Bring It On: The Musical
Playwright: Jeff Whitty; Score: Tom Kitt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Amanda Green. At: Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St. Tickets: 800-775-2000 or www.broadwayinchicago.com; $18-$85. Runs through: March 25
Dreamgirls
Libretto: Tom Eyen; Composer: Henry Krieger. At: J Ruffin Entertainment at Harold Washington Cultural Center, 4701 S. Martin Luther King Dr. Tickets: 773-373-1900 or www.hwccchicago.org; $30. Runs through: March 25
Versions of the 2000 film Bring It On and the 1981 Broadway musical Dreamgirls are on Chicago stages at the moment, although both shows might not be what audiences initially expect of them.
The producers of the national tour of Bring It On: The Musical couldn't obtain the rights to the original film's screenplay, so instead a very impressive team of award-winning theater artists crafted an original show inspired by the film's many franchise sequels.
The result is a very-now musical about competitive cheerleading competitors that will definitely satisfy legions of Glee fans. Like that hit FOX-TV show, Bring It On: The Musical mixes self-aware sarcasm with heartfelt emotions as it shows high schoolers struggling to fit in and succeed.
Bring It On: The Musical shows the culture clash that occurs when Campbell (Taylor Louderman), the cheerleading captain of the Truman Buccaneers, is transferred to the more urban Jackson High School under very mysterious circumstances. (We soon find out that she was the victim of an plot hatched by an unlikely suspect played to the scheming hilt by Elle McLemore.) Campbell tries to get on the good side of Danielle (Adrienne Warren), the leader of Jackson High's hip-hop dance crew, in part so they can create a rival cheerleading squad to challenge her former teammates.
Along the way, there are lessons to be learned about body image, cultural appropriation, lying and even acceptance of sexual minorities. (Gregory Haney is very impressive as Jackson High transgender dancer La Cienega.) It's all done in a fun and winking style by the show's authors, who make a virtue of bitchiness paired with politically correct plotting.
Director/choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler does a great job of mixing the talented musical-theater pros with the veterans of competitive cheerleading in the Bring It On cast to dazzle with plenty of jaw-dropping stunts and energetic hip-hop-inspired dance routines. It's truly a fun and fluid high-tech staging, complete with moving LED screens by set designer David Korins.
Yet Bring It On: The Musical doesn't always endear us to the characters, since we're invited so often to laugh at them more than fully empathizing with them. Also, one gets the sense that the show won't date very well since it is so of-the-moment with its technology and pop-culture references (either that, or it might become emblematic of the era of corporate franchise entertainment it was created in).
Watching J Ruffin Entertainment's take on Dreamgirls shows how difficult it can be to successfully pull the iconic Tom Eyen/Henry Krieger musical clearly inspired by the rise of The Supremes. Ruffin directs and doesn't always move the show along at a cinematic speed as he could.
Ruffin is also very beholden to the 2006 film version of Dreamgirls, cutting the sung dialogue in favor of spoken lines between the songs. Audiences who want a better sense of the original show's pacing and structure might want to wait for the Marriott Theatre's production later this season.
Still, you can't deny the energy and vocal talent of the large castparticularly the powerful singing of 19-year-old China Stewart in the demanding role of Effie and Mark Smith as the wild soul singer James "Thunder" Early. It's also great fun to see a show like Dreamgirls on the South Side with such an enthusiastic audience that isn't afraid to shout out its constant approval.