CULTURE Theater STORY Loren King From left: Danielle Wade(Cady Heron), Megan Masako Haley (Gretchen Wieners), Mariah Rose Faith (Regina George), and Jonalyn Saxer (Karen Smith). PHOTO Joan Marcus
Broadway Baby Casey Nicholaw brings big gay energy to ‘Mean Girls,’ making its Boston debut Director-choreographer Casey Nicholaw’s musical theater baptism happened in a big way. He recalls that when he was a teenager in the late ’70s, his mother drove from their home in San Diego to Los Angeles so they could attend a Wednesday matinee of “A Chorus Line.” “It was a huge thing. I bought the cassette tape…for me to hear a gay character have a monologue, it was like, ‘I’m not alone,’” says Nicholaw, 57, in a telephone interview. Other influential musicals of his youth, he says, include “The Wiz,” “Ain’t Misbehavin,’” “Annie” and “Evita.” Nicholaw has brought that same smart, splashy Broadway sensibility to the many musicals he’s choreographed or directed
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over his illustrious career, from “The Drowsy Chaperone” to “The Book of Mormon,” from “Mean Girls” to “The Prom.” “I try to bring something for everyone,” says Nicholaw who began his career as an actor-dancer in the choruses of “Crazy for You,” “Victor/Victoria” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie” to a lead role in “Seussical The Musical.” He made his debut as choreographer on Broadway with “Spamalot” in 2005 and took on his first directing project a year later with “The Drowsy Chaperone.” “I like original musicals more than revivals,” he says. “I’m not drawn to shows that have been seen in high schools already.”
Nicholaw won a Tony Award for his co-direction and choreography with Trey Parker on the mega-hit “The Book of Mormon.” (“Trey and Matt [Stone] love musicals; it worked both as send up and as paying homage,” he says). “The Book of Mormon” is still running on Broadway along with “Aladdin,” which Nicholaw directed and choreographed. Boston audiences can soon experience his razzle dazzle when “Mean Girls,” which Nicholaw directed and choreographed, makes its Boston debut at the Opera House January 28–February 9 as part of Broadway in Boston. This is the first national tour of the show which has been running on Broadway since it opened in April 2018. The crowd-pleaser about an outsider, Cady Heron (Danielle Wade), whose childhood spent in Africa is nothing compared with the social jungle of her new suburban Illinois high school, which is ruled by The Plastics, a formidable trio led by the ruthless Regina George (Mariah Rose Faith). The musical is based on the 2004 movie directed by Mark Waters
