Tina Fey Added Social Media To 'Mean Girls' Musical To Keep It Relevant

Tina Fey’s 2004 film “Mean Girls” continues to resonate, now as a Broadway show. In an interview with Variety, the “Saturday Night Live” alum explained how the original spirit of the film had to evolve to include social media.

“The movie was about relational aggression among women,” Fey told Variety. “But now that behavior has really metastasized across our society, and you see it everywhere. You see it in people being horrible to each other on social media. So if anything, it’s gone wider.”

Fey worked with lyricist Nell Benjamin and director Casey Nicholaw to create “Mean Girls” for the stage. The musical’s composer is Jeff Richmond, who also happens to be Fey’s husband.

Richmond said social media elements had to be added, because otherwise “you would immediately know that [the story] was not of the present.”

The updated story includes additions like internet memes, cyberbullying and Twitter. Like the film, the musical is all about the chaos of high school.