The Muny gets is 107th season off to a flying start with Bring It On: The Musical. The show is a free adaptation of the 2000 film of the same name about competitive high school cheerleading. When I saw the show’s pre-Broadway tour in 2012, I was bowled over by the athleticism of the cheerleading routines, but I was also deeply impressed with the story and the music. I had the same response to The Muny’s spectacular production.
In the opening scenes, everything is going right for the main character, Campbell. At the end of her junior year, she is named captain of Truman High School’s cheerleading team. Its progress during the summer puts the team on track to win the national cheerleading competition.
When her senior year is about to begin, however, Campbell receives devastating news. A redistricting plan uproots her from Truman and assigns her to Jackson High School, an inner-city school with no cheerleaders.
Campbell has only one friend in her new school—Bridget, another former Truman student who was transferred to Jackson. At Truman, Bridget was the mascot of the cheerleading team. Her plus-size figure kept her from being a member. At Jackson, Bridget is immediately accepted by her peers. Campbell is not.
The most important person for Campbell to win over is Danielle, the leader of Jackson’s resident dance crew. Campbell stumbles badly in her first approach to the crew, and she needs to work very hard to recover.
This is not the last time Campbell has to face the consequences of misguided actions. Coping with adversity forces her to grow as a person. The show achieves a hard-won conclusion that is much more satisfying than the obvious one would have been.
The musical’s creators include librettist Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q), composer Tom Kitt (Next to Normal), composer-lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), and lyricist Amanda Green (High Fidelity). Why is a show with such a starry creative team still a rarity onstage? Probably because is hard to produce. The show’s requirements are stated succinctly in a program note by The Muny’s artistic director and executive producer, Mike Isaacson: “You need actors who can sing, dance, play comedy, know hip-hop and cheer like a pro.”
The Muny rises to the challenge with a superb cast that includes 16 University of Kentucky cheerleaders who are choreographed by cheer consultant Ryan Martin O’Connor.
The leading roles are played by Jonalyn Saxer as Campbell and Kennedy Holmes as Danielle. Both are terrific singers and dancers, and they create totally believable characters. Saxer makes a wonderful transition from someone who has everything to someone who has lost everything and must build a new life for herself.
Holmes is in her 11th season at The Muny. Her first appearance at age 10 was as Little Inez in Hairspray, and she has worked her way up through the ensembles to her first leading role. Holmes’ Danielle is a compelling leader and a deep thinker who knows when to show tough love and when to forgive.
Katy Geraghty is full of life-affirming energy as Bridget. Taylor Sage Evans has the full measure of Eva, a seemingly innocent sophomore at Truman whose envy of Campbell is a main driver of the plot.
The splendid supporting cast includes (in order of appearance) Katie Riedel as Skylar, Regine Sophia as Kylar, Sean Harrison Jones as Steven, Kevin Trinio Perdido as Twig, Brandon O’Neal Bomer as Cameron, Bryce Williams as Randall, Ayla Ciccone-Burton as Nautica, and AJ Paramo as La Cienega.
The show moves with great energy and speed under director Denis Jones and choreographer Jennifer Weber. They take full advantage of the flexibility provided by Ann Beyersdorfer’s splashy, easily changed scenic design. The show features splendid costumes by Tristan Raines, lighting by Jason Lyons, sound by John Shivers and David Patridge, video by Caite Hevner, and wigs by Ashley Rae Callahan.
Bring It On: The Musical continues through June 22 at The Muny in Forest Park.
—Gerry Kowarsky
Photo © Phillip Hamer Photography
