Lorne Michaels, Crossroads Live and Sonia Friedman Productions are delighted to announce initial casting and full tour dates for the 2026/2027 UK and Ireland tour of the award-winning Mean Girls The Musical.

Emily Lane will star as Cady Heron, joined by Vivian Panka as Regina George, Sophie Pourret as Karen Smith, Georgie Buckland as Janis Sarkisian, Max Gill as Damian Hubbard, Karim Zeroual as Kevin Ganatra and Joshua Elmore as Mr Duvall. Further casting will be revealed in due course.

The tour opens at the Manchester Opera House on 23 February 2026 before travelling to theatres across the UK and Ireland until January 2027. Alongside the previously announced venues, the tour will also visit Stoke, Eastbourne, Woking, Leicester, Aberdeen, Canterbury, Norwich, Nottingham, Sheffield, Wimbledon, Birmingham, Oxford and Southampton.

Emily Lane’s West End appearances include playing Anna in Frozen at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Hello Dolly! at the London Palladium, and Evita in Concert at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. She has also performed in Starter For Ten at Bristol Old Vic and most recently played Anne Boleyn in Anne Boleyn, The Musical at Hever Castle. Vivian Panka was most recently seen as Alana in the UK tour of Dear Evan Hansen. Her previous credits include Heathers the Musical at The Other Palace and on tour in 9 to 5 The Musical, and she also appeared in the film adaptation of Heathers: The Musical. Sophie Pourret will soon be seen in Elf the Musical at the Aldwych Theatre, having recently appeared as understudy Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby at the London Coliseum, and has also performed in Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre, La Cage Aux Folles at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and 42nd Street at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

Georgie Buckland is currently starring as Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada at the Dominion Theatre. Her past credits include UK tours of Shrek The Musical and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Claus – The Musical at the Lowry, and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella at the Hope Mill Theatre. Max Gill’s stage work includes Charley’s Aunt at the Watermill Theatre, Fly More Than You Fall at Southwark Playhouse, Fangirls at the Lyric Hammersmith, The Boy in the Dress for the RSC and Bugsy Malone at the Lyric Hammersmith, with film appearances in The Lost Girls and Dumbo. Karim Zeroual, best known as a CBBC presenter and a finalist on Strictly Come Dancing in 2019, has also appeared in EastEnders, Da Vinci’s Demons and The Sparticle Mystery, with stage roles including The Lion King and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Opera singer Joshua Elmore has performed extensively in productions such as La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, Pagliacci and La Bohème at Opera Holland Park, Seven Last Words at the English National Opera, and a range of productions for Les Bougies Baroques, Oxfordshire Contemporary Opera, Carmina Priapea Opera Company and Boco Arts.

At North Shore High, Regina, Gretchen and Karen – known as The Plastics – reign supreme, destroying anyone who dares to challenge them. When new girl Cady Heron arrives from a life of home-schooling in Africa, she soon realises that surviving the wild is nothing compared to surviving high school. Determined to bring down Regina George, Cady hatches a plan that quickly backfires, teaching her that crossing a queen bee always comes with consequences. Packed with unforgettable characters, razor-sharp comedy and killer songs, Mean Girls The Musical is a smart, savage and hilarious hit.

The smash-hit musical, based on the Paramount Pictures film, opened in London’s West End at the Savoy Theatre in 2024, where it played until June 2025 and was seen by over 330,000 people. It went on to win Best New Musical at the 2025 WhatsOnStage Awards. Mean Girls premiered in 2017 at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. before opening on Broadway in April 2018 to ecstatic reviews, later touring the US twice to packed houses. In 2024, Paramount released a new film version of the story from the mind of Tina Fey, featuring a fresh retelling with spectacular musical performances.

The musical has a book by Tina Fey, music and vocal arrangements by Jeff Richmond, lyrics by Nell Benjamin, and direction and choreography by Casey Nicholaw. The creative team also features scenic design by Scott Pask, costume design by Katrina Lindsay, lighting design by Kenneth Posner, sound design by Brian Ronan, hair design by Josh Marquette, musical supervision and arrangements by Mary-Mitchell Campbell, orchestrations by John Clancy and dance and incidental music arrangements by Glen Kelly.

For full tour dates and tickets visit: www.meangirlsmusical.com