Mean Girls Musical Progress: 60% Done, Nell Benjamin on Board, ‘Fetch’ Is Not Gonna Happen

Raise your hand if you’ve been personally victimized by Jeff Richmond and Tina Fey’s endless teasing of a Mean Girls musical. In a recent interview with Yahoo TV, Richmond, 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt composer and husband to Fey, revealed that the long-awaited tuner is 60% done. He also noted that they are “looking to do some actual solid readings coming around this summer.”

Joining Fey and Richmond for the project is lyricist Nell Benjamin, who collaborated with Laurence O’Keefe on Legally Blonde. Richmond revealed the title of one number from the show: “Old Blonde Song,” sung by Regina’s mother (played onscreen by Amy Poehler). And despite his previous hinting, it looks like there will not be a number called “Fetch.” “That does not exist yet,” he said. “I don’t think it will.”

Plans for a musical version of the 2004 film were first announced in January 2013. In a previous interview last May, Richmond and Fey suggested that workshops and readings would take place summer or early fall 2014, and that they’re excited to cast some unknowns as the project develops (though we still have our Broadway dream cast).

And while they seem to be taking their sweet time (“It’s a long process…we watch Smash, so we know how it works,” Richmond quipped in 2013), we’ll continue to wait patiently as the man behind “Pinot Noir” brings belty anthem after belty anthem to North Shore High.