Once again, Theatrical has ‘brought it’ to Melbourne, with another hit musical: Bring It On: The Musical, which opened to a packed theatre on July 11 at the National Theatre in St Kilda.
This Tony-nominated musical, based only loosely on the well-known Bring It On movie from 2000, was reimagined in musical form, with music by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, and lyrics by Amanda Green and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
We follow two high-school cheerleading teams in their rivalry for the National Championships.
The story closely follows Campbell, who’s rise to the role of cheer captain at Truman High School quickly comes crashing down after a mysterious ‘redistricting’ letter arrives, forcing her into another school and losing her place as Truman High School’s cheer captain.
Campbell then deals with the struggles of starting at Jackson High School; a stark contrast to her previous school.
Without a cheerleading team at the school, she soon makes it her mission to transform the school’s hip-hop dance troupe into a cheer squad, by whatever means she needs to.
And of course, as with all great teenage-focused high-school stories, there is plenty of drama, cliches, and tonnes of comedic moments along the way.
The very talented cast did an amazing job in bringing this high-energy musical to life.
The cheerleading lifts were amazing to watch, as was the dancing and vocal performances.
Emily McDougall took on the lead role of Campbell and was outstanding in her performance; equally well supported by two amazingly talented performers: Elle Fenelon (Kylar), and Cara Mia Honan (Skylar).
The musical numbers were catchy and performed beautifully by the cast, with Alyssa Jandayan (Danielle) really standing out in her vocal performances across the show.
With such a large cast, and so many stand-out performances and characters, the production has really done an amazing job in putting on such a fabulous musical.
The set was kept to a minimum to ensure enough space on the stage for the show-stopping cheer and dance choreography, but it did not take away from any of the story.
The entire creative team has really outdone themselves.
Special mention to Tahra Cannon (director), Claire Gurrin (musical director), Louise Panagiotidis (choreographer), and Andrew Gyopar (executive producer) for putting together such a great production.
When the audience is onboard from the opening moments, with cheers and laughter throughout the entire show, you know you are onto a good thing!
This high-energy, light-hearted musical is not to be missed.
Bring It On is playing at the National Theatre, St Kilda, until July 26, so make sure to book your ticket.
To book tickets to Bring It On: The Musical, please visit https://theatrical.com.au/bringiton/.
Photographer: Natalie Edge Photography
