Bring. It. On!

I grew up on musicals.  Some of my earliest memories are of watching tapes of Annie, Brigadoon, Mary Poppins, Sound of Music and Pirates of Penzance.  Over and over and over again. 

I blew out my father's speakers on his new stereo by playing Christine's aria from Phantom of the Opera.  And then the speakers on my own boombox met the same fate due to unending repeat plays of the soundtrack from Newsies.  I wore out my first recording of RENT (a 2 tape set).  The Tonys are a National Holiday in my house and I record the Thanksgiving Day parade every year so that I can watch the musical numbers again.

Don't judge:  you have your entertainment; I have mine.

But even with my credentials, I had never seen a show on THE ACTUAL Broadway.  (Yes, the caps are necessary.) But when the opportunity presented itself for me to be in New York with enough time to see a show, I grabbed at it and held on with both hands.

First, I had to pick a show. 

Because I'm such a Broadway/musical theatre geek, I am a terrible audience member.  (The first step to dealing with a problem is admitting that you have a problem, right?)  I literally cannot stop myself from singing along if I know the music.  So that removed Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, Annie, Chicago, Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia and Avenue Q from being my first shows on Broadway.  Just for the record, if they were showing, RENT, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, Cats, Hairspray, Into the Woods, Les Miz, Putting It Together and Urinetown would have been out as well.  But I digress.

Ultimately, I picked a show that I had never seen and didn't know much about.  I went up to New York and was on of the hundred people who got off of the train (Company).  And in my hot little hands were tickets to the 2 pm show of "Bring It On: The Musical".

The remainder of this post is a gushing love fest about the show.  You have been warned.

WORTH IT! 

Everything that anyone is saying about the show is all true.  It is the same lightning in the bottle that was caught by High School Musical, Pitch Perfect, RENT, Save The Last Dance and the first Bring It On movie.  Just so very good!

For those of you who need more than my from-the-rooftops praise, here's what the show is:  Imagine if you took the first 3 Bring It On movies (I've seen all 5, thank you very much), added some Save The Last Dance and a splash of Pitch Perfect; that would give you a low-rent approximation of the show.  For those who have seen any of those movies, you will recognize some of the themes in the show, but, much like all great art, it is so much more than the sum of its parts. 

Yes, it is still about cheerleaders.  Yes, it is still about going outside of your comfort zone, being true to yourself and making mature decisions at an immature age.  But I will caution  those who think they know this show:  you haven't seen this story told yet.

And the cast album.  Don't even get me started on the cast album.  All I can say is that it is a good thing that we were dealing with Sandy and power concerns or else I would have already worn out the CD.  As it is, I have already listened to it, from start to finish, at least 20 times; twice this morning.  (I've only had the thing for about a week; just to put it in perspective.)


Here is the cast album recording one of songs that has been playing on repeat on my iPod for the past week.

And, as the sprinkles atop the awesome cupcake of "Bring It On: The Musical", most of the cast and creative team is on Twitter!  You can follow all of them (and you should because they are awesome) from the show's Twitter account:  @BringItOn.  This is the new crop of Broadway stars.  I am expecting great things from this group and I know that I'm not going to be disappointed.

-Sis