Martini Rating: 🍸🍸🍸🍸
The British Theatre Academy’s most recent production is an absolute triumph. The piece is vibrant, uproarious and filled with some incredible young talent.
Bring It On at the Southwark Playhouse cements the 2018 rise of American high-school, film-assimilation musicals, with the crowd wild and raucously cheering along to yet another teen movie taking to the London stage this year. Legally Blonde, following Elle Woods, a sorority girl who fortuitously embarks upon a law career in pursuit of love recently closed, having toured the UK to rave reviews, followed quickly by fan favourite Heathers at The Other Palace now set for a West End Transfer to the Theatre Royal Haymarket, the retro show paradorically twisting the meaning of the term ‘social suicide’; leaving Bring It On hot on the heels of the other two, providing British audiences with yet another American high-school drama adapted from film in a musical format, (whilst a Broadway transfer of Mean Girls the Musical is also rumoured for next year). But what is it that makes this type of configuration the winning formula? As stated by the Evening Standard, ‘big music suits big feelings’, the exacerbated feelings of a teenager from the endless sense of not fitting in to first romances, this intensified emotional subject matter lends itself perfectly to the larger than life, musical art form. Having been plucked from her cheer squad and moved to another school, the show follows the desperation of Campbell Davis as she tries to navigate a rougher school and take back the cheerleading trophy that would have rightfully been hers, ambition clouds her and she loses a sense of her identity, until she finally sees the bigger picture. That it’s the memories and the friends you make that matter, not a ‘stupid trophy’. Along the way to cheerleading nationals, Campbell and her new found friends and enemies explore serious socio-political themes such as white privilege coupled with the class divide, body positivity, coming of age, identity, the moral compass and even sexuality. These focusses, thus providing all the necessary ingredients for a good musical, not mention a catchy, modern score and comical, yet relevant book. The music fostering Lin-Manuel Miranda’s signature hip-hop vibes, with enough to please any of his diehard fan’s expectations, (the show obviously being sold on his name, it appearing top of the creatives on the show’s promotional work). The journey in pursuit of passion prevalent in teen movies is not only an intensifier as aforementioned, the methodology which the Evening Standard elucidates on, actually places ‘an epic story on a small canvas’, allowing for the deployment of ‘Shakespearean-style machinations in the struggle for power’, lending itself perfectly to the musical format as the powerful speeches from the films can be set to music for even greater emotional effect, which we see in many of Campbell’s poignant musical asides. Finally this format also allows for complex characters and often flawed protagonists, as these are people still learning about morals, not to mention the school syllabus. Campbell is just that, she as earlier mentioned loses sight of herself in a jealous rage using her new found friends to get what she wants, but is ultimately a good person, seeing the error of her ways she comes back stronger and crucially with friends at her side. Therefore Bring It On is an exciting coming of age musical to say the least, brought to audiences musically by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Tom Kitt, with Lyrics by Miranda and Amanda Green and a Book by Jeff Whitty.
This British Theatre Academy production is directed and choreographed by Ewan Jones, with musical direction from Chris Ma. Regarding the overall staging, it is important to note that the bright pink and yellow design worked perfectly, as it not only oozed vitality, a reflection of the piece, the lockers literally screamed the high school setting, whilst working practically as a costume and prop store. Allowing for the oh-so necessary swift transitions in this fast-paced, energetic production. The few set pieces wheeled onto stage representatively worked well in indicating setting and had quick malleability as they could be added and removed in seconds. These also affixed a secondary level, that could be utilised for the purpose of stipulating status and power, important thematically as aforesaid. But most decisively the stage was clear and as wide of an area as the Southwark Playhouse’s large space could provide with an audience, allowing for big and bold choreography and several ‘cheer stunts’. Though at points this flashy choreography was precise and impressive, it did not always seem to show off the best of the performer’s talents and despite the musical being about cheerleading it did not have a proportional number of cheer tricks, maybe the venue was in fact too small for this large-scale production. Though they ambitiously did the best they could with the space. Performance-wise Ma and Jones, have helped to create and foster pure gold. Robyn McIntyre’s Campbell is wondrously vulnerable and her vocal clarity is impressive. At her side, as Campbell’s love interest Randall, Haroun Al-Jeddal is charming and invigorating, his voice is also exquisite. But even more exceptional in vocal ability is Kristine Kruse who portray’s the awkward and loveable Bridget, another transferred student given a fresh start, which she, unlike Campbell wholeheartedly seizes. Kruse displays some of the best comedic abilities we’ve seen in a while, she is euphoric, confident and believable whilst being completely hilarious. Similarly, Isabella Pappas’ feisty Skylar, your stereotypical, fictional high-school cheerleader is comedy gold, she also has a killer voice to match. Ashley Daniels and Clark James are comparably ones to watch, both have great voices and physicality, but crucially capture Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip hop presage. Following on, Matthew Brazier’s characterisation is something to be envied, his La Cienega, ‘Broadway’s first transgender high school student’ is flawless. It is intriguing to watch him add his own kinks and flare to Jones’ choreography, his portrayal makes the character unapologetically fierce and relatable, a much needed role model. Other principals: Chisara Agor, Sydnie Hocknell, Mary Celeste, Claire Cleave and Samuel Witty likewise work incredibly hard and pull off ‘soul-shaking, risk-taking’ performances, the clever and witty nature of which, is a testament to Director Ewan Jones.
That is not to say that this production is quintessential. It still needs work. Vocal projection suffered a lot. This may have just been the mics and sound operation, as we could visibly see mics displacing themselves from the actor’s foreheads due to the sheer heat in the venue. It could also be beneficial for some to undergo more endurance training to help with this as well. Likewise, at points performers did not seem totally confident with the tricks, a probable side-effect of this being the first preview, so not something to necessarily critique yet. Thus, to conclude, was this production perfect? No. But does that matter? Of course not. The thing about these young actors is they are still growing and learning, but for them to step out on that stage and deliver the level of performance they did, we well and truly commend them. Each and every one of them shows immense potential. Besides the prevalent talent, the show is also apposite, jovial and musically exceeds. Click here to book now, you won’t regret it.
Creative Team –
Director/Choreographer
Ewan Jones
Musical Director
Chris Ma
Cast –
Lillian Abey, Chisara Agor, Haroun Al Jeddal, Matthew Brazier, Lauryn Bryan, Katie Burrows, Mary Celeste, Morgan Howard Chambers, Eithne Cox, Ashley Daniels, Angeli De La Cruz, Charlie Fisher, Abigail Gilder, Clair Gleave, Ellie Goddard, Sydnie Hocknell, Amy Howell, Clark James, Georgina Jones, Zoe Karl, Kristine Kruse, Millie Longhurst, Robin McIntyre, Mary Moore, Billy Nevers, Isabella Pappas, Nathaniel Purnell, Tamsin Smith, Ailsa Spangler, Madison Sproston, Ben Terry, Grace Venus, Samuel Witty
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