Ameling (third from left) and the cast of the "Mean Girls" musical tour.
After joining the cast of the “Mean Girls” musical tour, Akron native Carly Ameling had only four days to learn her understudy parts of Cady Heron and Karen Smith — along with six additional swing ensemble parts.
“It was very intimidating at first, and I had never been a swing before,” says Ameling, who was selected as a replacement cast member in February 2024. “I was like, Oh, my gosh, they picked the wrong person, I don’t know if I can do this.”
But with the support of her dance captains, Emily Stys and Ryan Vogt, as well as several hours of rehearsal, she took the challenge head on — filling in for swing and understudy roles when cast members were sick or injured. Ameling has now performed all eight roles in the “Mean Girls” tour, which stops at Playhouse Square in Cleveland Oct. 29 to Nov. 3.
“Anytime we were doing the show, I was backstage in the dressing room, or in any space I could find in whatever city we were in,” she says, “just trying to pick it up as quickly as possible.”
Like Heron, Ameling was constantly the new girl in school. In pursuit of becoming an actor, she’d bounced around Northeast Ohio growing up — mainly Akron, Cleveland and Novelty. Akron’s performing arts scene, however, played a key role in her rise.
Ever since she was cast as Gertrude McFuzz in a Weathervane Playhouse production of “Seussical” as a young teenager, Ameling has been chasing her acting dreams. “The musical theater bug kind of bit me then, and I knew I wanted to pursue it after that,” she says. Weathervane, located in Akron, was Ameling’s original creative space — there, she found and began shaping her identity as an actress through productions such as “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
Ameling attended Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts, a middle school in Akron, and Firestone High School, a public school that offers performing arts education in Akron. Several Akron and Northeast Ohio mentors shaped her into the actress she is today.
“Akron has amazing resources,” she says. “I was able to figure out my path that way.”
She chats with us about the musical adaptation of the iconic teen movie.
For your roles in “Mean Girls,” did you do any research?
Carly Ameling: You always want to bring something new to the table. This story has been told so many times, and it’s easy to get caught up in, Oh, let me say the line this way, or This is how it’s said in the original movie. But you want to bring your own individual self into the bits and pieces you can take from the movie. Natalie Shaw, who is our Cady Heron on the tour, she’s fantastic, and I love her so much. But I’m not here to copy her; as an understudy, I have to find my own Cady Heron.
Carly Ameling
Between Cady and Karen, which character is more fun to perform?
CA: They’re so different. I love Cady because she’s a challenge. She never leaves the stage … and she’s constantly singing and talking. But I love her because she has this huge character arc within the story of the show. She comes to North Shore High School having lived in Africa with her parents, so she’s figuring out how to live in this highly social environment during those critical teen years. Karen is just iconic and fun. She has the best one-liners in the show, which makes everyone laugh, and her song, “Sexy,” is so fun to sing and dance.
How do you try to incorporate your own characteristics into your portrayals of Cady and Karen?
CA: It comes from my personal experiences. For instance, I transferred to Miller South in middle school, and then I went to Firestone. I was the new kid in each of those experiences, so I try to take that feeling when performing Cady and think, What was Carly like? For Karen, she is the dumb blond character, right? But she is more intentional than we want to think she is. There’s a reason why she is a comedic character, so you don’t want to play her as just dumb. She’s more than that, so I try to make her more humanistic.
How do you portray Cady’s transition to a “Plastic”?
CA: When Cady is first introduced, she’s more timid, taking in this new high school environment and trying to figure out, Where do I belong? Who can I trust? How do I make friends? So, it’s a lot of listening to other actors around me and responding to them explaining to me what this new school is. Then, when Cady meets the Plastics, you notice their different mannerisms and notice how the rest of the ensemble is reacting to them. Cady’s character picks up on that and goes along with that, which is seen through her costume. The costume changes as she gets more Plastic, so to speak. She goes from wearing safari sandals to stiletto heels.
Any audience stories?
CA: I love our audiences because when you come to see the show, it’s usually a whole room of pink. People come dressed as their favorite characters, and we definitely have super fans. One time, I met someone at the stage door in Eugene, Oregon, who had a Mean Girls tattoo, which was cool.
