What 'My Fair Lady' and 'Carousel' bring to Broadway that 'Mean Girls' does not
NEW YORK - A funny thing happened after my disappointment over "Mean Girls" had me forswearing musicals in the middle of Times Square. I fell in love again with the art form through two rapturous revivals of golden age classics I had mistakenly assumed were past their expiration dates, "Carousel" and "My Fair Lady."
"Mean Girls" didn't deserve such an extreme reaction from me. Tina Fey's book is often hilarious, and the show makes room for outcast adolescents who prove themselves to be even more entertaining than the beauty queens and jocks who are lampooned with aplomb. (Keep an eye out for Grey Henson, who received a Tony nomination for his performance as Damian, the gay rebel who quips circles around the conforming cool crowd.)
But the cacophonous score drowned out much of my pleasure. The music by Fey's husband, Jeff Richmond, had me wishing I asked the flight attendant for earplugs on the way to New York. Nell Benjamin's lyrics are spritzy, but they're not half as clever as Fey's jokes.
Historians of the musical often point to the moment when
