Reneé Rapp is in full Regina George mode.

The actress and musician took a break from filming the upcoming Mean Girls musical movie to attend Coachella over the weekend, and told PEOPLE that the adaptation is a “cool and very special” version of the well-known story.

“This is a very specific version of the musical that has a really specific place in a niche, culty theater way, that I think expands it to maybe people who aren’t super into theater,” Rapp, 23, tells PEOPLE at Cap’n Crunch’s 60th Birthday Bash at the Margaritaville Resort in Palm Springs.

She is reprising her role as iconic mean girl Regina George, who she starred as on Broadway in 2019. The part was famously first played by Rachel McAdams in Tina Fey’s 2004 film.

Though Rapp says McAdams has not been in touch personally with her, the Sex Lives of College Girls actress says: “I saw an interview that she did where she was talking about the movie and she was talking about some of us in the cast and it was so sweet because I think she is just the coolest.”

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“I really thought it was cool that she was even aware of any of our existence… So it’s very sick. She’s so awesome,” Rapp tells PEOPLE prior to hitting the stage after Anderson .Paak’s all-vinyl DJ set.

As event host, Rapp performed original songs complete with a special birthday serenade to the Cap’n — while guests sipped and snacked on cereal-infused treats.

When speaking with PEOPLE, multi-hyphenate couldn’t help but react to the recent interview McAdams did with Entertainment Tonight while promoting her new film, Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, where she called Rapp “amazing.”

“I don’t think she can do any wrong,” McAdams said of Rapp’s portrayal of Regina George. “She’s already got me beat with that voice. So, I’m just excited to see her incarnation.”

The actress added that, “It’s such a great character. It’s so much fun to play, so I hope she has a great time with it. And I can’t wait to see it.”

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Rapp similarly raved about McAdams, telling PEOPLE, “Oh my God, I’m obsessed with her.”

“She’s so amazing,” Rapp continues. “And she’s also just so — she just is so classy, which I actually find is probably the biggest difference between the two of us. I feel like she’s very kept and like ta-da-da, and I feel very relaxed and say whatever comes to mind.”

Joining Rapp in the movie musical adaptation is Senior Year‘s Angourie Rice, who will play Cady Heron, along with Senior Year‘s Avantika and Love, Victor‘s Bebe Wood as the two other Plastics, Karen and Gretchen.

The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s Christopher Briney will play Regina and Cady’s shared love interest, Aaron Samuels, while Moana voice actress Auli’i Cravalho will play Janis and Jaquel Spivey from Broadway’s A Strange Loop will play Damian.

In February, Fey announced that she and Tim Meadows would step back into their movie roles as Ms. Norbury and Principal Duvall.

Additionally, The Office alumna Jenna Fischer has been cast as Cady’s mother and Busy Philipps has been cast as Regina’s mom, Mrs. George (who is not a regular mom, but a cool mom). In March 2023, Jon Hamm joined the cast as Coach Carr.

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Rapp praised the Tina Fey-led team behind the adaptation, telling PEOPLE, “Tina and our whole team just does such an amazing job adapting it, and the whole cast is really young and very cool.”

She jokes that she’s lucky that what originated as a job for her 18-year-old self has transformed into yet another opportunity for her now.

“I’m very glad that I took that job when I was younger because now I got another job from it, which is pretty sick. I don’t think anybody goes into acting being like, ‘What an amazing guaranteed, four-year, long-term, guaranteed employment.’ So, that’s been quite nice.”