Alums Make Big-Screen Debut in Musical Adaptation of Mean Girls
12/01/2024
By
Jen McInerney
January 11, 2024
Francesco Castro B.M. '21 (left) and Matilde Heckler B.M. '23 (first from right) at the Mean Girls red carpet event
Image courtesy of Matilde Heckler
When the new movie musical Mean Girls hits theaters this Friday, two recent Berklee graduates will appear on the big screen for the first time-aptly, playing the part of musicians. In this adaptation of the 2018 Broadway play written by Tina Fey, Francesca Castro B.M. '21 and Matilde Heckler B.M. '23 are featured as two of the four Band Freaks who support the main characters and help carry the musical's plot to fruition.
The original Mean Girls is my comfort movie, so it's really cool to be a part of this musical adaptation, says Castro.
It was so much fun. There are scenes where we're playing on steps, on tables, and even in trees, adds Heckler.
Given their Berklee backgrounds, playing the role of students who are obsessed with their instruments came quite naturally.
Francesca Castro B.M. '21
Image courtesy of the artist
Castro, a singer and guitarist, double-majored in performance and contemporary writing and production, and attended Berklee on a full scholarship. She performed in several of the college's prestigious ensembles, including the Terence Blanchard XTET and Tower of Power ensembles, and worked with jazz legends Terri Lyne Carrington, Nicholas Payton, and Dee Dee Bridgewater 15H.
Heckler, a multi-instrumentalist with a focus on violin, graduated this past December with a degree in music business/management. Also an accomplished violist, pianist, bassist, and singer, she has performed with Mark Woods, the Berks Sinfonietta, the Reading Symphony Youth Orchestra, and many community pit orchestras and peer bands. In the movie, the alums perform in several musical numbers, including I'd Rather Be Me, Apex Predator, I See Stars, Revenge Party, and Someone Gets Hurt. They're also featured in a reprise of Stupid with Love.
Neither of these Band Freaks had ever auditioned for a movie before-nor had they ever met prior to the audition callback. Coincidentally, they each heard about the audition through Berklee's social media network. Heckler's mom forwarded an announcement posted on the Berklee parents' Facebook page, while Castro, who was living in Los Angeles at the time, learned of the auditions through the Berklee LA alumni community page. When they met for the first time at the callback in New Jersey, they discovered they were both Berklee graduates. During the final audition round, they happened to be grouped together to perform some of the songs featured in the film, to see if they would be compatible onscreen.
They couldn't have chosen a better group of people to play the parts of the Band Freaks. We just clicked, Heckler says.
Both alums attribute their success-in both the audition process and their performances in the film-to their academic and ensemble experiences at Berklee.
Castro credits Peter Eldridge, a professor in the Voice Department, for his private instruction as well as his courses, Before and After: The Art of Song Reinvention and Great American Songbook Ensemble.
Matilde Heckler B.M. '23
Image courtesy of the artist
People who attend Berklee come from all over the world and I'm inspired by them, she observes. They really helped me find myself and shaped who I've become as a musician.
Similarly, Heckler thanks Sara Caswell, an associate professor in the String Department, for teaching her how to loosen up on my instrument, improvise, and extend her reach into rock and pop. At Berklee, she also had the opportunity to play electric violin in the Women in Rock ensemble, an experience she described as awesome. As a perk of being on set for two months during filming, Castro and Heckler met and spent time with the movie's stars-including Tina Fey, Tim Meadows, Jenna Fischer, Jon Hamm, Busy Philipps, Angourie Rice, Rene Rapp, Bebe Wood, and Christopher Briney.
They viewed Mean Girls in its entirety for the first time on January 8 at a special screening organized by the film's producers in New York City.
Next up, Castro will be releasing a new album of original songs called Two on January 19. She's currently performing on Broadway as a guitar sub in the musical SIX, in the role of Maggie on Guitar.
Fresh from graduation, Heckler has already become involved with artist management and marketing. Shes been releasing her own original songs and has a new EP, portrait of a, due out this year. She's also considering auditioning for more movie roles in the future.
