Tina Fey takes 'Mean Girls Musical' home to Philly

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Upper Darby star Tina Fey is coming home for the holidays, so to speak.

Her musical "Mean Girls", based on the popular movie of the same name, hits the Broadway Philadelphia stage this month.

"We're so excited the show is coming here," says Fey. "It's a full-tilt Broadway show."

"Big musical numbers, great songs, fantastic voices, tons of jokes," adds her husband and the show's composer, Jeff Richmond. "It is a visual delight."

The show has been updated to capture how social media impacts high school relationships.

"When the movie came out in 2004, there were no cell phones; nobody had Instagram," Richmond points out, and times have changed, "They can weaponize all these kind of technological tools."

"It's still about human beings and what we do to each other and when we're kind of blinded by love or jealousy, and trying to find a funny way to get at that topic," Fey says.

The story focuses on a girl named Cady Heron, who is raised and homeschooled in Africa, then moves back to the United States.

"She's thrown into the school setting that she's never been in," Richmond says, "this different kind of civilized school setting. So in there, she has to find her way."

The show compares trying to fit in at high school to life in the jungle.

"It's equally dangerous and you are always looking for friends," Richmond says. "She can either stay good or turn to the evil side."

Cady finds some friends-the dark Goth girl, Janice, and her friend Damien, "who is very flamboyant and funny," Richmond says. "And then there's the cute boy."

But Cady also makes frenemies.

"There's this group of mean girls called the plastic," Richmond says, led by the ruthless Regina George, "and they are powerful and funny."

Fey collaborated on the project with her husband and the lyricist Nell Benjamin.

"When people sing, it kind of connects you to them emotionally," Fey says.

"The characters sing styles that feel like it would be honest when they sang," Richmond adds.

The show speaks to all generations, providing some insight into those characters you meet while growing up.

"It's a great night out, and it will truly be entertaining for the whole family," Fey says.

Broadway Philadelphia: Mean Girls | Tickets | Facebook

Academy of Music

November 19-December 1

240 S Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19102