INTERVIEW: Krystina Alabado, of ‘Mean Girls,’ will let you sit next to her at the lunch table
Photo: Mean Girls stars, from left, Krystina Alabado, Reneé Rapp, Kate Rockwell and Erika Henningsen. Photo courtesy of Joan Marcus / Provided by BBB with permission.
Mean Girls, the hit musical comedy on Broadway, is about high school life and how students can change their perspectives and hopefully learn from past mistakes. Along the way, there are bullies, uncomfortable situations, the breaking up of friends and new crushes, and they all help individuals find their way in the hallways of life and grow a little as they prepare for college.
The current cast of the Broadway musical includes Erika Henningsen as Cady Heron, Reneé Rapp as Regina George and Kate Rockwell as Karen Smith. Another central character, Gretchen Wieners, is brought to life by Krystina Alabado, an alumna of Broadway’s American Psycho and American Idiot.
“I had auditioned for Mean Girls way early in the process when it was still in its development,” Alabado said in a recent phone interview. “I didn’t get it at that time, and then it came back around. I got an audition from my agent, and they were like, ‘This is a great fit for you to go in for Gretchen.’ It was a pretty quick process for me. It wasn’t too dragged out. Sometimes it can take months and months of auditions, but I had about three auditions total. It kind of felt like it clicked in perfectly, and it was a really, really nice process actually with the creative team.”
That creative team is comedy gold. There’s book writer Tina Fey, composer Jeff Richmond, lyricist Nell Benjamin and director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw.
Besides being impressed by the creative team, Alabado is also a dedicated fan of the 2004 original movie, directed by Mark Waters and featuring a script by Fey.
“I’ve loved the movie,” she said. “I loved the movie all growing up. I always liked [Gretchen]. I mean, Lacey Chabert’s performance of her is awesome in the movie, and I just remember always liking her because she had this internal anxiety about wanting to please everybody. There’s something about that I connected to as an actor honestly, where you’re constantly wondering if you’re enough, and that is one of the strongest points of Gretchen in the theater piece.”
In the show, Gretchen is trying desperately to be accepted, and even though her misgivings are covered over by bullying insults, one can sense that this character is hurting on the inside. “It has real heart to it,” Alabado said of the role. “It always kind of hit my heart a little bit.”
When she joined the cast six months ago, Alabado was welcomed with open arms. She could sense almost immediately that every cast member loved what they perform on the stage of the August Wilson Theatre, where the musical is playing an open-ended engagement.
“We all love doing the show, and that makes such a big difference in being with each other on that stage,” she said. “It just feels like we’re all doing it together. Work is fun, and the show is such a good time. It’s been really nice, and them in combination with the creative team and getting to work with Casey Nicholaw, our director; and Casey Hushion, our associate; and Tina Fey; and Jeff — the whole company of people surrounding Mean Girls cares so much about it. And it means a lot to every single person involved. I think that’s what makes it such a positive and really inspired experience. I’m six months in now, and I still feel that way, from my first rehearsal to now being really in the show. It’s a really, really inspired group of people, and I love that.”
The musical also hits home for Alabado. When she was in high school, she was not a member of the so-called popular group. The actor was a self-avowed nerd who dealt with some serious bullying.
“I moved high schools in the middle, which was really challenging, and I do think the idea of needing to manipulate the situation to fit in, that means everything to you in high school is so palpable in our show,” she said. “And what Tina originally wrote with Mean Girls is this idea that we have to change ourselves.”
She added: “It’s so easy for me to tap into that because I think we at one point or another, whether it be in high school or in our adult lives, have gone through those feelings of wanting to be accepted and heard and loved. It feels like spot on every night, and I get a lot of outreach. A lot of young people write to me at the theater or on social media, and they connect so much with the show and specifically with Gretchen just because of all that: feeling anxious at school, wanting to fit in. A lot of kids say, ‘I feel like I’m changing myself to try and fit in, and I want to just be myself. And the show is helping me see that I should do that.’ So it’s been really, really powerful to be able to connect with young people like that.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Mean Girls, featuring Krystina Alabado, is now playing Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre. Click here for more information and tickets.
