We Are Madly In Love With The Delightful Erika Henningsen From Mean Girls The Musical

While many students all across the world barely make their way back to school, the fearlessly talented Erika Henningsen has already begun her journey in the terrifying halls of North Shore High School almost seven months ago. Starring in the new, Tony-nominated musical Mean Girls as the bright-eyed and keen Cady Heron, the 26-year old Broadway star shines ‘as bright as day’ on the stage of the August Wilson Theatre every night.

Erika Henningsen (photo: Joan Marcus)

The young actress, born and raised in California, knew from a very early age that she was destined to be on the stage. Growing up in a family that always embraced her passion for acting and singing, she graduated from the University of Michigan’s theatre program and headed straight to New York to fulfil her dreams of playing on a Broadway show. Although Erika starred in a concert production of Showboat at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic and performed in the Sheryl Crow’s musical Diner, she was faced with rejection quite a lot.

Being cast as Fantine in the revival of Les Misérables alongside Ramin Karimloo and Samantha Hill and thus making her Broadway debut as the youngest actress to ever play the role to date, changed everything for Erika who was pushed under the spotlight and was then able to successfully secure the lead on Tina Fey’s new musical, consequently originating the iconic role of Cady Heron on Broadway (originally interpreted by Lindsay Lohan). Erika portrays the young teen with an endearing candour and cheerful personality, bringing a whole new and colourful dimension to the character. Erika seems to be thriving playing this role, as, in her words, it’s an “incredible and crazy part”, which brings her “the greatest joy”. She finds this character so appealing because Cady is a very human character, who makes mistakes along the way but who finally finds her place and learns life lessons. She confided recently in an interview for Vogue Magazine that she was grateful to play such a defining role for young audiences; and let’s be honest, being a teenager in the terrifying world that is high school is an experience that anyone can relate to. 

Erika was also able to give us a glimpse of both her character and herself, as well as the rest of the talented cast of the Mean Girls, by filming a series of Broadway vlogs entitled “Too Grool for School”, where she showed us the opening night of the show, the recording studio and even a peek of her performance on the today show. Through these videos, we get to learn a bit more about Erika, who very much like Cady, has an open and goofy personality, but unlike her character, has always been a ‘theatre nerd’ and is not afraid to show it. She also takes the time to have a ‘real talk’ where she gives us advice on how to stay healthy, both mentally and physically, and to take care of yourself and have some ‘me time’. Along the way, she revealed a few of her favourite things, like reading, apple cider vinegar, succulent plants, her mathlete jacket, and especially, spending time with her family dog Theo.

Erika Henningsen is a beautiful person inside and out, and it’s my honest opinion that she was made for this role. So if you have some time on your hands and you find yourself in New York, just go to the August Wilson Theatre to see Erika in Mean Girls and I guarantee you that you won’t be disappointed.

Erika in Mean Girls on Broadway (Photo: Joan Marcus)

Sources
Ward, Maria. "How Mean Girl's Erika Henningsen Channeled Cady Heron on Opening Night". 
Vogue Magazine, April 9, 2018. McCarthy, Lauren. "Erika Henningsen is your new Cady Heron, and probably Broadway's nicest Mean Girls". WMagazine, April 10, 2018. 
Wikipedia. Erika Henningsen. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.