Romy & Michele the Musical: A Delightfully Dopey Homage That Wins You Over

Stage 42, New York CityThrough March 1, 2026

Laura Bell Bundy as Romy and Kara Lindsay as Michele -- Valerie Terranova Photography

By Anthony Chase

I walked into Stage 42 knowing absolutely nothing about Romy & Michele's High School Reunion, the 1997 cult film starring Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow. I had no idea it even existed, much less that it inspired a prequel or commanded enough devotion to warrant a musical adaptation. As it turns out, I may have been the perfect test subject.

When a projected title card announcing the year as “1997 B.G.” (Before Google)" earned knowing laughter from the audience, I didn't immediately understand why that was so intensely funny. But of course, the ability to search online would utterly demolish this plot about two best friends who claim to have invented Post-its to impress their former classmates at their 10-year high school reunion. It's the same way mobile phones would have scuttled Romeo and Juliet, or forensic chemistry would have spoiled Hamlet before the Danish Prince came home from college.

Let me be clear: Romy & Michele the Musical is not a major advance in musical theater. What it is, however, is a loving and surprisingly successful homage to an apparently well-loved movie, one that knows exactly what it is and revels in it.

Laura Bell Bundy plays Romy White with an absurd degree of self-seriousness. As Broadway’s original Elle Woods in Legally Blond the musical, she knows a thing or two about recreating a beloved movie character for the stage.  Kara Lindsay is knowingly daft as loving but guileless Michele Weinberger. The characters possess an original flair for fashion that they don't recognize is a kind of superpower as they endure the toxic meanness of high school, rescued only by their friendship. Their observation that they’re the only two girls who haven’t arrived at prom dressed for a hoedown is unconsciously prescient. The comic and affectionate dynamic between Bundy and Lindsay is the show's beating heart.

Jordan Kai Burnett as Heather -- Valerie Terranova Photography

The supporting cast is uniformly strong. Jordan Kai Burnett is a standout as Heather, a high school goth obsessed with the boy who's obsessed with Michele; her post-high school success provides an important plot twist. Michael Thomas Grant brings winning charm to Sandy, the nerd who turns hot when professional success gives him confidence. Je'Shaun Jackson delivers an appealing performance as Toby, that inevitable gay boy who organizes prom and reunion and adores everyone while they take him for granted. Pascal Pastrana plays Billy, the big man on campus and universal heartthrob who loses his looks and spirals into failure, while Lauren Zakrin is Christie, the good-looking mean girl whose high school sycophants turn on her once puberty wears off and maturity sets in.

Notably dopey at first, I began to notice the crowd responding more and more raucously the sillier things got. I started to feel in on the joke.

At one point, Michele tossed an empty cup toward a car prop and missed -- wildly, flinging the thing so far from the mark that retrieving it would be awkward. She did a double-take and tried to resume. The audience went crazy. Not to be outdone, Bundy as Romy marched over to the cup, tossed it aggressively into the car, and returned to center stage. The crowd went nuts, stopping the show for a full minute or more. It's that kind of theatrical event.

Later, when the audience urged Sandy to put the moves on Michele, Grant assured us with perfect timing: "I've got this." Huge laugh.

Michael Thomas Grant as Sandy (Je'Shaun Jackson as Toby ot the top of the stairs) -- Valerie Terranova Photography

How much of this was improvised and how much happens every night, I cannot know. But the whole spirit was very Carol Burnett Show -- anything can happen -- almost as if the musical were a parody of a film that I gather was a kind of self-parody to begin with. Any derisive comments about the scripting, the score, or the direction would seem to miss the point entirely. The bar for dramaturgy was set deliberately low. The bar for affectionate homage and genre parody is very high, and they hit that mark again and again with increasing accuracy as the talented cast cuts loose.

As dopey as it all was, I must confess that, lured in by the magnetic warmth of the performers, I began to have a very good time. This is theater as communal celebration, a knowing wink shared between stage and audience that invites you to check your cynicism at the door and simply enjoy the ride.

Based on the Touchstone Pictures motion picture and the stage play Ladies Room, both written by Robin Schiff, with book by Schiff and music and lyrics by Gwendolyn Sanford and Brandon Jay, the production is directed by Kristin Hanggi with choreography by Karla Puno Garcia. Jason Sherwood's scenic design and Tina McCartney's costumes effectively capture the aesthetic.

Romy & Michele the Musical knows exactly what it wants to be, and more importantly, it knows its audience. For those willing to meet it on its own terms, it delivers a goofy, generous-hearted evening of theater that leaves you smiling despite -- or perhaps because of -- your better judgment.