Regina George On Broadway: “I Never Weigh More Than 115”
TW: Eating Disorders/Body Image | Mean Girls the Musical was on Broadway between 2018 and 2020 where its run was cut short due to Covid. Those who know the film will know that main character Regina George is a skinny, blonde bitch, who was an iconic antagonist. When the Musical came to life, and 19 year old Renee Rapp was cast to take over the role from the original cast, many were enthusiastic to watch her take the stage. But hindsight is a great thing, because had Renee known how much conversation there would be around her weight — would she have taken the job?
In June 2019, it was announced that Renee Rapp was going to be playing the role of Regina George on Broadway, taking over from Tony-nominated actor Taylor Louderman. This was an amazing achievement which most people in the arts could only dream of: their Broadway debut.
However, interviews preceding Renee’s debut revealed something which left a sour taste in quite a few people’s mouths. So many interviewers were asking her how she felt about the fact she was slightly bigger than the people who usually play Regina. Renee is by no means plus size; however, she has a different body type than the person who played Regina before her and the previous understudies/swings. Instead of ignoring this size difference (because it doesn’t matter, these are made up characters) interviewers were enthusiastically asking the 19-year-old her opinion on this size difference.
In an interview with Teen Vouge, they pointed out that one of Regina’s lyrics was “I never weigh more than 115”. They pointed out that this lyric was contradictory to Renee’s size in real life — something that has the potential to be very triggering for people who struggle with body image (which Renee does). As well it is something that Renee had never pointed out before, so it is questionable why the interviewer felt as if it was their responsibility to bring light to this. Bottom line, her size is something that is not to do with the show; questions about her weight were something to do with how she looks in real life, something so inappropriate to ask about! If she is telling the story of Regina, what does her size have to do with this? Renee replied as any other person would, and pointed out how she thinks it is important that every single body type is celebrated.
This in itself is an issue because there are so many underrepresented groups in the arts: from racial/ethnic groups, plus size groups, and trans and non-binary actors. Conversations regarding these underrepresented groups should not be taken up by people who are not in these groups. This defeats the point of pushing for their representation, when even in the mere conversations about their representations THEY ARE NOT BEING REPRESENTED!
A few weeks into Renee’s run on Broadway, changes were made to some of the iconic costumes from the show. Notably, the red corset Regina wears at a Halloween party was changed to incorporate a skirt; and her all-white tight jumpsuit was changed to a skater skirt — a baggier fit. The changes to these costumes seemed to be made for Renee’s comfort. There were mixed reactions from fans, as some argued the iconic costumes helped to portray Regina as this mean girl who was untouchable, and better than everyone, and the changes made to these costumes took away from her desirability. Most people, however, shone a light on the fact that if Renee felt more comfortable in these costumes, it was really accommodating of the wardrobe department to accommodate towards her.
No one thought that maybe Renee had no say in this at all, and that audience members on press night were offended by her curves. No one thought that instead of the producers vouching for her, the producers were the ones who introduced these new costumes. No one thought that the 19-year-old was being subjected to these changes without her consent — because who would? Who would think that the same people who cast her in this role, were the same people who humiliated her for her size.
Well, in March 2023, Renee Rap was invited into a podcast “Call her Daddy” where she unpacked all of this. When podcast host Alex Cooper asked Renee if she developed an eating disorder on Broadway, Renee explained how she had an ED starting age 10 where she was binge eating; but when she went onto Broadway it turned to not eating at all. Alex then asked Renee about the costume changes, in which Renee tells the viewers that she was already “wildy insecure and super uncomfortable” about these costumes. She then explained how she was getting messages from people saying, “we didn’t even want to be at the show because we saw that your ass was hanging out”. Fans in the comments were shocked — it had crossed no one’s mind that Renee was betrayed and humiliated by the exact people who put her into the role.
Renee is reprising her role for the Mean Girls Musical Movie, which was announced in 2020. Hopefully, in the movie there will be less conversations about her body image, and more of a focus on her talent — for her sake; but also the sake of all the girls seeing the conversations around her body image — who also wonder if this is all they will be reduced to in this industry.
Watch Renee’s Call Her Daddy Interview here —
