Don Shirley – Angeles Stage
The ‘Mean’ musical. Mean men in ‘Angry’ and ‘Brothers’. The missing mean in ‘Home Front’. Theater community rallies ’round CA arts funding and massacre survivors.
The word “mean” means so many different things.
It’s a verb, as in the above sentence, but it also can be an adjective and a noun. “Mean streets” aren’t inviting, but being “lean, mean” sounds enviable. The noun “mean,” expanded beyond its literal mathematical significance, refers to something in the middle, between two extremes.
The title “Mean Girls” — whether it’s attached to the 2004 movie or the 2017 stage musical adaptation — takes advantage of several meanings of the word.
If you’ve seen either version, the title guides you to think first of the Plastics. They’re the girls at the center of the social scene at North Shore High in the Chicago area, led by the fearsome “Regina George” — as in “Queen George,” who is played by Nadina Hassan in the terrific touring cast at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, in the show’s LA debut. Read more…