Photo: It’s show time this week at the Belmont High theater as the Performing Arts Company holds four performances of Mean Girls, the musical

In its first production in the Belmont High School auditorium, the Belmont High School’s Performing Arts Company is going full Broadway with Mean Girls, the hit musical that brings the current high school experience to the audience.

The large cast of talented student dancers, singers, actors, and an army of dedicated “techs” are accompanied by a band of students and professional musicians performing from their very own orchestra pit, a first for a PAC performance.

Mean Girl’s Director and Producer Ezra Flam is taking full advantage of the professional sound and lighting equipment and using all of the backstage theatrical rigs because … he can.

Other than Saturday’s matinee, tickets for the three 7 p.m. performances are extremely limited.

PERFORMANCES
Thursday, March 16 at 7 pm
Friday, March 17 at 7 pm
Saturday, March 18 at 2 pm and 7 pm​

Tix Info

• ADULTS: $15 in advance, $18 at the door.
• STUDENTS/CHILDREN: $10
• BHS Students: $5 Thursday and Sat Matinee, $10 Fri & Sat 7 pm

“We have six rigs that bring down the backdrop and other set material. I wanted to use more but they were all taken,” said Flam after the first dress rehearsal on Monday of performance week.

Selecting Mean Girls was twofold for Flam: “I really like the flash, that it’s in your face,” and it’s a great show to “showcase the orchestra pit” as well as what “the set crew can do with all we now have” in the new theater.

Directing his 10th PAC musical, Flam is assisted by Musical Choreographer Jenny Liftson, Arto Asadoorian is the pit band director, Kaitlin Donovan leads all the singers, Anna Moss is the scenic director, Ian O’Malley, the technical director, and Lila West came up with all the colorful costume designs.

Mean Girls is adapted from the hit 2004 film of the same name and tells the story of Cady Heron, who starts high school at 16 after being homeschooled in Africa for the first 15 years of her life. Cady quickly crosses paths with “The Plastics,” a group of popular girls who rule the school through intimidation, backstabbing, and bullying. Initially joining their clique as a joke, Cady finds herself sucked into their world and discovers the dark side of high school friendships.

With a script by the writer of the original film and Saturday Night Live Alum Tina Fey, Music by Jeff Richmond (30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), and Lyrics by Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde), the 2018 musical follows the plot of the film and includes many of the movie’s iconic moments and jokes.

Due to mature subject matters and situations, adults bringing younger elementary-aged children may want to discuss Mean Girl themes before the performance. But watching the dress rehearsal, the show is full of good-hearted moments and a great message at the end … well, maybe not where a mean girl is hit by a bus. (“She doesn’t die!”)

The Performing Arts Company is Belmont High School’s extracurricular student theater organization, providing hands-on opportunities for students to learn about all aspects of theater, from performance to design to production management, while creating high-quality shows.