Bring it on — Parade Theatre, NIDA

With an unfocused and poorly written book, a disappointing score and an altogether bewildering story line, Bring It On did not have much to sell it to begin with. Unfortunately, this new production team seems to have rushed the show onstage, resulting in a half-baked production of an already below par musical. 

Bring it On.
Bring it On.

The opening number, ‘What I was born to do’, was an accurate reflection of the show to follow; it had potential, but ultimately showcased an unimpressive score and underwhelming performance. The lighting, whilst evidently emulating stadium lights, was often harsh and distracting, and at times even blinding the audience.

The vocal energy of the cast felt like it was just simmering, waiting to reach a heightened level of excitement, the kind you would expect from passionate cheerleaders, but it never really came. It touched those heights briefly in the final number, instead of starting with a bang from the get go.

The cheer choreography employed a series of big stunts that, whilst occasionally impressive, were unsuccessful more often than not. The dance choreography was fairly simple, and was not executed with power and precision; it was messy. The costumes were unflattering and poorly put together. 

The book (by Jeff Whitty) is unfocused. The musical is inspired by the popular movie, and not a re-telling of it; it instead takes an unexpected and unrealistic turn to focus on a crazy sophomore, a paranoid senior and a formulaic tale of friendship, betrayal and revenge. The characters’ objectives are either unclear and the audience is left questioning why anyone does anything, or, when they are clear, are naïve and unoriginal. The dialogue is clichéd and so often the cast is forced to wait for jokes to land that just never do.

More disappointing is the repetitive and mediocre score. Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda have had an incredible career between them, with critical and box office favourites including Next to Normal and In The Heights, but unfortunately this score lacks any of the wonder and success that those scores possessed. Similar to the book, the lyrics are so often unexceptional and surface level, lacking the depth and emotional complexity of some of their better work.

The Broadway production was critically acclaimed for its choreography and stunt work. This production lacks that wow factor and the choreography was ineffective, with no sight of the precision, timing and hard hitting movement that was praised in the US.

To the cast’s credit they continued resiliently through all of the mistakes, and recovered to the best of their ability from any mishaps.

The leads had some shining moments, but overall delivered an average performance. Alex Lewtas as Campbell carried the show well. Her vocals were sufficient for the role and she ably managed the larger, more belt focused sections. Similarly, Kat Hoyos’ Danielle performed well, but both often sounded strained on their smaller moments, squashing their vowel sounds or lacking proper breath support. Jessica Van Wyk was a sassy and bitchy Skylar, possessing that character well. Sophy Carol as Bridget was a standout performance, bringing her own unique quality to the quirky character, and backing that up with stellar vocals. The cast as a whole needed clearer diction, as often in both song and dialogue some of the words were hard to understand or even hear.

Whilst there were many disappointing moments in the show, there were some really fun and enjoyable times, particularly the final number, where the ensemble’s energy seemed to lift. It’s a show that will get better as it becomes more polished and practiced, so hopefully by the end of the run many of these issues will be ironed out.

Bec Caton

Bec has a diploma in musical theatre and is currently completing a Bachelor of Arts majoring in English. She is a freelance theatre writer in Sydney.

Bec Caton

9 thoughts on “Bring it on — Parade Theatre, NIDA

  • I think that this article is extremely harsh on these performers. I saw the show and thought that it was incredible what these young people could do! The vocals were all beautiful and impressive considering what they were physically doing at the same time. Next time before you judge these talented people you should try to sing while dancing and doing dangerous stunts at the same time. Shame on you for criticising Australian theatre so much when all they deserve is our support. The show was wonderful and all cast members involved should be proud of their hard work!

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  • I saw this show on Sunday night. I heard about this article and thought it was a joke? I went with my kids who adored the show and followed it quite well. If this critic found the show had a “bewildering storyline” I think she should review kids shows on the abc if she wants to form any credibility for herself it might also be easier for her to follow. It was great to see a small theatre production of extremely talented new faces to the stage put on a show that was not Phantom of the Opera or Wicked. Every person in the show had a microphone and sang, flipped, danced, acted and performed some pretty spectacular stunts. I would love to see some different shows come to Australia but if we give voices to people like Bec who have only poor things to say I’m afraid my kids won’t have many live shows to see themselves when they grow up.

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  • I can’t vouch for this Australian production, but the Broadway production was one of the most original and fresh new musicals that I have ever seen — including the music and lyrics. Also, Jessica Bendinger wrote the screenplay of the movie Bring It On, not the book of the musical. The book writer for Bring It On: The Musical is Jeff Whitty. I can’t wait to read what Bec thinks of Matilda and The Book of Mormon — the plots of those shows are way more “unexpected and unrealistic” than Bring It On.

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  • This article is a pathetic attempt of an inexperienced and unqualified person trying to call themselves a critic. But let me tell you that a critic is a person who gives an accurate representation of the show, not someone that tears apart not only the cast, creative team and production team but also the original TONY AWARD WINNING writers, lyricists and composers. Next time you write an article about a new musical in Australia Bec maybe you should think about what type of reputation you want in the industry which you are trying to get into in the future.

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  • After reading this train wreck of a review, I read your profile only to discover that you are still studying towards a diploma in Musical Theatre. How can we take this review seriously? You’re a student commenting on professionals. Absolutely laughable.

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    • These people are not professionals… far from it bar a couple of the cast and I really do mea only two cast were professional performers.

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      • you’re considered a professional when you get paid. And they’re getting paid. These performers have institutionalised training behind them (if you read their bios properly), they are more than skilled to perform. They auditioned like everyone else in musical theatre land for this show and got the job, so I don’t think its right of you to make that call.

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      • Only two are professionals? Where did you get that idiotic false assessment? You truly don’t know what you are talking about.

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  • You never gave the show a chance – it seems as you basically hated the musical before walking in. Good start. Looking at their FB reviews and what not, everyone who has seen the show really love it and want to come again, and have nothing but great things to say. And the public talk at the end of the day – I hear they’re selling to packed houses! Congrats to them I say.

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