Tina Fey met the 1999 U.S soccer team backstage at the ‘Mean Girls’ musical on Broadway this past Tuesday (May 7). The website Women in the World had an insight into the meeting, and I’ve gathered some excerpts from what Tina said during it, which you can read below. Also, our gallery has been updated with photos from the event.
“I just want to say that you changed a lot of young girls’ lives,” said Jennifer Simard, who plays Ms. Norbury (Fey’s role in the film), and is so convincing that Fey said, “I think sometimes on a boozy Saturday, people think it is me.”
A Broadway musical can take five years to put together — and while everyone says it, no one wants to believe it. Fey thought she could sneak through: “I was like no way, we’re from TV, we work fast. And nope, it took five years,” Fey said. “I would love to do it again. I keep saying I wish we started a second one two years ago, so we had one down the pike.”
Meanwhile, she’s no stranger at her own show, which celebrated its one-year anniversary last month. (Fey says when she watches, she prefers to pace in the back.) “They’re bringing joy to people every night,” she said, “It feels like a garden that I just go check on it sometimes and it’s growing on its own.”
So fast, in fact, the musical’s starting a U.S. tour in September.
They might make a few tweaks: “I always keep an eye on the jokes and make sure the jokes are still fresh,” Fey said. It’s not exactly a joke, but there’s a mention in there now of Neil deGrasse Tyson, who was accused of sexual misconduct late last year. “It’s so funny, because it used to be Garrison Keillor, and then we changed it out of town [in Washington D.C.] and then that happened [with Tyson], and I’m like, ‘I’m running out of unproblematic gentleman.’”
Film and TV are back to taking Fey’s full attention. It was just announced Busy Tonight, the late-night show fronted by Busy Phillips, wasn’t picked up by E! for a second season. Fey’s an executive producer: “It’s a huge bummer and I hope we can find a new place for her to have a show, because she is fantastic and I thought she is moving so much faster on the learning curve than many, many other hosts,” she said. “She really got it and was getting it quick. It’s a waste of a really solid host so hopefully we can find something else.”
