Tina Fey surprised Mean Girls fans on October 3rd

If you’re Aaron Samuels or anyone else who doesn’t have a calendar nearby, today is Oct. 3 — a.k.a. Mean Girls Day — and fans of Tina Fey’s hit 2004 comedy and its upcoming musical adaptation had a special way to celebrate.

The Broadway-bound musical marked the occasion Tuesday with an event outside its future home in New York City, where those in attendance were treated to cheese fries, possible free tickets, pink swag, and a special appearance from Fey herself.

EW was on hand for the event at the August Wilson Theatre, where the Mean Girls musical will begin performances next year. Follow along on our journey back to (fictional, musical) high school.

9:45 a.m.: Stroll up to the unmissable, bright-pink marquee on W 52nd St., right across from the notably not-pink marquee for Cats. There’s a shot of the three Plastics hanging outside the building, a handful of fans wearing pink and waiting for the box office to open, and a food truck in the form of a promise of cheese fries. Here we go.

10:00 a.m.: The doors to the August Wilson open up and a small number of fans waiting on line to buy tickets get shuffled in by staff members wearing varying shades of pink. The majority of the line decides to wait for the truck to start serving up cheese fries, including yours truly.

10:15 a.m.: Turns out, there’s a sense of camaraderie standing under a bright pink Broadway marquee waiting for free food. The window of the Mean Girls-branded truck remains shut; everyone’s pretty sure Regina George would have had her cheese fries by now.

10:30 a.m.: It’s been about a half hour and no cheese fries, surprise guests, or swag yet, but there is a distinct smell of baby prostitute in the air. Oh! And everyone waiting on line got some cute pink sunglasses. Obviously I couldn’t wear them though because it’s Tuesday, as one EW editor pointed out, and pink is strictly for Wednesdays.

10:40 a.m.: Someone shows up wearing a pink polo shirt and light-up pink sneakers, so I bought a pink polo shirt and light-up pink sneakers.

10:41 a.m.: Staff members come around with (pink) iPads, signing up fans waiting for a chance to win free tickets to a preview performance. The jury’s still out on whether or not I was one of the lucky ones.

10:47 a.m.: Middle-aged men in nice suits show up. They could be either security guards or very important Broadway producers – but it doesn’t matter which, because they’re not carrying cheese fries.

10:52 a.m.: A black SUV with tinted windows pulls up outside the theater, and we all know that tinted windows means there’s someone of importance inside. Someone on line guesses Mean Girls musical cast member and Broadway vet Kerry Butler (who’ll play Ms. Norbury in the show) because “she’s relevant now” but, shhh, no one knows it’s Tina Fey yet.

10:55 a.m.: Fey makes her way across 52nd St. to applause and now we can celebrate the real reason everyone was here: free cheese fries. Ms. Norbury happily begins pushing drugs cheese fries on fans, making you forget that a whole thing of cheese fries in the morning probably isn’t the best idea.

11:17 a.m.: You remember that cheese fries don’t sit well in your stomach when you eat it them in place of breakfast. But who cares, here’s a picture of my breakfast given to me by the Queen Bee of North Shore High herself.

Tickets are now officially on sale for the Mean Girls musical, which will open on Broadway on April 8, 2018 with previews beginning March 12. Fey, who originally wrote the screenplay for the film, is also writing the book for the stage adaptation. You can buy your tickets here and check out EW’s Instagram story for more fun scenes from the morning!