Tee Boyich, ’13, has vivid memories of her 8-year-old self, sitting with her father and watching musicals. She remembers this feeling inside of her yearning to be on that stage, singing and dancing. Before long, that dream of performing on the Broadway stage had fully taken hold of young Ms. Boyich.
So she put in the time. The work. The training. The sweat. And this spring her dream is coming true as she earned a role in the production of Mean Girls. She had participated in table reads and recordings of the show in hopes of getting the opportunity to audition.
“I would say Mean Girls is my favorite production I have been a part of so far,” Ms. Boyich says. “I have been doing table reads for four years now, and I didn’t audition for much else because I knew there would be a good chance to get an audition for Mean Girls if I stuck with it.”
Ms. Boyich works alongside fellow 5X alumnus and Mean Girls composer, Jeff Richmond. She met Mr. Richmond when he was the keynote speaker at her graduation ceremony. She shared how the seniors sang a song as a thank you to him at the ceremony, which she took part in.
“Jeff has been my biggest champion, and he has helped get me on the right track,” Ms. Boyich says. “He has introduced me to so many people who I needed to know, and I can’t thank him enough.”
Her journey to Broadway has been a long one, she says, but it is surreal to have this childhood dream come to fruition. Mean Girls is the most fitting production for the start of her Broadway career because she loves the message of the story, and the Mean Girls movie is what her generation grew up watching.
Ms. Boyich ensures that Mean Girls fans have a lot to look forward to in this production.
“This production has all the basic things you love about the movie,” Ms. Boyich says. “Tina [Fey] and Jeff have updated the story for modern times, but it has all the basic story line aspects that viewers will love.”
Her role in the production is a standby for main characters Cady Heron, Gretchen Wieners, Janis Sarkisian, Mrs. Heron, Ms. Norbury and Mrs. George.
“As a standby, I do not perform every day,” Ms. Boyich says. “I go to the theater every day, and if someone is injured or sick, I go on.”
She shared how she personally resonates with Cady Heron’s character more, since this is her first Broadway performance. She feels similar to how Cady felt in the movie when she first arrived at North Shore High School after being homeschooled her entire life.
“I feel a little bit like her since I have never done Broadway before compared to some of the fellow performers in the show who have,” Ms. Boyich says.
Unfamiliarity is familiar to Ms. Boyich, who transferred to Kent State as a junior from DePauw University following her vocal coach. It was a new school with new people and processes. But she found a home here, with her Delta Gamma sisters, and on stage, performing as Mother in Ragtime her junior year. That role was her first lead in a college production.
Now, she has earned her spot on Broadway, and Ms. Boyich is very excited that the production is finally showing previews in New York City.
“I have been to New York as a tourist, and I know people in the audience view Broadway shows as one of the highlights of their vacation,” Ms. Boyich says. “I love being a part of that and having the ability to tell a story to a whole new group of people every night.”
When asked about the show, she shares that her favorite scene is when Cady meets her love interest, Aaron Samuels, in math class and the song that goes along with the scene called “Stupid with Love.”
She says that this Mean Girls production is unlike anything Broadway has ever seen.
“This production is very similar to one of Tina’s TV shows where every scene is very quick and there’s never a slow moment,” Ms. Boyich says. “I hope the audience loves it as much as we all do.”
Ms. Boyich’s hopes for the future include playing the role of Cady Heron on Broadway and then on tour, hopefully moving into television comedy sitcoms.
Through her long journey from starting as just a tourist in New York City, to now performing on a Broadway stage, Ms. Boyich has fulfilled her childhood dream.
By: Eryn Gebacz