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August 1, 2012

Cheerleading, that most American of pastimes, is not likely to become an Olympic sport anytime soon. Yet the highly acrobatic, gasp-inducing style of sis-boom-bah competition celebrated in “Bring It On: The Musical,” which opened Wednesday night at the St. James Theater, almost makes you believe that it should be. The cast of this alternately snarky and sentimental show about rival high school cheer squads often seems to be in constant motion, tumbling and flipping across the stage in elaborate routines that culminate in towering formations of human pyramids.

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August 1, 2012

While the standard path for a major stage musical is to bow in a regional tryout, move to Broadway and then on to a national tour, the producers of Bring It On: The Musical were smart to shuffle that established order. The streets are littered every season with the early closing notices of shows unable to withstand Broadway’s tough economics. But this peppy teen cheerleader faceoff has been built to travel, premiering last year in Atlanta before launching a tour in November in Los Angeles. On the road since then, it touches down for a 12-week summer stint on Broadway, where it should prove a crowdpleaser with the target demographic.

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Backstage
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Erik
Haagensen

August 1, 2012

"Bring It On: The Musical" aspires to be nothing more than a frothy distraction with just a hint of that time-honored moral "Winning isn’t everything." This wisp of cotton candy about a high school cheerleading competition is "inspired" by the Universal Pictures film franchise of the same title. Aimed squarely at teenage girls and designed to tour the country, the show would probably feel more at home at Madison Square Garden than on the stage of the St. James Theatre, where it is playing a two-month booking.

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August 1, 2012

This new musical inspired by the 2000 Kirsten Dunst film about competitive high school cheerleaders, which has played a long national tour before its limited run on Broadway, is obviously more likely to appeal to teens weaned on "High School Musical" and "Glee" than the majority of adult theatergoers.

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Newsday
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Linda
Winer

August 1, 2012

In some ways, Broadway has always been an extreme competitive sport. When young musical-theater talents dreamed of their first Broadway show, however, they probably never envisioned being tossed 20 feet into thin air or balancing on a castmate’s raised hand and the sole of a single sneaker.

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