Even though stage-Karen couldn’t figure out that rhyme, she proved to have a heart anyway. Kate Rockwell played Karen with a dash of earnest bubbliness, owing to the fact that the musical text supplies her with introspection. The “Mean Girls” stage musical also features the closest friendship between Cady and Karen. During the post-Burn Book incident, Karen texts Cady with kind words, funny emojis, and then a burst of surprising insight. Although Karen knows she has a low IQ, she states that she understands the “Rule of Twos,” where “everything is really two things.” She even points out Cady’s own human contradiction, being both saboteur and beneficiary of the Plastics, while also noting the human contradiction of Regina being mean “only because she was unhappy with herself.” Her wisdom helps Cady make sense of the warfare between her and Regina, which demonstrates that a self-aware ditz doesn’t have to lack emotional intelligence or empathy.
In favor of harkening back to the dim-witted Karen of the 2004 film (played by Amanda Seyfried), the “Mean Girls” movie musical elected to brush away Karen’s (Avantika Vandanapu) emotional intelligence and her close friendship with Cady along with it. This may be to make room for Cady’s other relationships, though one may argue that potential character development got scrapped along with it.
The “Mean Girls” movie musical is now playing in theaters.