted to bend the songs a little bit more to sound like radio hits, so we were changing the palette from Broadway to radio.”

Separately, Reneé has collaborated with Megan Thee Stallion on new song Not My Fault for the film’s soundtrack.

The movie is due to release in cinemas from 12 January 2024 in the US. Brits will have to wait a little longer, with a release on 19 January 2024.

Meanwhile the original stage show will also make its arrival to the UK next year, opening in the West End in June.