William Schmidt, Ari Toshiko Glenn, and Maia Campbell Photo by

But thanks to the skills of director/choreographer Leslie Waggoner, the entire cast in Ray of Light Theatre's new production of Mean Girls, which recently opened in the newly remodeled Barbary Stage (formerly the Gateway Theater), has coalesced into a performing team in which everyone knows exactly what is expected of them–and then manages to exceed those expectations spectacularly. I'm not sure what secret sauce the folks at Ray of Light feed to their creative and performing teams, but there is more heart and soul and artistic commitment on display in their productions than in pretty much any other Bay Area theatre company I've had the pleasure to witness.

Mean Girls tells the story of 16-year-old Cady Heron (Ari Toshiko Glenn), the daughter of two biologists who have been living in Kenya and homeschooling their daughter. But when mom and dad get transferred out of Africa, Cady is thrust into the cutthroat world of American high schools, with their strictly regimented cliques and unfamiliar (to Cady, at least) social structures. Fortunately for Cady, she is befriended by Janis Sarkisian (Maia Campbell) and Damian Hubbard (William Schmidt), two outsiders who help Cady navigate the perilous waters of North Shore High School.

When Cady meets the trio of girls the other kids call "The Plastics," led by queen bee/apex predator Regina George (Maddy Wenig), with her cohorts Gretchen Weiner (Marah Sotelo) and the perfectly vapid Karen Smith (Mackenzie Macdonald), they decide to take Cady under their wing and invite her to sit with them at lunch. Here they lay out all the rules of being one of the popular girls: wear pink on Wednesdays, sweatpants permissible only on Fridays, only wear your hair in a ponytail once a week, and others. All of this is catnip to Janis and Damian, who encourage Cady to join the Plastics, but only so she can report back on all the dirt she gathers from them. But when Cady becomes more than a spy, she will risk losing the true friends she has gained. "How far would you go to be popular and hot?," Damian and Janis sing in the opening number, "A Cautionary Tale." Entirely too far as it turns out, but this being a musical, all will turn out well in the end.

In addition to a catchy score (music by Jeff Richmond, lyrics by Nell Benjamin), Mean Girls is filled with some of bookwriter Tina Fey's best lines. When Regina tells Karen, "I'm going to change your eyebrows," Karen responds, "can I still have two?" When Regina reunites with her ex–whom Cady sits next to in calculus–Cady expresses her displeasure, saying "I can't even watch her touching his hair. And I watched a snake eat a cow."

Pair a terrific script and bouncy, hummable songs with a cast as skilled as this one, and you have the recipe for a winning show. There's really not a weak member in this ensemble. As Regina, Maddy Wenig swaggers her way through every scene–at least until Regina's life takes an unfortunate turn near the end. She's the perfect embodiment of the girl you love to hate. Marah Sotelo plays second-plastic-in-command with a sycophantic flair that is glorious to behold. And Mackenzie Macdonald gives Karen Smith's ditzy blonde stereotype just the right amount of genuine soul, while maintaining the empty-eyed stare of a girl who is always on the verge of figuring something out, but just can't quite make it there. Ari Toshiko Glenn does marvelous work transitioning Cady from the adolescent naif into the popular girl who forgets her friends but ultimately comes full circle into true humanity.

The boys play second fiddle here, but Milo Boland is perfectly charming as Cady's love interest, and David Gromik plays several adult males with the air of an authoritarian with no true authority. Rowen Cole Weeramantry deserves special mention as mathlete Kevin Gnapoor for his adorably geeky self-confidence. But William Schmidt might have stolen the entire show with his fabulous gay teen Damian, who gets close to the top but never teeters over that edge.

Mean Girls finds its way to its moral center with perhaps too much ease, but it's still nice to be reminded that "calling someone ugly is not going to make you better looking." What's really looking good is this delightful musical performed by a cast who seem in love with both the show and each other.

Ray of Light Theatre's Mean Girls runs through May 30, 2026, at the Barbary Stage, 215 Jackson Street, San Francisco CA. Performances are Thursday - Saturdays at 8:00p.m., with 2:00p.m. matinees Saturdays and Sundays. There is also a Monday show on May 11 at 8:00p.m. Tickets are $41-$71. For tickets and information, please visit www.rayoflighttheatre.com.