Jude Magnotti ‘26
EE Staff Writer
It is time to start auditions for the 2024 Trumbull High Spring Musical! And not just any musical no, coming fresh off Broadway, Trumbull High School will be putting together a spring production of Mean Girls: The Musical (High School Edition)!
If you need a little context for this musical, Mean Girls is a 2004 film written by Tina Fey. It features high school junior Cady Heron as she tries to navigate the social ups and downs of being a new student in high school. She is quickly befriended by the goth girl Janice, and her gay best friend Damian. However, shortly into her time at school she is set upon by an elite popular clique known as “The Plastics’ and their queen bee Regina George.
Cady must quickly adapt to the cruel lifestyle of popularity but soon realizes that being popular is not all it’s cracked up to be.
Upon release, the film grossed over $129 million dollars worldwide and became renowned as a cult classic with a dedicated following. Because of its immense popularity with high schoolers (especially high school girls), fans were ecstatic when it was announced that Mean Girls would be made into a musical…and even better, that it was coming to high school!
With performances scheduled for March, students will have around 3 months to put together the production. With the large number of schools in Connecticut performing the show, there will likely be some competition as to who can put on the best version.
However, before the students can get the show up and running, they must first go through the audition process. Auditions themselves can be scary for students with the pressure of getting the role they envision themselves in. Nevertheless, not only are auditions critical to identifying the right people for the right characters in the show, they provide a much needed dose of pressure that the students will face when they put on their production in March.
“It is definitely an experience; just have to focus on having fun with whatever part I get,” says Junior Dani Tikranian. “Either way I am doing something I love”.
The audition process can also be a great way to make friends. The spring musical has had over 100 students audition before, and seeing all those new faces expands your social circle.
Once auditions are done, the musical directors host callbacks. They call specific actors back to read and try out for roles that they are considering them for in the show. In these callbacks what directors look for most often is not only hitting the right notes, but making character choices reflective of that character’s personality. Ultimately you have to sell your acting, not just your voice and callbacks (and auditions) help directors see who is the right fit for a role.
After callbacks, the directors post a cast list of everyone in the show. Only certain people get main roles, and some people don’t even make it at all. However, despite the massive competition there is still a great chance of each individual person making the cut if they show their personality.
Unfortunately, sometimes too many people audition and those who are cut look back and try to improve for next time. If you did not already know, being in the musical is a huge time commitment. You rehearse between 2-5 days a week and there will be times you have to give up entire weekends to prepare for the show.
However, according to student Eli Clark, the “grind” is well worth it, “I think Mean Girls is gonna be a stellar performance,” says Clark. “It will definitely be a great experience meeting all the new faces this year”.
It will be extensive, it will be grueling, but in the end we theater kids at Trumbull High are confident that we can make Mean Girls an absolute blast for both us and the people watching. If you’re reading this and auditioning, good luck and remember to persevere! Remember to mark your dates for March people because this musical is gonna be so fetch!