Get in loser, we're seeing 'Mean Girls' the musical in Austin

"Mean Girls" the musical is coming to Austin and honestly, that is so fetch.

Yes, Tina Fey's 2004 movie megahit is also a musical, which also was written by Tina Fey (with lyrics by Nell Benjamin and music by Jeff Richmond). The show, in all its pink, backstabbing and plastic glory, will run Aug. 2-7 at Bass Concert Hall.

Since we're a cool newspaper, and not a regular newspaper, we caught up with Adriana Scalice, one of the mean girls in the cast. She is absolutely not mean in real life, but has played Cady, who rises to queen bee status throughout the show, Regina, the original queen bee, and Janice, who is kind of mean, too, as a standby on the tour. "I've done Janice the most so far, which is really fun. I did Regina," she said. "I debuted Cady in my hometown in Rochester." Scalice graduated from Texas State University in May.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

American-Statesman: You just graduated in May. When did you audition for the show?

Scalice: I actually booked "Mean Girls" in March and then I left school early. I finished up my finals and luckily the way that Texas State's musical theater program was kind of all front-loaded, I finished all of my classes that I needed to before leaving. I went home (to Rochester, New York). The tour was in Dallas when my graduation was happening in May. I drove back, did the whole graduation day, jumped in the river and packed up my apartment all in one day and then I rushed back to Dallas to do my Janice debut. It was wild! That is one of the crazier experiences of my life.

More: Want to study Harry Styles? Now you can with this Texas State University course

Do you have a favorite role?

I like them all for different reasons. Cady I love for all the scene work; she never leaves the stage. Regina is really just a princess track. It's fun to be an antagonist. Janice was fun because she's kind of the badass character and doesn't care what people think of her.

What is your experience with the movie?

It came out when I was really young. I'm 21 now. When it first came out, I didn't know much about it. It kind of has a cult following of people who love "Mean Girls." So, I always knew about it. Obviously, it's such a big part of pop culture. It was a blueprint for those early 2000s movies. But actually, I didn't fully watch it until I knew I was going to audition for it.

Oh, really?

Yeah, I watched it in my apartment at Texas State and then flew to New York and auditioned.

More:'Cinderella' musical, topical 'Roe' play among shows coming to Austin's Zach Theatre

Wow! So, what do you think of the movie?

It's really funny obviously. All the jokes still stand. It's stood the test of time. There's a reason it's so famous. It's well written, all the characters are fully developed. It's a fun, feel-good movie. I know a lot of my friends use that as their comfort film when they just want to put something on. I love it. It's so fun, it's uplifting. I couldn't think of a better first job to have right out of college.

Are there differences between the movie and the musical? Can you talk about those?

There's a few slight differences, but it really does follow along closely with the plot of the movie. You're going to see our protagonist Cady Heron and she's 16 and moves from Africa to Illinois to go to high school. She figures out her place in the world and figures out who her friends are and what actually matters to her. It's confronting popularity and contrasts between different people. You see a lot of that. But with the musical, you have a lot more fun musical dance numbers and some crazy singing that will leave you wanting more. You kind of get a little bit of everything.

More:5 things to know about the new Sistine Chapel exhibit at COTA

How are iconic moments from the movie, like the fight scene at the end, translated to the musical?

It's interesting the way they kept some of those moments. In the movie, when Cady is viewing the world how she viewed it in Africa, with everyone breaking out into animalistic behavior, they did keep aspects of that in the musical ... brought in at the most humorous times.

What can audiences expect from the show?

They can expect to be laughing a lot. The audience has been eating it up in every single city we go to.

There's going to be fun moments and furious moments, some moments of self discovery and reflection and just great one-liners and fierce dancing.

More:Your guide to 16 farmers markets in Austin, Round Rock, Buda, Georgetown and more

For my last question, I'm wondering what you would write in the burn book about Regina George.

What would I write in the burn book? Oh my god. That's a hard one. In the show we use "Regina the fugly cow." That's always a good one.

That's such a hard question! I haven't even thought about that before. Like, what would she write about herself? Or what would someone else say?

If you were playing Janice, what would you write?

Regina... Oh my god, I also just woke up so I'm not as creative right now.

Oh it's OK!

Some of her outfits are funny. I feel like Janice would make fun of her outfits. How about "Regina is a hot pink mess?"

If you go: "Mean Girls" in Austin

When: Aug. 2-7

Where: Bass Concert Hall on the University of Texas campus (2350 Robert Dedman Drive)

Cost: Tickets start at $45

Information: texasperformingarts.org

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Broadway in Austin: 'Mean Girls' the musical is coming to Austin