I would definitely do it again, she says. The experience really opened my eyes to something I could do with my musical background that I hadn't considered before.
Related Categories
News
Most Popular
15 of the Best Cover Songs (and Why They Work) From Fast Car to Ring of Fire, there's no formula to making a successful cover song. But the best covers answer two important questions.
Latest
Dani and Debora Gurgel Quarteto, also known as DDG4, will kick off Berklees 2024 spring Signature Series with a concert at the Berklee Performance Center.
Image by Murilo Alvesso
Berklee Welcomes Dani and Debora Gurgel Quarteto for Signature Series Concert The virtuosic foursome will visit the college for a weeklong residency, culminating in a performance with students at the Berklee Performance Center.
The Berklee Global Jazz Institute Hosts 15th Anniversary Concert The Signature Series event will commemorate the life and artistry of the late Wayne Shorter.
Student Alexander Abdulah rehea
LINK: | https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/alums-make-big-screen-debut-i... |
See more stories from berklee |
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
08/05/2024
Aerojet Rocketdyne Selected by DoD to Demonstrate Powder-in, Engine-out Hypersonic Propulsion Manufacturing
Aerojet Rocketdyne delivers a broad range of capabilities to support hypersonic ...
08/05/2024
L3Harris is Advancing the Future Fleet by Delivering Integrated Solutions
Selected by Fincantieri Marinette Marine, L3Harris is the shipboard design integrator and a key partner on the Fincantieri team for delivering critical subsyste...
08/05/2024
EditShare Goes Beyond Storage at MPTS
EditShare Goes Beyond Storage at MPTS Workflow, server and delivery solutions from storyboard to screen Stand D40, London Olympia, May 15-16, 2024 - EditShar...
08/05/2024
Tegna, Indiana Fever Expand Broadcast Distribution to 11 Additional Markets
TYSONS, Va. Tegna Inc. and the Indiana Fever have announced they have expanded the broadcast distribution of 17 Fever WNBA games to 11 additional markets....
08/05/2024
Comcast Business Boosts Internet Speeds
PHILADELPHIA Comcast Business has increased Internet speeds for customers, nationwide, at no additional cost and has introduced its fastest Internet plans yet ...
08/05/2024
Clear-Com to Showcase Cutting-Edge Communication Solution...
Clear-Com , a renowned provider of professional real-time communication solutions, is thrilled to announce its participation at InfoComm 2024, the largest profe...
08/05/2024
MRMC Achieves its Second Kings Award for Enterprise
Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC), a Nikon company, is one of the 252 organisations recognised with a prestigious King's Award for Enterprise. Announced to...
08/05/2024
EditShare goes beyond storage at MPTS
EditShare, the technology leader that enables storytellers to create and manage collaborative workflows at every stage from storyboard to screen, is exhibiting ...
08/05/2024
Magnifi and Linius Fuse Live and Archive Content to Redef...
Magnifi by VideoVerse an AI-driven video technology company and powerful video-editing SaaS platform is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Linius ...
08/05/2024
NVIDIA RTX GPU Connects DaVinci Resolve to Power
NVIDIA RTX GPU Connects DaVinci Resolve to Power Brie Clayton May 8, 2024 0 Comments Two of the most important questions that the Creative COW audienc...
08/05/2024
Q&A with Visiting Artist Lei Liang
Q&A with Visiting Artist Lei Liang The acclaimed composer discusses his collaboration with Boston Conservatory, his work as a research artist, and what it mea...
08/05/2024
More Stations in San Antonio Launch NextGen TV Broadcasts
A second group of stations has begun broadcasting NextGen TV signals in San Antonio, Texas....
08/05/2024
NBC Orders More Deal or No Deal Island'
NBC has ordered a second season of unscripted Deal or No Deal Island. Joe Manganiello hosts, and executive produces alongside Howie Mandel. Manganiello will ret...
