SO FETCH…
AND SURPRISINGLY SHARP

Ray of Light launches its new stage with a
high-energy crowd-pleaser that actually lands

It’s an ambitious way to christen a new home: take on a title everyone thinks they already know and try to make it feel fresh again. With Mean Girls the Musical, Ray of Light Theatre does exactly that, opening its new Barbary Stage with a production that leans into the material’s pop appeal while delivering the goods where it counts—performance, pacing, and sheer musical drive.

Director/choreographer Leslie Waggoner keeps things moving at a brisk clip, wisely trusting the score to do much of the storytelling. With more than twenty musical numbers, the evening could easily sag, but here it rarely does. The staging is fluid, the transitions efficient, and the ensemble fully engaged—no small feat in a compact space where there’s nowhere to hide.

At the center is Arri Toshiko Glenn as Cady Heron, who brings an appealing openness to the role. The performance avoids overplaying the character’s naïveté, instead grounding her journey in recognizable uncertainty. Opposite her, Maddy Wenig’s Regina George supplies the necessary steel. She understands that Regina’s power lies in control, not volume, and her restraint makes the character all the more effective.

Marah Sotelo gives Gretchen a welcome edge of desperation beneath the comic surface, while Mackenzie Macdonald leans fully into Karen’s obliviousness without tipping into caricature. As Janis and Damian, Maia Campbell and William Schmidt provide much of the show’s connective energy; Schmidt, in particular, has a knack for landing a line just off-center enough to steal a moment without breaking the rhythm.

One of the production’s strongest assets is its consistency. Ray of Light has long prided itself on triple-threat performers, and that standard holds here. Even in smaller roles, the cast sings cleanly, moves well, and commits fully—qualities that keep the show from feeling like a collection of highlights and instead give it shape.

Visually, the production makes smart use of its new space. Video design by Yrving Torrealba and Stephen Hitchcocks provides quick, effective location shifts, while Ashley Renee’s costumes do much of the character work at a glance—especially among the Plastics, where image is everything. The band, under musical director Jad Bernardo, remains out of sight but not out of mind, driving the show with a polished, energetic sound.

If there’s a takeaway, it’s that Mean Girls works best when treated not as satire but as structure—a well-built vehicle for performers who know how to deliver it. This production understands that. It doesn’t reinvent the material, but it doesn’t coast on it either.

More importantly, it signals something promising for Ray of Light’s new chapter. A new venue can expose weaknesses. Here, it does the opposite—it highlights a company that knows exactly what it does well and isn’t afraid to lean into it.

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photos by Ben Krantz Studio

Mean Girls the Musical
Ray of Light Theatre
The Barbary Stage, 215 Jackson Street, San Francisco
Thurs-Sat at 8; Sun at 3
ends on May 30, 2026
for tickets, visit Ray of Light

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