Before the stage adaptation of the movie “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion” begins, a projected text informs the audience that the show is set in 1997 B.G. — Before Google.
It’s a quick, effective gag. After all, search engines would have annihilated the plot, which hinges on high school classmates who completely lose track of one another e after graduation.
That joke in “Romy & Michele: The Musical” is also the single best development, such as it is, that the mediocre show could spring onto the film that is its source material. The other laugh lines are lifted verbatim from the movie (yes, it came out in 1997), in which a pair of sweet dingbats played by Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino try to boost their social status at their 10th reunion by pretending to be successful entrepreneurs who invented Post-its. This similitude is understandable since the original screenwriter, Robin Schiff, wrote the book. It’s also frustrating because the show doesn’t stand a chance to work on its own, especially since the journeyman score by the married team of Gwendolyn Sanford and Brandon Jay, does nothing to spark things up. (Admittedly, the orchestra is hampered by a teeny, muddled sound reminiscent of an old Nintendo game; this pushes the vintage vibe too far.)
The movie’s greatest asset, besides its stars’ inspired performances, is that it freshened up the subgenre of feather-headed friends — think “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” “Dumb and Dumber,” “Wayne’s World” — with female leads who are granted the rare opportunity to be freewheeling goofballs.
By contrast, the stars of Kristin Hanggi’s production at Stage 42 are constrained by the overall effort to stick to the movie. Kara Lindsay (“Newsies the Musical”) is quite funny as Michele, an unemployed designer, but that’s because she’s doing a pretty good Kudrow imitation. As Romy, a cashier at a Jaguar dealership, Laura Bell Bundy pushes the idiosyncratic accent Sorvino deployed onscreen into caricature. This is surprising from an adroit performer whose credits include playing Elle Woods in “Legally Blonde: The Musical” — a show that could have been this one’s North Star in terms of how to handle a famous source headlined by seemingly ditzy women.
The most substantial departures from the filmic Holy Scriptures affect supporting characters. Toby (Je’Shaun Jackson) has morphed from a nerd played by Camryn Manheim to the kind of cliché gay character beloved by musicals. More successful is the personal spin that Jordan Kai Burnett puts on the dry-witted Heather. Whereas Janeane Garofalo was all coiled resentment in the movie, Burnett (who originated the role in the musical’s premiere production in Seattle in 2017) suggests a wounded goth while preserving the role’s acerbic edge. She milks every laugh within her vicinity, and is worthy of amending the title to “Romy & Michele & Heather.”
Romy & Michele: The Musical
At Stage 42, Manhattan; romyandmichelethemusical.com. Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes.
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