She Makes the ‘Mean Girls’ Sound Fetch
Songwriters
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“I have a very dark sense of humor,” admits Campbell. “And I feel artists are drawn to certain projects because of their history.”
“It’s rare that you set out with a specific dream that actually happens,” says Campbell, who describes the position as “being the CEO of the music department. I’m the final decision maker for most musical issues. It’s a big job but it’s a fun one, and you definitely get to work with everybody in the show in some capacity.”
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When Campbell was in negotiations to work on Mean Girls, one of the first things she did was text Burgess. “I said, ‘Hey, I think I might do this musical,’ and he wrote back, ‘That’s crazy but yeah, you should do that.’ It’s been interesting now that he and I are in that family on different projects.”
That family is Fey, who wrote the book for Mean Girls, and her husband Jeff Richmond, who composed the music and collaborated with Campbell on the vocal arrangements. Richmond is the odd man out on the creative team since the lyricist, Nell Benjamin, is also a woman. “The great thing about Mean Girls is there’s so much girl power onstage and backstage,” says Campbell. “Our stage management team is all women and my music team is all women. A lot of times with other shows, I’m one of the only women behind the scenes. But Tina really does practice what she preaches in that regard, seeing how many women she employs.”
Campbell notes that the story of Mean Girls — which hews closely to the movie just with belt-heavy songs — is quite empowering for women, too. Despite the title, there are no bad guys — er, bad girls — really. All of the characters are humanized by the end and realize that the societal sexism that encourages them to tear each other down is not in their best interests.
“There’s something really important about role modeling and while there’re a lot of elements of the musical that show the darker side of girl relationships, at the end of the day, they embrace who they are,” Campbell says. “Lots of lines speak to me in the show but right now my favorite is, ‘Never apologize for being a boss,'” which is what plastic princess Regina George (Taylor Louderman) tells the new girl Cady (Erika Henningsen) after the latter says sorry for usurping the top spot on the high school food chain. “I love that the message is: it’s okay to be smart and it’s okay to lead with your brain.”
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Ever since, with the support of her theatrical collaborators, Campbell has found a way to balance her concurrent journeys as an artist and an activist. “Working with kids around the world, the biggest thing I’ve learned is how the arts are crucial for them to be able to process what’s happening in their lives,” she says. “One of the biggest things the arts did for me was let me imagine a different life for myself.” And it’s one she’s living to the fullest right now.
To read about a student’s experience at Mean Girls, check out this post on TDF’s sister site SEEN.
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Top image: Erika Henningsen, Ashley Park, Taylor Louderman and Kate Rockwell in Mean Girls. Photo by Joan Marcus.
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