"MEAN GIRLS" STRUT THEIR POWER AT THE BUSHNELL

If your memory is accurate, we all know the cliques of girls and groups of boys who banded together in high school and excluded the outsiders who were never allowed into the sacred circle. Those who belonged would not dane to acknowledge the lessers who stood beyond the privileged. In the world of females, they were known as the mean girls. They were the cheerleaders who dated the captains of the football and basketball teams. They ran for prom queen and class president. They were envied and admired whether they deserved to be or not. From Tuesday, September 27 to Sunday, October 2, they are coming in full regalia and force to the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford in “Mean Girls” with book by nine-time Emmy Award winning Tina Fey, based on her screen play for the film. Music is by three-time Emmy Award winner Jeff Richmond and lyrics by two-time Tony Award nominee Nell Benjamin. Casey Nicholaw, Tony Award winner, directs and choreographs. North Shore High School in Chicago, Illinois is not what the new girl Cady Heron expects when she moves there from Kenya. The color of her skin immediately labels her as different and the social group known as the Plastics, run by the Queen Bee Regina, soon set their sights on her for a special inauguration to high school life. Cady is lucky to have two real friends Janis and Damian who want to help and protect her but she is destined to make her own mistakes as she tries to fit in to this complicated new life, like a strange animal in a fierce jungle of unknowns. Which club should she join? Which boyfriend should she pursue? Which friend is really a foe in disguise? Should she run for Spring Fling Queen? So many choices, so many decisions. And who wrote the nasty and insulting Burn Book that is circulating lies all over school? Great songs and dances pop up throughout. For tickets ($34-128), call the Bushnell, 166 Capital Avenue, Hartford at 860-987-5900 or online at www.Bushnell.org. Shows are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. What is the price you are willing to pay to be popular and, in the long run, is it worth the sting of success?