Chesterton High School opened the doors for its first day performance of "Bring It On: The Musical."
The first showing took place on Thursday, November 21. Ava Cunningham, junior at Chesterton High School, played the role of Campbell in this performance. She discussed the major challenge her character endured and how she was able to overcome this obstacle.
“The play is about a girl named Campbell who becomes cheerleading captain of her squad before suddenly getting redistricted to Jackson High School,” Cunningham said. “She makes new friends at the new school until one day, she finds out who was behind her redistricting. She wants to get revenge by way of a cheer competition between Jackson High School and Truman High School."
As a musical, "Bring It On" requires constant dancing and singing from the students. Jane Maddex, a senior at Chesterton High School, played the role of Ava. She believes this performance took a lot of preparation and came together very well in the rehearsals leading up to the show.
“We had a choreographer come in and teach us the big numbers,” Maddex said. “We tackled those first before filling in the details of each scene. The dancing and singing is always a lot of fun, and there’s so many awesome songs in this show.”
It’s been an easy show for the students to enjoy putting together. Maddex considers this to be one of the most memorable productions she’s been a part of.
“This is probably my personal favorite show that we’ve done in high school,” Maddex said. “Not only do I love the music, but I feel like it’s a story that the audience can easily follow. In some shows, it might not be as obvious all the time. This one is very audience friendly and it’s pretty easy going.”
Maddex cherishes the scenes where she gets to act evil, while Cunningham was a big fan of the “We’re Not Done” performance.
Hannah Loving, a sophomore at Chesterton High School who played the role of Skylar, had a couple of highlighted moments in this production.
“I’m a big fan of the ‘Cross The Line’ scene,” Loving said. “I feel like it’s one of the most pivotal parts of the entire show. I really love the song there and think it’s a great moment overall."
The students had a lot of fun preparing this show for the past several weeks. Maddex feels this show has helped bring the cast together on another level, especially with the musical numbers.
“It’s been a fun group of people to work with,” Maddex said. “Everybody is super talented. When we’re doing the mic check, I think about how crazy it is for us to have so many great singers at the same school."
When you have a cast, crew, and director that are all on the same page, it makes the production a lot easier. When everyone affiliated with the play has a great connection with one another, it becomes a fun experience that everybody will carry with them for many years to come.
“Our director gives us a lot of freedom but also wants us to keep growing,” Cunningham said. “She might add new things into the show that make it a little bit better each time. The cast is never short of coming up with ideas to make this performance a lot of fun.”
"Bring It On" will be performed again on Friday, November 22, and Saturday, November 23. The show starts at 7 p.m. on both nights.
For more information on Chesterton High School, you can visit its website.