‘Mean Girls’; Brian Tyree Henry; ‘Doll’s House 2’: Broadway Briefs

Mean Girls, the new musical produced by Lorne Michaels, the late Stuart Thompson and Paramount Pictures based on the hit film, will begin previews March 12 at the August Wilson Theatre in advance of an official opening night of April 8. Prior to Broadway, Mean Girls will have its world premiere at the National Theatre in Washington D.C., running Tuesday, October 31 to Sunday, December 3, 2017.

The new musical features a book by nine-time Emmy Award winner Tina Fey, based on her screenplay; music by three-time Emmy Award winner Jeff Richmond and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Nell Benjamin. Tony winner Casey Nicholaw directs and choreographs.

The cast for the initial run is led by Erika Henningsen as Cady Heron, Taylor Louderman as Regina George, Ashley Park as Gretchen Wieners, Kate Rockwell as Karen Smith, Barrett Wilbert Weed as Janis Sarkisian, Grey Henson as Damian Hubbard, Kerry Butler as Ms. Norbury, Kyle Selig as Aaron Samuels, Cheech Manohar as Kevin Gnapoor, Rick Younger as Mr. Duvall. The cast also includes Stephanie Lynn Bissonnette, Tee Boyich, Collins Conley, Ben Cook, DeMarius Copes, Kevin Csolak, Devon Hadsell, Curtis Edwin Holland, Myles McHale, Chris Medlin, Brittany Nicholas, Becca Petersen, Nikhil Saboo, Jonalyn Saxer, Brendon Stimson, Riza Takahashi, Kamille Upshaw, Zurin Villanueva, Gianna Yanelli, Iain Young.

The creative team includes Scott Pask (sets), Gregg Barnes (costumes), Kenneth Posner (lighting), Brian Ronan (sound), Finn Ross & Adam Young (video), Josh Marquette (wigs), Milagros Medina-Cerdeira (make-up), Mary-Mitchell Campbell (music director), John Clancy (orchestrations), Glen Kelly & Jeff Richmond (additional music), Howard Joines (music coordinator) and Telsey + Co / Bethany Knox, CSA (casting).

Co-Producers of Mean Girls include Marisa Sechrest, Berlind Productions, Steve Burke, Scott M. Delman, Roy Furman, Robert Greenblatt, Ruth Hendel, Jam Theatricals, The John Gore Organization, The Lowy Salpeter Company, James L. Nederlander, Christine Schwarzman, Universal Stage Productions.

Emmy Award nominee Brian Tyree Henry (This Is Us, Atlanta) will join Michael Cera and Chris Evans next spring in Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero, directed by Trip Cullman. The revival will be Second Stage Theatre’s inaugural production at its Broadway flagship, the Helen Hayes Theatre. The role of Dawn remains to be cast. The show is slated to begin previews March 1 and to open March 26.

Henry originated the role of The General in The Book of Mormon. He currently stars alongside Donald Glover in the Golden Globe and Peabody Award winning and Emmy nominated FX series Atlanta. This spring, he guest-starred as Ricky on NBC’s Golden Globe and Emmy nominated drama This Is Us, for which he earned an Emmy nomination. He’s currently in production on the Blumhouse thriller Only You, co-starring David Oyelowo.

Lobby Hero will feature sets by David Rockwell, costumes by Paloma Young, lighting by Japhy Weideman, sound by Darron L West and casting by Telsey + Company.

Producer Scott Rudin announced today that A Doll’s House, Part 2 will play its final performance September 24 at the Golden Theatre. The early closing – the extension originally was advertised as running through the end of the year – is not unexpected. Despite glowing reviews for Lucas Hnath’s cheeky play and for the three new cast members who joined post-Tony holdover Jayne Houdyshell in July, the show was performing poorly at the box office. At the time of its closing, it will have played 30 previews and 173 regular performances. Sam Gold directed.