with frenemies like this...

Fetch tickets to Tina Fey's hilarious Mean Girls musical coming to Houston

The Plastics are coming to Houston.

Few films encapsulate the twists and turns of suburban high school life like Tina Fey’s quintessentially quotable comedy, Mean Girls.

Though based loosely on the book Queen Bees & Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends & Other Realities of Adolescence, Fey’s Mean Girls draws on her high school years; she admitted in an interview that she was once a mean girl herself.

Now, Houston fans can get a dose of the Plastics (the aforementioned Mean Girls) and make “fetch” a thing when the new musical comedy heads to Houston August 16–21 at Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.

Individual tickets for the show presented by Memorial Hermann Broadway at the Hobby Center start at $40 and go on sale at 10 am Friday, April 1.

Boasting a book by Fey (a nine-time Emmy Award winner), music by three-time Emmy Award winner Jeff Richmond (Fey’s husband), and lyrics by two-time Tony Award nominee Nell Benjamin, Mean Girls opened on Broadway in April 2018 after a world premiere at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. in the fall of 2017.

Fans can follow the spirited story of Cady Heron, who grew up on an African savanna and finds herself among the wildlife in a suburban Illinois high school. Hilarity ensues and the plot thickens when the wide-eyed Cady takes on The Plastics, a trio of frenemies led by the charismatic and ruthless Regina George.The show has been heralded by New York Magazine as a “...smart, splashy new musical that delivers with immense energy, a wicked sense of humor and joyful inside-jokery.”

In other words, a fetching Fey fete.

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Mean Girls runs August 16–21 at The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby St. For tickets and showtimes, visit www.BroadwayAtTheHobbyCenter.com.

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taking center stage

Stage adaptation of iconic Black movie Jason's Lyric to debut in Houston

Courtesy of Jason's Lyric

Most of the movie's cast will appear in the play.

Next year, Houston writer/producer/director/promoter Je’Caryous Johnson will be bringing another beloved Black movie to the live stage.

Jason’s Lyric will join New Jack City and Set It Off in the lineup of ‘90s Black-movie favorites that Johnson has adapted for the stage. The 1994 made-in-Houston drama stars Allen Payne and a pre-Will Smith Jada Pinkett as young lovers trying to maintain a relationship as conflicts and obstacles keep getting in the way.

Jason’s Lyric Live will go on a nationwide, 22-city tour, premiering right here in H-Town on Thursday, February 13 — just in time for Valentine’s Day.

“Houston is my home, and bringing Jason’s Lyric Live to life here first is my way of paying homage to the city and its people who inspired this story,” Johnson said in a statement. “This is more than a play; it’s a love letter to the community.”

Payne will reprise his role as Jason, with actress/model Eva Marcille stepping in Pinkett’s role as Lyric. Naughty by Nature rapper Treach, who played Lyric’s criminal big brother Alonzo in the movie, will also return to the role for the stage production. Tyrin Turner (Menace II Society), K. Michelle (Love & Hip Hop), and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (Welcome Back, Kotter) will round out the cast.

"Jason’s Lyric is one of the films that defined my career as an actor,” Payne said. “To bring it to life on stage for audiences who loved the movie — and a new generation experiencing it for the first time — is an incredible honor."

Marcille is also psyched for the show, taking on the role that Pinkett memorably brought to life. "Lyric is a character who embodies resilience and hope, and I’m honored to bring her story to life on stage,” Marcille said.

Tickets will go on sale this Friday, December 13, at 10 am. For a full list of dates and ticket information, visit the website.