‘Bring It On–The Musical’ Soars to
Great Heights on The Muny Stage

by Pat Lindsey

High school can be challenging for anyone, but for Campbell Davis (Jonalyn Saxer), the most popular and perky girl in affluent Truman High School, it became an overnight nightmare. Campbell waited her whole life to be a senior. She also worked for three years to be the captain of her cheerleading squad. Just when both of those wonderful things happened, Campbell became a victim of public school redistricting and was the only one from the squad forced to go to another school in the fall.

‘Bring It On–The Musical’ is a story about the competitive world of high school cheerleading, teenage relationships, breaking racial barriers, and learning that winning isn’t everything. At times it’s like Barbie meets the Mean Girls. The characters are colorful, the choreography by Jennifer Weber is explosive, and the cheerleaders’ aerial stunts are heart-stopping. The University of Kentucky cheerleaders are launched into the air nearly as high as the treetops and return safely into the male cheerleaders’ arms. You can’t can’t help but gasp as you watch these moves.
When Campbell transfers to Jackson High, she leaves her award-winning squad to Skylar (Katie Riedel), who has to be reminded that it’s time to “put the bitter bitch Barbie back in the box.” Skylar is full of herself, even though she finds it difficult to maintain a 1.2 gradepoint average.
Walking into Jackson High is like entering a new world for Campbell.

First, there’s an unfamiliar metal detector. Then, there are multi-ethnic teens who seem to speak a different language
and refuse to show her around the school. Campbell is relieved when she sees a familiar friend, Bridget (Katy Geraghty), who was the team mascot at Truman and another victim of redistricting. Because of her size, Bridget was the outcast at Truman, but suddenly she is pursued by the boys at Jackson. Geraghty is a bright light in this show as she sings, dances, and uses her quick wit at every turn.

Campbell tries hard to fit in and decides to work on the leader of the “crew,” Danielle (St. Louisan Kennedy Holmes). Danielle is resistant to this rich white girl at first, but when Campbell defends her, she decides to give her a chance. Campbell’s real break into the crew comes when she is challenged to dress in a leprechaun mascot costume for homecoming. Campbell impresses everyone with her hip hop, break dancing, acrobatic moves in that costume and eventually convinces the crew to let her organize a Jackson cheerleading squad.
The extreme cheerleading competition culminates in Act II with a match-up between Truman and Jackson High. Skylar, however, is no longer captain of the Truman squad because she failed to maintain her 1.2 gradepoint average. Instead, sophomore and Campbell-wannabe Eva (Taylor Sage Evans) has taken charge.
     Throughout the show, Campbell (Saxer), Danielle (Holmes), Bridget (Geraghty), and Skylar (Riedel)dance, lift their beautiful voices, and hit some difficult notes with expertise. If the rap music has a familiar beat, it might be because Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the music and lyrics with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green. The libretto is by Jeff Whitty. The third night of this show began with an hour rain delay and ended with a big surprise.

After the last curtain call, Artistic Director & Executive Producer Mike Isaacson introduced Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tom Kitt, and Amanda Green to the audience! The audience was thrilled to see one of the most creative teams on Broadway on The Muny stage! Lin-Manuel Miranda was thrilled to see such a fabulous cast in his show being directed by an outstanding director, Denis Jones!
‘Bring It On–The Musical’ will be soaring to great heights on The Muny stage now through Sun., Jun. 22.

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