Music by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lyrics by Amanda Green and Lin-Manuel Miranda

Rival squads, cheerleading-comedy hi-jinks, and enough late noughties references and melodrama to fill a locker room, Bring It On! takes the cultural zeitgeist of the Kirsten Dunst film, shaped it and emerges as a Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda musical fan favourite in 2011. Throw in envy, teenage angst, and a touch of Mono – and this evolves into a tale of pom-pom feuds, an acknowledgement of privilege, mistakes, and genuine friendships. 

Beyond Broadway takes a sea of grassroots youth performers and catapults music and vivacious energy into the Capital ahead of the Festival Fringe. If you need to get your pulses racing before it hits – this is the perfect way to get the adrenaline flowing.

Taking the valley-high girl to Edinburgh, Ailsa MacLean is our Campbell for the evening, a young high-schooler whose bloods courses with one thing: cheerleading. She’s got it all: a great boyfriend, a squad of friends (sort of), and has just been made captain of the cheerleading squad. MacLean makes for a perfectly pitched protagonist, balancing choreography with vocals and performance to the letter, with such a rounded protagonist who has to hit so many beats, it’s tremendously impressive they manage such a fine job.

But when the boundary lines for school catchments are re-drawn, Campbell realises that her future is no longer with the preps of Truman High, and instead with the more urban students of Jackson High, where the very concept of cheerleading is met with dismissal, and at worst, derision. With their captain gone, self-assured and marvellously dry-humoured Skylar (Cora Erskine) and Kylar (Jess Taylor) find themselves passing the torch of captain to the humble, and no way antagonistic, Eva performed by Millie Wilson who devours every satanic ounce of the wide-smiled Machiavellian captain in waiting.

Not for an age has the scale of the Festival Theatre stage been put to such stringent and rigorous use, not an ounce of space (including the front stalls) out to waste by the team as they encompass the enormous space with tremendous effect. Even vast budget touring musicals with big names struggle with the grandeur of the venue, but not the Beyond team, their direction utilising seamless transitions and ensemble pieces without shrinking the performance space – a real testament to the scale of the production. Especially when choreography is considered, with over 200 young performers on stage with varying levels of confidence and skill, the entire troupe do a belter of a job and should be incredibly proud.

There’s nothing subtle to Bring It On! (especially its somewhat damp lyrics) which, like its film origins (though claiming to be unrelated), is as subtle as a pair of pom-poms to the face but still manages to track a decent enough story of prejudices and teen angst through the core athleticism and camp-humour. Ellen Eklund, who takes a comic role, manages to capture a heart of body judgements and isolation with a strong performance, one which relishes the scale of the show, refusing to wilt with the packed theatre. Vocally they don’t miss a beat, and neither does Rhianna Daley as Danielle – the pair provide plenty of bumping and grinding, both to a comedic effect and to characters find their appeal, worth and self-confidence.

Similarly, the snarky and aloof nature of Duncan Brown’s Randall spends much of the production letting others do the vocals and choreography, but when offered their duet of Enjoy the Trip with MacLean, absolutely shines with a clarity and control that sails into the night as the runaway number – in terms of technique. The ensemble has always been one of the strengths of Bring It On!, and where it may falter in writing and tropes and cliches, the colourful range of characters more than makes up for it. From Ru Mckay’s electrically confident La Cienega, who happily snipes with the audience at the absurdness of it all, to the egotistical, and damn sure of themselves Cora Erskine who possesses the stage presence and control many professionals would envy.

The Festival Theatre is one of the UK’s largest stages and one of its most beloved. Rarely does it find such a tightly orchestrated ensemble who comprehend the magnitude of the space – and at the risk of insult, even more rarely is not from a non-professional production. Though, not entirely true: Beyond Broadway’s method of open auditions and Summer camps help to hone the raw talent into a production of tremendously pleasant, engaging and high-spirited performers. To stand on a stage shared with some of the World’s finest touring companies and match them toe-to-toe in terms of audience excitement, energy and appreciation, is a staggering feat. One to be proud of, and hopefully one to repeat very soon.