So, to celebrate the enduring appeal of the Plastics, we thought it would be fun to have the high school version of Regina George\u2014played at Mira Costa by sophomore Emery Gregory\u2014meet the professional one, played at La Mirada by Adrianna Rose Lyons<\/a>.<\/p>\n A Southern California native, Lyons has built an impressive career in regional theater, including multiple productions at La Mirada, and spent five years on Disney\u2019s national tour of Frozen as a member of the ensemble and an understudy for Elsa.<\/p>\n Sixteen-year-old Gregory wrote 10 questions for Lyons. Here, the two talk favorite songs, favorite lines, wigs gone wrong, and what real-life mean girls need to hear most.<\/p>\n Emery: What is your favorite song in the show?<\/p>\n Oh my gosh. I would say World Burn is probably my favorite song to perform.<\/p>\n Emery: What is your favorite Regina George line, and do you ever use it in real life?<\/p>\n It’s so funny because with all her lines, the big joke for me is like, \u2018God, these lines are so mean.\u2019 Like, I’m just so mean the whole time to everybody. I can’t imagine using any of them, really, in real life! But I’ve noticed that I’ve avoided saying the word \u201cfetch.\u201d Like, everybody else uses fetch but nobody else uses fetch. Like, what is fetch? I like saying that line.<\/p>\n Emery: Based on your personality, is there a part in the performance that makes you feel uncomfortable?<\/p>\n You know, what I would say overall\u2014because I’ve been told that I have the persona of a Regina in real life, just a very strong stance, a very strong presence\u2014and as I’ve grown up, I\u2019ve learned that that’s a really good thing. It can be a really good thing in theater. But I think it’s always been something for me that I felt a little self-conscious about because you don’t always understand why people kind of look at you like that or think, \u2018Wow, you\u2019re so strong,\u2019 because it’s not how I think of myself.<\/p>\n So in a way, the entire role of Regina has been something that I’ve learned to grow into and love and appreciate about myself. That like, you have that type of strength when you walk into the room. And it’s something that always made me feel a little uncomfortable, so just being able to stand on stage as Regina and be like, \u2018Yeah, I know you see it, I see it, and I’m comfortable with it, and I’m no longer self-conscious about it,\u2019 has been a really interesting journey for me personally with this role.<\/p>\n Emery: What costume in the show instantly makes you feel the most powerful when you put it on?<\/p>\n I love my pink outfit. Our Costume Designer<\/a>, Adam, is so good. Like, he loves clothes, obviously, so he’s had so much fun dressing us up. I would say all my outfits are really cute and monochrome, but I really love my little pink outfit: it\u2019s a sheer long sleeve, it\u2019s got a little corset thing, it’s sort of see-through, and it’s so pink. I love how it fits. So yeah, I would say my \u201cOn Wednesdays We Wear Pink\u201d outfit is my favorite.<\/p>\n Emery: What is the most distracting thing that\u2019s ever happened on stage while you were trying to stay in character?<\/p>\n I had a wig fall off. This was in college, and I was doing The Music Man, and I was playing Marian the librarian. We had a scene where I\u2019m supposed to distract Charlie, and I kiss him. On our dress rehearsal, we had a live audience\u2014it was like the first time with a live audience. I went to grab him and kiss him and he grabbed my head really hard, and my wig spun off.<\/p>\n I kept trying to keep going, but I have this red, fiery red hair underneath this blonde wig, and so some of my red hair had come out in front of my face. I kept trying to do the scene but the audience was laughing, and eventually we had to stop the show so I could reset it. But yeah, that\u2019s probably one of my favorite moments.<\/p>\n Emery: If you had to choose who to get stuck in an elevator with, which other character in the play would it be?<\/p>\n Janice, because I think Regina and Janice are actually very similar. We express it very differently, and we\u2019re very different characters, but in the show, we were supposed to have come from being best friends when we were in elementary school. So I think Regina and Janice have a lot to hash out and a lot to talk about.<\/p>\n Emery: If you could add one crazy Regina moment to the show, what would it be?<\/p>\n I think I would love more moments with Janice. I would love a scene with Janice to kind of get more of a background on where did their rivalry come from. We get a quick glimpse of it, but I would love to see more of that dynamic between Janice and Regina on stage for sure.\u00a0<\/p>\n Emery: What would you tell the mean girls in high school today?<\/p>\n Chill out. Nobody\u2019s better than anybody else. We\u2019re all very much the same and we\u2019re all very equal and we all are self-conscious and we all don\u2019t know who we are yet. High school\u2019s temporary, so your fame is temporary.<\/p>\n Emery: After people see the show, what message do you hope the audience takes away?<\/p>\n Very much a similar thing: that high school is such a temporary thing, and in the moment, you think it\u2019s going to last forever. The meaner you are, I believe, the more self-conscious you are about who you are. Who you are in high school is not who you end up being.<\/p>\n I think it\u2019s that kindness is everything, and knowing who you are is everything . . .\u00a0 We\u2019re all equal. I think that\u2019s the message at the end of the show\u2014that we\u2019re all the same and we all should find a way to see each other as human and not things, like groups.<\/p>\n Emery: Knowing how tough it is in the performing arts, what kept you going on the days when Broadway felt totally out of reach?<\/p>\n Oh my gosh, what a great question. My answer is there are plenty of times where I thought that it wasn\u2019t going to continue, and you think, \u2018Why am I doing this?\u2019 I\u2019m not getting paid any money, I have to ask my parents for help again. What I would say is that every successful performer has gone through that, and that it is not a reflection on your talent and your ability to make this a career.\u00a0<\/p>\n A lot of people think that if you\u2019re experiencing negatives\u2014you\u2019re not getting work, or you\u2019re not making enough money\u2014that means you should quit. And a lot of people quit when that happens. Obviously, the love for it has to prevail. What\u2019s kept me going is I love this so much and I feel like I\u2019m meant for it deep down. But that\u2019s not to say that I haven\u2019t had plenty of times where I don\u2019t get hired, I don\u2019t get the job, I have to go back to another day job, I have to keep going and then something happens again. Sometimes with a lot of space in between.<\/p>\n So I try to tell young people: If you really love this and you really want to do it, you have to get used to the rejection. And you have to expect it and don\u2019t define yourself by it.\u00a0 You will have rejection and you will be said no to many times, and that is normal and a part of the journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mean Girls is playing at La Mirada\u00a0Theatre for the Performing Arts through May 3. Tickets are available at lamiradatheatre.com\/current_events\/meangirls<\/a>. It is directed\/choreographed by Dana Solimando<\/a>, with musical direction by\u00a0Anthony Zediker<\/a>. The cast features Katie Roche as \u201cCady Heron,\u201d Adrianna Rose Lyons<\/a> as \u201cRegina George,\u201d Sarah-Anne Martinez<\/a> as \u201cGretchen Wieners,\u201d Grace Fluharty as \u201cKaren Smith<\/a>,\u201d McKenna Michael as \u201cJanis Sarkisian,\u201d and Gavin Leahy<\/a> as \u201cDamian.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\ud83c\udfad NEW! Los Angeles Theatre Newsletter Get all the top news & discounts for Los Angeles & beyond.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-275693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Interview:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/reginas.jpg\" "\\"Interview:")
\nAdranna Rose Lyons (left)\u00a0and Emery Gregory (right).\u00a0Photo courtesy the artists.\u00a0
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\nThe company of the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts & McCoy Rigby Entertainment\u00a0production\u00a0of Mean\u00a0Girls (photo by\u00a0Jason Niedle<\/a>)\u00a0
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