Louis Smith, Amber Davies and company in Bring It On The Musical at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London and Touring. Picture: Helen Maybanks
Bring It On The Musical continues at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London until 22 January 2022 and then tours until 30 July 2022.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Ready? OKAY! Bring It On The Musical has arrived at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of a major tour.
Leading lady and captain of the cheer leading ‘squad’ Campbell, played by Amber Davies, is queen of her school until she is unexplainably moved from her beloved high school Truman to Jackson. Davies brings an innocence to Campbell and her sweet and impressive tones had us all captivated.
At the start of the show we see how Campbell has a bounce in her step with upbeat preppy songs. Numbers like ‘What I Was Born to Do’ and ‘Tryouts’ give us a glimpse of the perfect score by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda (music) and Miranda and Amanda Green (lyrics).
After the move to a different school, Miranda’s infamous hip hop-inspired lyrics come into play as the cool Jackson high school kids perform in a different way to what Campbell is used to.
Vanessa Fisher, taking on the role of Danielle, shows Campbell what it’s really like to run a ‘crew’. Fisher is a natural singer and dancer and creates a strong character. Within Danielle’s crew is Louis Smith who we see showcase his gymnastic twists, turns and flips (it would have been great to have seen more of him in action). Although Danielle and the crew clearly have what it takes to be a ‘cheerleading squad’, they explain ‘We Ain’t No Cheerleaders’ in the ensemble’s high energy performance.
The team enters the cheerleader championships and things come to a head when Danielle discovers Campbell has only entered the competition for revenge.
Elsewhere Connor Carson, as Randall, sings ‘Enjoy the Trip’ beautifully and it is important to mention Chelsea Hall, making her professional debut as Bridget, who demonstrates perfect comedy timing throughout the show. Her extremely engaging character and presence onstage is enjoyed by all of the audience.
As the story unfolds we see how freshman Eva is responsible for Campbell moving schools as she wanted to steal the captain title. Alicia Belgarde provides evil humour as she performs ‘Killer Instinct’. Her ability to switch between innocence and the psychotic is brilliant.
This show has a clear message. Friendship overrules winning. The final song ‘I Got You’ emphasises this as I think back to the friends I still have from school and reflect on the lyric: ‘And in 20 years it’s not the shiny trophy that I’ll miss but I’ll always smile when I remember this.”
Bring It On The Musical is the perfect nostalgic hit which is not to be missed.
Molly Kerrigan
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