‘Bring It On’ cast hope to cheer on Broadway after tour ends in Toronto

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This article was published 03/05/2012 (5264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – As “Bring it On: The Musical” winds down its tour in Toronto, theatre watchers are wondering if the cheerleading-themed show will next take its pom-poms and pyramids to a Broadway stage.

After all, the creative team boasts a stellar lineup of Tony Award winners, from book author Jeff Whitty (“Avenue Q”) and music supervisor Alex Lacamoire (“Wicked”); to director/choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler (“In the Heights”); and score co-writers Lin-Manuel Miranda (“In the Heights”) and Tom Kitt (who also won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his work on “Next to Normal”).

Cast members say they aren’t sure yet if the show will get a spot on the Great White Way, but they’re prepared for it.

In other words: bring it on, Broadway.

“Oh, we’re so ready. We’re readier than you know,” Jason Gotay, who plays Randall, said in an interview at the Ed Mirvish Theatre, where “Bring it On” runs through June 3 on the last — and only Canadian — stop of its tour.

“I think New York is ready for us,” added Adrienne Warren, who plays Danielle, noting they expect to hear news about the show’s future “very soon.”

“We work so hard on it. We’ll see what happens…. We’re just enjoying the trip right now. That’s a song in the show: ‘Enjoy the trip.'”

Inspired by the 2000 film and its sequels, “Bring it On: The Musical” features an all-new story and characters as well as original songs and high-octane acrobatics.

The comedy centres on Campbell (Taylor Louderman), captain of a cheerleading squad at the wealthy Truman High School, as she’s transferred to the inner-city Jackson High and tries to befriend “it-girl” Danielle and heart-throb Randall.

Warren said when she first heard about the show from the director and then did a reading for it, she thought it would be tricky for them to find musical theatre talent who could do all stunts involved.

“Then I got a phone call from Andy and he asked me to do it and I was like, ‘Oh God, oh no!’ I was so nervous and I said, ‘Please promise me that you’ll let me be on the ground,'” recalled the 24-year-old, who hails from Virginia.

“I was petrified, but it’s exciting to be a part of a new process and a new show — scary to be a part of a franchise. I’d just done (the national tour of) ‘Dreamgirls,’ which is also a movie. It’s a lot of pressure when people come to see a show and they’ve only seen the movie.”

“Bring it On: The Musical” premiered as a developmental production in Atlanta in January 2011 and has since toured several U.S. cities, with creators tweaking the material along the way.

During its run in Los Angeles last fall, celebrity audience members included Harrison Ford, Paula Abdul, Taye Diggs, Allison Janney, Bruno Mars and Calista Flockhart. In Houston, former U.S. president George Bush and wife Barbara attended and posed for photos with the cast backstage.

Though real competitive cheerleaders perform most of the major acrobatics onstage, some of the stars also had to learn stunts.

“I rolled my ankle coming out of a stunt at the very beginning of the process, on tour, and so I was out for a few shows,” said Louderman, 21, who grew up just outside St. Louis, Miss.

“We thought I fractured my pelvis, but thank God I didn’t,” said Warren.

“It was very terrifying. I was on crutches for a week with a really bad sprain and some pelvis issues, but I’m much better now and I’m walking by myself.”

“With this show, so many of us are so young and it’s our first time doing eight shows a week for such a long period of time,” noted Gotay, 23, of Brookyn, N.Y.

“I think it’s been a huge learning curve for all of us.”