Copyright independent
This month, Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion becomes the latest Nineties film to hop on the “let’s make it a musical!” craze. In many ways it was inevitable. The 1997 screwball comedy, which follows best friends Romy (played in the film by Oscar winner Mira Sorvino) and Michele (Friends star Lisa Kudrow) as they fib and flounce their way to their 10-year high school reunion, is a cult classic with a devoted fanbase and plenty of nostalgia to mine — the three requirements for any musical these days, it seems. And if nostalgia is the goal, as is the case with many recent stage-to-screen adaptations (Mean Girls; The Notebook; Pretty Woman), then Romy & Michele: The Musical certainly achieves that. In development for about a decade, the musical lands in New York at a moment when people are increasingly craving the comforts of a pre-social media culture: flip phones and face-to-face conversation, to name a few. Fortunately, the film lends itself well to a stage adaptation, more so than others (ahem… 50 First Dates). A few liberties are taken with screenwriter Robin Schiff’s original script – with her blessing, of course, given Schiff is on board as the musical’s book writer – but for the most part the film and its spirit have remained intact in the adaptation process. That so much of the dialogue is lifted verbatim from the movie – “I’m the Mary, and you're the Rhoda” – adds to the show’s overall charm, and to the nostalgia factor. (Though the audience might be distracted by the digital backdrops and projections, which are decidedly not era-appropriate even if they do help to tell the story at times). The show is led by the dimwitted Romy White, played by a captivating Laura Bell Bundy whose performance mirrors that of Sorvino’s original so closely it sometimes borders on parody, and Kara Lindsay’s ditzy Michele Weinberger as they make their way to their high school reunion, confronting in the process the fact that they’ve not changed much since donning their caps and gowns a decade ago. Perhaps catering to Bundy’s expertise at leading tentpole shows (she was, after all, Broadway’s original Elle Woods in Legally Blonde), the musical tends to spotlight Romy’s character, bestowing her with the big belters about friendship, “businesswoman specials,” and inventing Post-its. Together, however, the actors do well to invoke the charisma of the awkward characters so lovingly crafted on-screen by Sorvino and Kudrow; their playful chemistry appears genuine and heartfelt. It’s the soundtrack that lets this production down. While the songs (by Gwendolyn Sanford and Brandon Jay) are all well-executed in the moment, they lack sticking power. Looking through the track list now – a mixture of Nineties-inspired ballads and dance numbers – I can picture the staging and energetic choreography of nearly each number (giant fruit magnets! dancing with scarves!) but fail to conjure the memory of a single melody. Hats off, though, to choreographer Karla Puno Garcia, who adds her own flair while maintaining the integrity of some of the film’s most iconic scenes – lovers of the reunion dance moment will understand. It’s moments like this when the screen-to-stage pipeline doesn’t seem as bad as the cynics make them out to be. Say what you want about nostalgia, but it’s a potent thing. At Stage 42 through March 1, 2026, tickets here