08/05/2024
Tegna Names Greg Retsinas GM At KGW, Portland, Oregon
Tegna said it named Greg Retsinas as president and general manager of KGW, the NBC affiliate in Portland, Oregon, effective June 3....
08/05/2024
Measurement Company Comscore Posts $5.2 Million Loss in 1st Quarter
Comscore lost money in the first quarter as weak linear ad sales impacted its cross-platform measurement business....
08/05/2024
Funny Business as NBC Orders Happy's Place,' Renews Lopez vs. Lopez'
NBC said it bolstered its comedy slate by renewing Lopez vs. Lopez and ordering Happy's Place, starring Reba McEntire....
08/05/2024
Knuckles' Knocks Fallout' From Top of TVision Power Score Rankings
Paramount Plus's Knuckles knocked Amazon Prime Video's Fallout out of the top spot in TVision's Power Score ranking of the top show on connected TV ...
08/05/2024
Tegna Adds 11 Markets To Lineup for Indiana Fever Games
Tegna, which made a deal to broadcast 17 Indiana Fever games featuring top WNBA draft pick Caitlin Clark, said it made deals that will put the games on stations...
08/05/2024
EchoStar Loses 348,000 Pay TV Subs in 1st Quarter
EchoStar said it lost another 348,000 pay TV subscribers so far this year, closing the first quarter with 8.18 million subscribers. That total includes 6.26 mil...
08/05/2024
Fox Has Net Income of $666 Million in 3rd Quarter
Fox reported a profit for its fiscal third quarter....
08/05/2024
IPG's Kinesso Unit Adds Senior Executives to Lineup
Kinesso, the centralized tech and data unit at media agency IPG Mediabrands, named Tom Amies-Cull as global chief operating officer and Amie Owen as global chie...
08/05/2024
Post production houses adopt Cleanfeed Cinema solution
The solutions in-browser stream focuses on low latency, making it suited to low bandwidth scenarios By Matthew Corrigan Published: May 8, 2024 The solutio...
08/05/2024
TAG unveils subtitling language detection feature
Driven by algorithms, the solution performs a quality analysis informed by language-specific dictionaries By Matthew Corrigan Published: May 8, 2024 Drive...
08/05/2024
Mobilelinks acquires 2 SAT Europe to increase SNG truck fleet
The increase in fleet size will reduce travel distances, aligning with sustainability goals, said Mobilelinks By Matthew Corrigan Published: May 8, 2024 T...
08/05/2024
Arqiva adds Caroline Cardozo and James Lelyveld to technology team
The company said the new arrivals would drive collaboration and technological transformation across key business units By Matthew Corrigan Published: May 8, ...
08/05/2024
Actus Digital Set to Shine at CABSAT and Broadcast Asia
Following a successful NAB Las Vegas 2024 and winning a Best of Show Award, Actus Digital, a leading provider of Intelligent Monitoring Platforms, will bring it...
08/05/2024
TAG Revolutionizes Closed Captions and Subtitles Quality...
TAG Video Systems, a leading force in video monitoring solutions, has developed a new Language Detection feature set to transform how operators ensure quality a...
08/05/2024
Pliant Technologies Unveils New SmartBoom LITE Headset at...
Pliant Technologies, a leading provider of professional wireless intercom solutions,presents its new SmartBoom LITE Headset at InfoComm 2024 (Booth C5116). The ...
08/05/2024
Prism Sound Showcases High-Quality Audio Conversion at MP...
At the Media Production & Technology Show 2024, Prism Sound will showcase high-quality audio conversion products designed to suit the demands of professional us...
08/05/2024
Julian Day Joins FooEngine
Soho stalwart Julian Day has joined FooEngine as Business Development Director after 13 years at ZOO Digital. Julian has been at the heart of the London post pr...
08/05/2024
Cleanfeed Cinema Redefines Audio Post Production Workflow...
Following its successful launch at NAB 2024, Cleanfeed Cinema - the latest remote recording innovation from Emmy Award-winning Cleanfeed - is already helping au...
