Bring It On: The Musical, Act One Shepshed Review
Written by Sam for Theatre and Tonic.
Disclaimer: Tickets were gifted in return for an honest review. All views are my own.
Bring It On: The Musical tells the story of teenager, Campbell Davis who dreams of leading her cheerleading squad to the National Championships. Campbell becomes captain of Truman High School’s cheerleading squad and gets to cheer with her boyfriend Steven and her two best friends, Skylar, and Kylar. Next door neighbour and long-term friend, Eva, is a sophomore and Campbell encourages her to keep trying to be the very best cheerleader and one day, she’ll get to be captain via the spirit stick.
Two weeks before the summer ends, Campbell receives a letter which confirms she has been redistricted to inner-city Jackson High School – a school without a cheerleading squad. Interestingly, Eva receives a letter to say she can still attend Truman High School despite being neighbours with Campbell, suspicious right? Despite Campbell’s attempts to stay at the school, she soon finds herself walking down the hallways of Jackson High School and bumping into former Truman High Schooler, Bridget.
Together, the girls become close friends and look to join a new ‘squad’, but the only option is an already established dance crew. As Campbell befriends the dance crew, things start to fall apart with former cheer mates, Skylar and Kylar as they aren’t in charge of the Truman cheerleading squad, it’s now Eva! Eww, a sophomore. Here’s where the plot thickens, and Campbell takes action to form a new cheerleading squad for Jackson High School.
The music for this show is by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda and it did not disappoint. I hadn’t heard the soundtrack before, but I loved the combination of sass / rap / ballad mixes and the cast really put their all into the songs. I am currently listening to the soundtrack and the cast did a fantastic job making the songs their own but still giving it Broadway-style energy.
The show starts off strong as Campbell (Alice Powell) is an excellent and confident lead and compliments other cast members well as her voice is powerful but gentil. The core cheerleading/dance cast were brilliant, and Bridget (Jessie Davies) kept the audience laughing throughout alongside La Cienega (David Sturla). Both of these actors really got into character and those parts were made for them. Davies has a bright future ahead of her, especially because she can go from serious to shy to a sassy ballad queen!
A show always needs a villain and wow, Eva (Evie Hancock) sure knows how to turn everyone against her. Hancock convinced us all that her character Eva is this sweet little sophomore, who is inspired by Campbell. Well, this soon took a turn because her sassy biatch came out in the end and left her with nothing but a trophy – her leaping across the stage with the trophy had so many of us laughing. Hancock’s voice is incredible, so I hope she continues with her solos.
At times, some of the vocals were off-key slightly or a few individuals were quiet when trying to sing the higher notes, so it was difficult to hear all the lyrics. It’s daunting singing solo anyway but in front of a crowd of people, that takes some guts, especially as these performers are aged between 11 and 18 years old. As confidence grows and they have performed the show a few times, I think they’ll go from strength to strength, and I look forward to seeing what else the cast can bring to future shows.
However, Cameron (Ethan Smith) and Twig (Arlen Panesar) performed fantastic renditions of ‘Friday Night, Jackson’ and ‘It’s All Happening’. Rapping is a skill in itself but mastering the delivery of the lyrics at such pace as a young performer needs commending. They were clear, in time and got the audience bopping away.
After watching this production, I do hope that those in the lead roles continue with musical theatre because they are naturals. In previous amateur dramatic shows that I have seen, sometimes nerves get the better of the cast, they tend to fiddle with their clothing, or they look at each other for prompts. This didn’t happen in this production, and I’d like to take my hat off to Wendy Spencer, one of the producers and choreographers, as she believes in building the children’s confidence to get the very best out of them and by doing what she’s been doing, it sure showed.
And just so you’re aware, this show is for everyone. It’s not your average school play that parents or other family members go along to, it’s a real production with great props, a mini orchestra, and an extremely supportive team behind the cast. There’s a lot of upcoming talent in this production and they need the public’s support to help them achieve more once they leave school.
This musical is on at the Iveshead Theatre in Shepshed until Saturday 11 May 2024. There’s limited ticket availability for the remaining performances so go ahead and buy from here.
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
