REVIEWED BY CHARLOTTE FRASER
EDITED BY AZMY
Bring It On: The Musical has taken over the National Theatre. Inspired by the iconic 2000 film of the same name, Bring It On follows Campbell Davis as she pursues her dream of becoming captain of Truman High School’s cheer squad and winning the national cheer championship. However, right before her senior year is about to start, she is redistricted to Jackson High School – a school without a cheer team that is as different from Truman as you can get. With music by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bring It On is a high energy show all about friendship, ambition and coming into your own.
Andrew G and Theatrical productions rise to the occasion, bringing a visually engaging show with immense vocal skill and impressively athletic choreography. Under the direction of Tahra Cannon, these performers captivated the audience. The opening number – ‘What I Was Born To Do’ – set the bar high right out the gate with an impressive vocal performance from Emily McDougall (Campbell) and a stunning performance from the ensemble and cheer squad. This number was a credit to the work of choreographer Louise Panagiotidis and cheer coaches Jasmine Kelzi, Luka Lea-Vestic and Rachael Ewart.
The lighting and costume were standouts to me in the show. Harrison Croft’s lighting seamlessly switched between large-scale dance numbers and softer, more introspective moments with a blend of bright colours and impactful spotlight work. Similarly, the costuming by Karen Spencer transported the audience to an American High School reminiscent of 2010s Disney channel. Personally, I adored the white and blue cheer costumes worn at the end of Act I – they only featured for that small moment but looked stunning onstage and captured the energy of Campbell’s (somewhat delusional) cheer dream.
The set for this production was pretty minimal but was used effectively when it was present. School lockers rolling on and off stage, a few black boxes arranged to suit the needs of the scene – really classic transformation of space that worked effectively to keep focus on the characters and conflict onstage without overcrowding the space. It also meant that the stage could easily be cleared to make room for the cheer numbers and stunts.
It is not hyperbolic to say that the dancers in this show blew me away. In particular Georgia Kemp (who also serves as the Dance Captain for the production and it’s easy to see why) made each move look effortless while maintaining a striking amount of technical correctness. Each movement was clean, sharp and drew my eye in most scenes. The cheerleaders were nothing short of incredible, twisting through the air and delivering an amazing performance with bright smiles on their faces – perfect ‘cheer face’ as Campbell might say.
The final performance from Jackson High School did feel slightly anti-climactic when compared to the performances throughout the show. Everything has been building to this moment in the story, and we have seen what these dancers are capable of. Nevertheless, it was still an energetic, punchy performance that blended cheer and street dance well and got the audience hyped.
Emily McDougall gave a compelling performance as Campbell. Her vocal ability was certainly her strong point, leading the cast through many of the bigger numbers with ease. She worked extremely well alongside Alyssa Jandayan as Danielle to communicate the emotional core of the story: friendship, loyalty and figuring out what really matters.
Jandayan was an absolute stand-out. Her acting, dance ability and vocal prowess blew me away each time she stepped onstage. Danielle was one of the most grounded characters and I immediately found myself rooting for her. I hope to see Jandayan in more productions in the future – she certainly has the talent for it!
Jenna Mole as Bridget brought an endearing energy and engaging physicality to the role that had the audience continually laughing along each time she was onstage. Her comedically awkward scenes with Zade Nabolé (Twig – Bridget’s love interest) easily won over the audience.
The other key players Eva (Taylor-Anne Bright), Skylar (Cara Mia Honan), Kylar (Elle Fenelon), La Cienega (Ari Rego) and Nautica (Yurina Kutsukake) all brought an infectious energy to their characters. Honan’s Skylar was a personal favourite from the beginning with not only her remarkable vocal ability, but she brought just the right amount of ditziness, mean-girl bitchiness and blinding confidence that a character like Skylar ought to have.
I was surprised, though, at the varied level of singing ability outside of the main cast. A few of the later songs were difficult to sit through due to the music feeling out of range of some performers.
All performers attempted an American accent for this production and, for the most part, they were seamless. However, I did notice early on that almost everyone seemed to be saying the word ‘Sophomore’ wrong adding an extra ‘a’ syllable to the middle. This became increasingly distracting as the show went on and once I heard it, I couldn’t un-hear it.
The main shortcoming of this production is the tendency of performers to drift too far into caricature. Of course, musical theatre is heightened and with a show like this you’d expect it to be. But I found that most characters were played in a way that felt like they were parodies of themselves rather than actual people going through a complicated time in high school.
In high school everything already feels like the end of the world, friendship break ups, cheer tournaments – but in this show the conflict felt rather disconnected from the characters because they were so larger-than-life and stereotypical. In some moments, this led to comedic line readings and interactions, but in others it meant that the characters lacked any authenticity, making it difficult for audiences to connect with them or feel bad for them in any way.
For a show that deals with some complex issues of class, wealth disparity as well as access to education, this shallowness really minimised the impact of those themes. I would have loved to see some more genuine empathy from Campbell towards Danielle especially considering she lies about the winner of nationals getting offered college scholarships, capitalising off of Danielle’s vulnerable position and using it to convince her to start a cheer squad. Instead, Campbell just felt quite whiny and everyone forgave her far too quickly.
Granted, a lot of these issues may have been the fault of the writing to a degree, but I would have loved to see these performances give a few moments that didn’t feel like I was watching a typical early-2000s Disney TV show where the power of friendship trumps all. This was certainly not the case with everyone though and I found Danielle and Randall (Flynn Hunter) in particular to be the most well-thought out and well-grounded performances.
Bring It On is certainly a great night out for anyone looking for a good laugh, excellent music and visually striking dance numbers. The entire audience was cheering and clapping by the end and the beaming smiles on the faces of the cast were well-earned. I’m excited to see what these young performers get up to next and hope to see them in more productions in the future. Theatrical’s Bring It On certainly has more than one perfect moment.
Conflict of interest note: this reviewer did attend high school with a few members of the cast. As always, The Dialog is dedicated to unbiased critique and analysis of the performance.
Theatrical’s Bring It On: The Musical played at the National Theatre from 11 – 26 July 2026.
CHARLOTTE FRASER (she/her) is a writer, performer and editor based in Melbourne. She holds a BA in English and Theatre Studies and is currently completing her Masters degree at the University of Melbourne. Charlotte is also the 2026 Dialog Editor.
AZMY is a creative studying a Bachelor of Arts at UniMelb. This year, they are making theatre with The Werkz Ensemble and Cipta Theatre company!
The Dialog is supported by Union House Theatre
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