2 minute read
From Wicked to Mean Girls to THT
MEAN GIRLS • October 11-16
Sponsored by Worcester State University Tickets on sale August 9
Lindsay Heather Pearce (Janis Sarkisian) and the National Touring Company of Mean Girls. © 2022 Jenny Anderson.
Broadway performer Lindsay Heather Pearce caught up with her fans at THT to talk about her role as Janis Sarkisian in Mean Girls, her previous role as Elphaba in Wicked and more.
THT: You are fresh off of Wicked and fans are just obsessed with your portrayal of Elphaba. What has that transition been like from Elphaba to Janis?
Lindsay Heather Pearce (LHP): “We now call it the Elphaba-to-Janis pipeline because the Janis before me was the incredible Mary Kate Morrissey, who was Elphaba on the second national tour. I think that the characters are pretty similar in creed and energy. The only thing is, Elphaba would never trick her best friend into ruining someone else’s life—that’s a bit of a Glinda move. Besides that, they’re both outspoken, artistic, driven and loyal, maybe to a fault. They are great and just the best characters ever. “I think Elphaba is no stranger to being the art freak, and Janis is no stranger to being the froggy, ferny cabbage. I think she gets it. There’s a different kind of maturity in Elphaba that I don’t think Janis has reached yet, but that means Janis is just having the most fun all the time because all bets are off when that wig and those boots go on. It is the best.”
THT: Janis is such an iconic character. What is the Mean Girls story about?
LHP: “Mean Girls is about a junior class of students in Chicago at a school called North Shore High. Our lead character is Cady Heron, and she is a transferred homeschool student. She was being homeschooled by her parents in Africa studying wildlife. It follows her journey of entering into the jungle that is high school without any social skills. She is befriended by two very quirky characters named Damian and Janis. Damian is the musical theater freak, Janis is the art freak and together they are art freaks. We then meet the Plastics, the group of the most popular girls in school led by the queen bee, Regina George. We find out that Janis and Regina have a dark past together. Eventually these two make an alliance with Cady and vow to take down Regina George. Mean Girls is about what happens when you dethrone a queen and another queen takes her place, how that happens and how quickly the hierarchy of high school can shift. “I have always loved the movie, which came out on my birthday in 2004. I have a distinct memory of going to see it, and I just loved Janis. I loved the hair in the film with her clips and her dark hair, her skirts, her Converse and her mesh-like gloves.”
