Families, students, teachers, and alumni file into the warmly lit auditorium.  Some are holding flowers, others wearing smiles, in anticipation of the performance. Playbills donning an outline of a dancer with the words “Bring it On” in black letters are shuffled around from person to person. The clock reads 2:04 as the lights slowly dim, and excited whispers fill the air.

Soft music emerges from the band behind the thick curtains. A white spotlight is trained on senior Allie Bensinger as she skips onstage and animates her life as Campbell for the audience. She’s the main event, an exuberant bubble of energy that parades around a competitive edge. Suddenly, she bounds up the steps of the bleachers and belts out in song.

These musical outbursts were an animating force in Parker’s spring 2016 musical, “Bring It On,” which premiered on March 16 and ran through Saturday of that week. There were three other shows in the days following, and the standing ovations at the end of each production spoke to their success.

When March rolls around, Parker’s hallways never fail to buzz about the upcoming musical. But this year, the walls reflected more than just talk–it seemed as if everyone was chiming into the choruses of songs in “Bring It On.”  

It was exciting to watch the performances of such catchy songs as “It’s All Happening” and “We Ain’t No Cheerleaders” unfold on stage. Duets from junior Nina Sachs and senior Anna Ceci Rosenkranz stood out as much as the high-flying tempo of the cheerleaders. The vibrant dances often culminated in human pyramids, drawing gasps and thundering applause. But these defining moments of the play did not come easily—the cast was drilled with dance rehearsal five to six days a week.

Truman High cheerleader and senior Chandler Seed recalls being a part of the cast’s evolution from the first days until the closing show. “During initial rehearsals, we really didn’t have the same commitment and enthusiasm we had in the end,” Seed said. “So I think there was a point when we really had to wake up and take on rehearsals with full force, and everyone totally rose to that occasion.” Her words certainly line up with the noticeable dedication of everyone from the actors and choreographers to set and tech designers. In one scene, bright greens and magentas light the stage as cheerleaders and students alike bust out a variety of moves. The seamlessness of the  acting and dancing came together in harmony with the backstage soundtrack.

The musical mainly follows the story of Campbell, who competes against her snobbish counterparts to fulfill a dream of being cheer captain at preppy Truman High. But she then gets a letter announcing redistricting of schools, and will be distanced from her boyfriend Steven (played by senior Matt Friend).  After receiving this gasp-worthy news, Campbell transports us to Jackson High School.

Jackson lacks a cheer ‘squad,’ but has instead a crew, as dance leader Danielle classifies it. Senior Taylor Thompson stepped into Danielle’s role with uncanny mannerisms and confidence that set her apart. Wit and relevance to modern times peppered the script, and constantly left me waiting for the locker-area scenes with students from Jackson High flawlessly threading together another song.

Parker’s edition of “Bring It On” was based off of the Broadway production, which hit the world of theater in 2012. The musical, with with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tom Kitt, and Amanda Green, and book by Jeff Whitty, is loosely based on the original 2000 movie of the same name, starring actors Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union. The movie and play scripts are quite different in plot, but stick to the same honest and arguably suggestive language. It may come as a surprise that the script was exempt from censorship for a Parker audience.

This authenticity allowed racial and personal barriers to be crossed, which were visible as the plot carried white Campbell to Jackson High, a school populated largely by students of color.  Since Parker students (plus Upper School math and science teacher Christopher Riff) made up a largely white cast, some actors and actresses had to portray roles of different races and backgrounds. There was a fair amount of tension displayed in the characters’ relationships that transported the audience into parts of their lives.

Regardless, when the acrobatic ensemble of cheerleaders and well-timed jokes came together, the audience was in for a treat. 2016’s “Bring It On” competes favorably with Parker productions of years past. Many walked out of the auditorium humming the words of “It’s All Happening”: “imagine the lights!(lights!)/ imagine the people!/ (imagine us!)/ imagine us in the middle of the crowd!/ imagine the fame imagine the fortune! (yeah!)/ it’s all happening!”