Mean Girls

Don’t be jealous — Mean Girls can’t help that it’s so popular.

But, do join the fun when this “so fetch” musical saunters onto the stage at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale, May 2-7, 2023, marking the end of its national Broadway tour.

The musical comedy is the mastermind of an awardwinning creative team, including director Casey Nicholaw (Aladdin, The Book of Mormon), composer Jeff Richmond (30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), lyricist Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde), and writer Tina Fey (30 Rock and Bosssypants). The hilarious tale explores surviving high school cliques, navigating friendships and nemeses, and figuring out what it means to be true to oneself.

Adante Carter, who plays Aaron Samuels, the most popular guy at North Shore High School said that it’s exciting to bring the show to Fort Lauderdale for its final chapter and that, in a way, it also brings the show full circle.

“Ironically, we were in Fort Lauderdale when we got the call to go home for three weeks while the COVID-19 pandemic blew over,” he said.

However, those three weeks stretched much longer than expected, leaving Broadway dark for 18 months.

“Fort Lauderdale was the last place we were all together before we could reconvene in October of 2021, so Fort Lauderdale is going to be very special for us in that regard,” he said.

Carter has noticed that post-pandemic people are excited to see live shows more than ever.

“You can just feel that energy,” he said. “I think that is something that we were really deprived of and that we really missed. Sure, we had other awesome mediums to entertain us during that time, but there was nothing like theater. Yes, you can watch recorded shows but there is nothing like being in the actual physical space with people who are living and breathing and saying lines like 8 feet from you.”

For a kid who grew up watching the movie, Carter was shocked when he landed the role of Aaron.

“I owned the DVD and I’m sure there are scratches all over it because I watched it so many times. When it came out, I was like ‘Oh man, I really gotta prepare myself for what high school will be like,’” he said. “I used it as, kind of, a guiding staple. But luckily, high school was nothing like that.”

Carter is also particularly proud to be part of such a diverse cast where the majority of leads are people of color.

“Our cast is breaking barriers and breaking stereotypes within the industry and it’s fantastic,” he said. “I really love that our Karen is played by a beautiful Black woman and that in the movie Karen is the stereotype of the dumb blonde. But, dumbness isn’t specific to one type of person. We’re taking that stereotype and flipping it. A beautiful Black woman also plays Gretchen, our Regina is Egyptian and Columbian and I’m half Black. It’s just really cool.”

Carter, who has been with Mean Girls since the start of the national tour, has performed over 650 times as part of the cast.

“I still get nervous and I think that just reminds me that I’m alive and that I care about this story that we’re going to put in the hands of people who have never seen it before,” he said. “It’s just really exciting. I think that the biggest joy I have in this job, in particular, is that I get to hear laughter every single night.”

And, this laughter is infectious.

“If you want to experience the joy of laughing with other people—strangers, friends, family—Mean Girls is the show for you,” he said.