ROMY & MICHELE: THE MUSICAL Finds The Camp — Review

When a beloved, cult classic movie gets the musical theatre makeover, you hope that its creators will shape the material to fit this new medium. What works on film doesn’t always work on stage. It seems the creators of Romy & Michele: The Musical didn’t quite get the memo. 

This version is an almost beat-for-beat recreation of the 1997 film Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion with an attempt to flesh out the characters that surround the titular duo. Robin Schiff, who wrote the screenplay, serves as book writer here, too. The movie had stars Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow, whose giddy chemistry brought real heart to the two lovable oddballs.

Romy and Michele have been best friends since high school. They haven’t accomplished much career-wise, but they live happy and content lives as roommates in LA: going to clubs, designing their own clothes, and living off a diet of gummy bears, jelly beans, and candy corn. Their bubble is popped when they get invited to their 10-year high school reunion and they have to reckon with what, exactly, they have (or, maybe more accurately, haven’t) accomplished since 1987. Desperate to impress the people that used to make fun of them, the duo try to create a backstory as successful businesswomen, specifically as inventors of Post-Its.

The musical has two stars of its own: Broadway’s Laura Bell Bundy and Kara Lindsay. The two stage veterans have no trouble mining the comedy and paying homage to the original while trying to carve out nuances of their own, but unfortunately, they seem to be fighting the material every step of the way, particularly Gwendolyn Sanford and Brandon Jay’s music, which doesn’t suit either of their powerhouse voices. (Sanford & Jay are credited with lyrics as well.)

As Christie Masters, head of the A-group and Romy and Michele’s chief bully, Lauren Zakrin, who’s no stranger to making a meal out of theatrical villainesses, runs away with the show. While not given the same expansion as the other secondary characters—the other Sagebrush High misfits, Heather Mooney (Jordan Kai Burnett) and Toby Walters (Je’Shaun Jackson), get backstories more suited to our modern social mores—Zakrin’s star power is impossible to tamp down, even when she’s giving her all to Karla Puno Garcia’s choreography as a member of the ensemble. 

The world created by Jason Sherwood’s scenic design and Tina McCartney’s costumes is one that fans of the film will find fun and familiar, especially when they lean into the camp. 

There’s plenty for Romy & Michele fans to latch onto in this version. Kara Lindsay and Laura Bell Bundy bring the two to life while hitting new beats alongside the moments fans know and love. 

Romy & Michele is now in performance at Stage 42. For tickets and more information, visit here.