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Using a cast of 70, the Winchester Cooperative Theatre for Children staged the musical “Mean Girls Jr.’ in the high school auditorium at the end of its summer camp program.
“It’s always this big because people come back year after year,” program alumnus, show choreographer and assistant director Sarah DuBard, 19, said.
“Mean Girls Jr.” is the latest iteration based on the 2004 film, which has also inspired a made for TV sequel in 2011, a Broadway musical in 2018 and film version of the musical in 2024.
Tina Fey authored the story with lyrics by Nell Benjamin and music composed by Jeff Richmond.
The story involves student Cady, a math whiz who is trying to fit into the social scene at a new high school after moving to the United States from Africa. A complicating factor is that she was home-schooled.
Cady tries to fit into the elite girls group the Plastics, led by ultra-cool and mean Regina George. Naturally things don’t go as smoothly as planned and there’s a little role reversal between Cady and Regina before everyone learns being in the in crowd is not what it’s cracked up to be.
“The junior version is a little lighter, but the theme remains the same,” director Abbie Gatto, 23, a program alum who has just completed a masters’ degree in early education at Salem State, explained.
Given the amount of participants, lead roles were different for the two shows, which took place July 23 and 24.
In the Thursday show, Quinn Pray played Cady, Ines Dendani was Regina, Liza Walendin was Cady’s sometimes friend Janis, Natalie Coronella was Regina’s dumb-but-smart friend Karen and Samantha Kung as Regina’s friend Gretchen. Kipling Drozek played Damien, a friend of Cady and Janis, in both shows, serving as a part time narrator of the story. All of them are from Winchester.
Pray was onstage most of the show and found the play and role “fun to work on.”
Dendani called Regina “a dream role” she’s been looking to play.
“I was excited to get the role and the experience has been marvelous,” she said.
Coronella and Kung both described their experiences as “really fun.”
Drozek showed a flair for comedy and also described his experience as “fun, but a little difficult to play.”
Walendin showed some good vocal skill.
Despite having only three weeks to put everything together, the cast and crew pulled it off well. About 70 people attended the Thursday show, including many grandparents, family members and friends.
Particularly outstanding were the costumes, an array of sequined dresses and vests. Costume directors Cate Sheehan, 18, and Sierra Scott, 17, deserve credit for dressing the cast.
Scott, like most of the Cooperative Theatre staff, were in shows as students in grades 3-8 and returned to help run it as adults. That has let them see the program from different perspectives.
“I worked with counselors and at being on stage before and it feels a little surreal to be in that role now,” Scott said.
Neil Zolot has been a freelance journalist more than 40 years. He has worked for newspapers on the North Shore and in the Boston area.
