The original film uses Cady’s voiceover to chronicle her journey from “homeschooled jungle freak to shiny Plastic to most hated person in the world,” but in the musical, Janis ‘Imi’ike (the updated Janis Ian) becomes the narrator. Musical theater’s strength lies in expressing aloud an interior monologue, but the 2024 Mean Girls chooses to cut many of Cady Heron’s songs from the Broadway version and even reassign one song of them to Janis. This undermines the audience’s understanding of Cady’s inner thoughts, crucial to grasping the nuance between pretending to be a mean girl and actually becoming one.

Mean Girls' 2024 Remake Changed The Original Movie & Musical To Give Janis A Bigger POV

Janis’ Backstory Is Expanded And Much Darker

In the original, high school is seen through Cady’s lens, stylistically represented when she imagines problems being solved in the “animal world” as opposed to “girl world.” In the musical remake, the opening and closing framing device is literally “A Cautionary Tale” sung by Janis to the audience. There is an imbalance between the 2024 remake’s intended lead, Angourie Rice as Cady, and the screen time and musical numbers given to Auli’i Carvalho’s Janis. Auli’i is billed third in the end credits, while Lizzy Caplan from the original Mean Girls was billed seventh, highlighting this discrepancy.

Janis’ backstory with Regina George in the 2004 movie was always a bit underdeveloped. The musical remake expands on a much darker friends-to-enemies story. After Janis comes out as gay to the school, Regina uses her to get a boy’s attention, saying she knows Janis is “obsessed” with Regina. Months later, Janis realizes the nickname Regina had been using, “Sissy Liz,” was short for Obsessed Lesbian. This layered betrayal makes Janis’ decision to use Cady as a tool for revenge years later feel much more powerfully motivated.

Not only is Janis’ relationship with Regina deepened, but Cady’s connection with Aaron Samuels is weakened. In the stage musical, Aaron, the romantic interest of both Regina and Cady, shares a duet with Cady, “More is Better,” where he expresses his appreciation for her individuality and his disappointment in her conforming to Regina’s standards. Cady’s relationship with Aaron is deepened in the Mean Girls stage musical, but both songs they share are cut from the movie musical, undermining this powerful message.

Which Broadway Cady Songs Are Cut Or Changed In Mean Girls’ 2024 Movie

Many Musical Numbers Are Cut or Sung By Different Characters In Musical Remake

Cady has three solos in the Mean Girls remake. Three more of Cady's songs are cut in the 2024 remake, two of which were duets with Aaron, leaving their romance feeling hollow compared to the Broadway show. Cady’s songs are clustered at the beginning and end of the film, not giving a window into her mentality through her journey with the Plastics.

There is only one original song in the 2024 remake: Cady’s entrance song, “What Ifs”. In the Mean Girls Broadway musical, Cady has a much more powerful ballad, “It Roars”, about Cady feeling destined to do great things. It’s a subtle difference that gives Cady more agency in her musical introduction. The new song was potentially added so the film could submit a song for Original Song for the Oscars.

In the film, Janis has four songs with no major cuts. In the stage musical, “Apex Predator” is a duet between Cady and Janis, exploring Cady’s fascination with Regina. But in the film, Janis duets the song with Damian, reframing the song as them introducing Cady to the power dynamic that rules the school. It is one of the most inspired pieces of choreography in the remake, where the student body embodies jungle animals through movement. Movie Janis gets the high-energy group numbers at the emotional turning points of the story, emphasizing her new role.

How Mean Girls Changing Cady’s Songs Hurts The Story & Meaning

Story Is Not Exclusively Told From Cady’s Perspective

Cady goes from being the narrator and point-of-view character in the 2004 movie to someone whose journey is being told, if not puppeteered, by Janis in the remake 20 years later. Cady’s character feels weakened because there is not a textual exploration of her state of mind as she becomes popular and then reviled. Janis belts “I’d Rather Be Me” over Cady and Regina’s climactic fight after Cady’s duplicity is revealed. This encapsulates the sense that Mean Girls has a better understanding of Janis’ headspace than that of either Cady or Regina.

Musical theater naturally provides space for characters to sing their feelings when words aren’t sufficient. “Fearless” is a Cady number cut from the Mean Girls stage musical, a power ballad after Cady dethrones Regina as Queen Bee where Cady sings to the school that they don’t have to live in fear anymore. This could be cheesy as dialogue, but somehow it’s powerful in song. Cutting this number is a sign of how Cady’s character is continually de-emphasized. Janis’ songs are fun, but telling the story from her point of view undermines the audience's understanding of Cady’s journey.

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Mean Girls (2024)

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Comedy

Musical

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Release Date

January 12, 2024

Director

Samantha Jayne, Arturo Perez Jr.

Writers

Nell Benjamin, Tina Fey

Cast

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• 
  Angourie Rice
• 
  Auli'i Cravalho

• 

Where to watch

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WHERE TO WATCH

Streaming

• 

Mean Girls is a reimagining of the 2004 classic comedy film as a musical, directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. When Cady Heron and her family move from Africa to the United States; she experiences a culture shock when she enters the public school system for the first time. While trying to fit in, she is roped into the popular but superficial and cruel clique, the Plastics.

Distributor(s)

Paramount Pictures

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