The Academy

Mean Girls is a rock musical written by Tina Fey with music and lyrics by Nell Benjamin and Jeff Richmond that premiered on Broadway in 2017. The musical is based on the 2004 film Mean Girls, also written by Tina Fey and directed by Mark Waters, as well as the novel Queen Bees and Wannabees (2002) by Rosalind Wiseman. It tells the story of Cady Heron, a 16-year-old who begins at a new high school after being homeschooled in Africa for most of her life. She is thrown into the world of gossip and teen drama when she befriends the Plastics, the titular “mean girls” who control the school due to their wealth and popularity. The Academy pays homage to Mean Girls, with similar plot points and comparisons drawn between the characters as the students at Tiffin perform the musical at their school.

Both Mean Girls and The Academy begin with the arrival of a new student, exploring their journey to attempt to fit in with the established students at their new school. In Mean Girls, Cady is immediately isolated when she is seen as different, having moved from Africa to Chicago with her zoologist parents. Although she enjoys the schoolwork and is well-liked by the teachers, she struggles to find friends.