08/05/2024
DHD to Showcase New Product Line-up at MPTS 2024
DHD's range of digital broadcast equipment, systems and related software will be promoted on stand D22 at the Media Production & Technology Show by UK-regio...
08/05/2024
MSP CloudReso selects Cubbit hyper-resilient DS3 distribu...
Cubbit, the innovator behind Europe's first distributed cloud storage enabler, today announced that CloudReso, a France-based distributor of MSP security so...
08/05/2024
MwareTV boosts Americas presence with Daniel Conde Coto
MwareTV, a prominent cloud-based multi-tenant platform provider, has attracted Daniel Conde Coto to join the company as director, sales operations. This is a si...
08/05/2024
LiveU Demonstrates its Efficient IP-Video Workflows for L...
In a year set to see record-breaking IP-video adoption, with over 70 elections and global sports events, LiveU heads to Broadcast Asia 2024 with a focus on its ...
08/05/2024
nxtedition Showcases a Fully Automated AR Studio Gallery...
Pioneers in microservices-based production environments, nxtedition, will demonstrate the latest advances in storytelling technology at the Media Production & T...
08/05/2024
MPTS 2024 - Leader and PHABRIX to showcase multiple new T...
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics of Europe, has announced that it will again exhibit at The Media Production & Technology Show (MPTS), which tak...
08/05/2024
Livepeer Studio cuts the cost of live streaming and trans...
Livepeer Studio unveils a revolutionary video streaming platform offering an unprecedented combination of quality and cost-efficiency to content creators, media...
08/05/2024
Ikegami to Demonstrate Complete Broadcast Media Productio...
Ikegami Electronics (Europe) will demonstrate a complete broadcast media production system on stand S1-A15 at CABSAT 2024 in Dubai, Tuesday May 21 through Thurs...
08/05/2024
Experience Commerce Bags Digital Agency Mandate for SAVSO...
Experience Commerce (EC), a leading digital agency within the Cheil Network, is pleased to announce that it has won the digital mandate for SAVSOL, the flagship...
08/05/2024
Global Telecom & Pay TV Services Market to Slowdown in 2024
NEEDHAM, Mass. The International Data Corporation is predicting that worldwide spending on telecom services and pay TV services will increase by 1.4% in 2024 to...
08/05/2024
Apple Unveils New iPad Live Multicam Production Studio
CUPERTINO, Calif. In a notable development for news and live video production, Apple has unveiled a number of significant upgrades to its Final Cut Pro software...
08/05/2024
Pliant Technologies to Showcase New Smartboom Lite Headset at InfoComm 2024
Pliant Technologies has announced that it will be presenting its new SmartBoom LITE Headset at InfoComm 2024 (Booth C5116). The latest updates include enhanceme...
08/05/2024
Tubi Launches 'Stubios' to Encourage Aspiring Filmmakers
SAN FRANCISCO Fox's ad-supported streaming service Tubi has launched Stubios, a fan-fueled studio for aspiring filmmakers and their fans that the company sa...
08/05/2024
Five More Stations Launch NextGen TV In San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO, Texas Five more stations have launched NextGen TV service, bringing to nine the number of local TV services on-air with ATSC 3.0....
08/05/2024
Tegna Names Greg Retsinas President & GM of KGW in Portland
TYSONS, Va. Tegna Inc. has announced that Greg Retsinas has been named president and general manager at KGW, Tegna's NBC affiliate serving the Portland area...
08/05/2024
Olivia Colman and John Lithgow Star in Sophie Hyde's New Project JIMPA
08 05 2024 - Media release Olivia Colman and John Lithgow Star in Sophie Hyde's New Project JIMPA Olivia Coleman and John Lithgow in JIMPA. Photo credit: ...
08/05/2024
OpenDrives Joins AWS Partner Network
OpenDrives Joins AWS Partner Network Brie Clayton May 7, 2024 0 Comments Atlas software-defined platform now available via AWS trusted partner network...