'Bring It On: The Musical' at St. James Theater - New York Times

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.

Such high-energy gymnastics are the animating force â€" and the primary distinguishing element â€" in this peppy teen-angst musical aimed squarely at the “Glee” demographic: adolescents, their chaperones and the nostalgically adolescent. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) This would obviously include the devoted fans of the movie on which the new musical â€" like almost every new musical, I’m tempted to add â€" is based.

Scan the credits of this featherweight concoction, however, and musical-theater aficionados are likely to be surprised by the heavyweight pedigree of several of its creators: the score is a tag-team effort by Tom Kitt, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer of the crazy-mom musical “Next to Normal”; Lin-Manuel Miranda, the lyricist and composer of the Tony Award-winning, Pulitzer finalist “In the Heights”; and Amanda Green (the Broadway-bound “Hands on a Hardbody”), the lyricist daughter of the great Adolph Green. The book is written by Jeff Whitty, who took home a Tony for the satirical post-collegiate musical “Avenue Q.” Andy Blankenbuehler, who provided the zesty choreography for “In the Heights,” also takes on the directing chores here.

While it has its moments of memorable wit and some appealing rhythmic Broadway-pop songs, “Bring It On” is by no means in the same league as those musicals, and has the feel of a daffy lark embarked upon as a summer-vacation goof. (The show started out in Atlanta in January 2011 and has been touring the country; I first caught up with it in Los Angeles last November.)

A grave warning for cultish devotees of the movie and its several sequels: while the musical is “inspired” by the film, it is by no means a stage facsimile of it. Aside from the title and the cheerleading, the musical is almost wholly original, if you can call original a show that relies so blithely on the familiar formulas (and clichés) of fictional depictions of adolescence.

The heroine Campbell (Taylor Louderman) sings of her longstanding dream of becoming head cheerleader of the Truman High School squad in the show’s opening moments. After achieving her ideal â€" defeating her mean-girl rival Skylar (Kate Rockwell), who takes the loss in stride, so preeningly assured is she of her own perfection â€" Campbell begins drilling her team for the national championships at a summer cheer camp.

But horrors! Just before the school season begins, Campbell receives a letter announcing that because of redistricting, she will be forced to attend Jackson High, a nearby school in a far rougher neighborhood. The big OMG â€" horrors is too tame a word to describe this calamity â€" is that Jackson does not even have a cheerleading squad.

This is obviously devastating news for Campbell, but it’s good news for “Bring It On,” which hits an exciting musical groove when Campbell begins mixing it up with the tougher crowd from Jackson, whose ringleader is Danielle (Adrienne Warren), the head of the school’s hip-hop dance crew. Although the score is collectively credited to all three contributors, Mr. Miranda’s more urban-influenced R&B moves to the fore, and his ability to spin out clever rhymed raps by the yard drives the most propulsive sequences in the show, including a deliriously odd number in which Campbell proves her willingness to play with the gang by dressing up in the school’s leprechaun mascot outfit and getting down.

“Bring It On” trots merrily through several predictable subplots about bonding across the social and racial divide. Campbell, the consummate insider, is suddenly the awkward outsider anxious about fitting in, while her fellow redistrictee, the chubby Bridget (an endearing Ryann Redmond), finds the outré fashion sense that qualified her as a freak at Truman gives her some street cachet at Jackson. Both girls acquire adoring, cute boyfriends with skin tones a few shades darker than theirs, and Campbell convinces Danielle to transform the dance crew into a cheer squad. She’s determined to outwit the perky, genially evil Eva (Elle McLemore, doing her best Kristin Chenoweth), Campbell’s former protégée whose scheming has brought her to the top of the Truman cheer pyramid.

Mr. Whitty has the good sense to poke fun at the musical’s well-worn narrative dynamics. As the show moves to its inevitable cheer-off climax, the self-satisfied Skylar reflects, “Omigod, everyone’s gone through all this, like, personal growth, but I’m exactly the same person I was a year ago.” Beaming a bright smile, she adds, “Oh well! I like myself. Always did.”

Ms. Rockwell bites into her role with pert, enjoyable mean spirits, and Ms. McLemore does the same as the more outrageously scheming Eva. As the drag queen La Cienega â€" embraced by the supposedly rough crowd at Jackson with preposterous warmth â€" Gregory Haney also gets his fair share of ingratiating, sassy-snappy dialogue. The central roles are more generically written, but Ms. Louderman and Ms. Warren are warm, likable presences.

It’s when the cast members drop the bonding and the mean-girl bitching to take part in Mr. Blankenbuehler’s exciting cheerleading routines, arranging themselves into dazzling human starbursts, that “Bring It On” really brings something fresh to the ever-expanding roster of shows aimed at the teenage demographic. The precision and daring with which they fling themselves into the air and engage in breathtaking runs of back flips across the wide St. James stage give the musical a real kick. Even those with dark memories of the plastic perfections of cheerleaders may find it impossible to resist an encouraging cry of “Go team!”

Bring It On: The Musical

Book by Jeff Whitty; music by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda; lyrics by Amanda Green and Mr. Miranda; inspired by the motion picture “Bring It On,” written by Jessica Bendinger; directed and choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler; music supervision and dance arrangements by Alex Lacamoire; sets by David Korins; costumes by Andrea Lauer; lighting by Jason Lyons; sound by Brian Ronan; video by Jeff Sugg; hair and wig design by Charles G. LaPointe; production stage manager, Bonnie Panson; technical supervisor, Jake Bell; production supervisor, Lisa Dawn Cave; arrangements and orchestrations by Mr. Lacamoire and Mr. Kitt; music coordinator, Michael Keller; music director, Dave Pepin; general manager, 321 Theatrical Management. Presented by Universal Pictures Stage Productions/Glenn Ross, Beacon Communications/Armyan Bernstein and Charlie Lyons, and Kristin Caskey and Mike Isaacson. At the St. James Theater, 246 West 44th Street, Manhattan; (212) 239-6200, telecharge.com. Through Oct. 7. Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes.

WITH: Taylor Louderman (Campbell), Adrienne Warren (Danielle), Jason Gotay (Randall), Elle McLemore (Eva), Ryann Redmond (Bridget), Ariana DeBose (Nautica), Gregory Haney (La Cienega), Neil Haskell (Steven), Dominique Johnson (Cameron), Janet Krupin (Kylar), Kate Rockwell (Skylar) and Nicolas Womack (Twig).