This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Here are some greatest hits of BRING IT ON. Are you ready? Some of these lyrics are incredible. Okay. This is Twig talking about being a male cheerleader. What are y'all scared? Y'all think cheering is feminine? Then I'm a feminist swimming in women, gentlemen. Oh! That's awesome! All right, here's another one. This is Nautica with La Cienega. Me and La Cienega accept no less. Cruisin' La Cienega with no stress. Fellas yellin' Benaca, speak English. That's fantastic.

[0:51] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Welcome, everybody, to a musical theatre podcast where we discuss the cultural and emotional impact of some of our favorite musicals in theatre history. My name is Jeffrey Scott Parsons. You can call me Jeff. Today, we're talking about the musical BRING IT ON, which was a listener request from Olivia, who wrote, quote, The reason why you should do BRING IT ON is because it is an iconic movie and has songs that I can recite from memory. They are that good, unquote. Olivia, I agree with both of those statements. And regardless of how any of us may feel about cheerleaders, this is a musical that contains the lyric, We're gonna get vertical till we get vertigo. So we're gonna talk about it, and we're going to do it with someone who knows the ins and outs of theatre, including one of the theatres where BRING IT ON had its pre-Broadway engagement. Everyone, please welcome the very lovely Becky Birdsong. Yay!

[1:45] Becky Birdsong: Hello! Thank you. Thank you. Hello, Jeffrey.

[1:49] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I am so grateful you're here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:53] Becky Birdsong: You are so welcome. I am honored to be here. I've been a fan of this podcast and a fan of yours for a very long time, so I'm honored.

[2:01] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: You are too kind. Oh, my gosh. Flattery will get you everywhere. Now, I'm fascinated by your job, and I want you to tell people about it, because the majority of theatre that we consume in this country is because of people like you. Tell everybody, and don't be shy, about how awesome you are.

[2:17] Becky Birdsong: Well, thank you so much. I am the Major Gifts Officer at Pasadena Playhouse, which is actually Pasadena Playhouse State Theatre of California.

[2:29] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, that's the full name? I didn't know that.

[2:34] Becky Birdsong: The full name, yes, yes. It was given that name by the state after the then-founder, Gilmore Brown, and his ensemble of players put on the full canon of William Shakespeare's plays.

[2:45] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, wow. Yeah. The state said, wow, you guys are the State Theatre of California, so we're going to give you that name.

[2:54] Becky Birdsong: So that is the full name. Hot dog.

[2:55] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes. That's cool.

[2:56] Becky Birdsong: Yes. Okay. What does a gifts officer do?

[3:00] Becky Birdsong: Well, we raise contributed income from individuals. That is my particular job description. I'm the Major Gifts Officer, so I raise it from individuals. And the contributed income goes towards basically everything that makes our theatre a non-profit theatre. It goes towards theatre programming for youth, for continuing education. We offer Broadway musical classes that adults can take from everyone from young age all the way up to adults. We also bring the entire seventh grade of the Pasadena Unified School District to see a show every year that's funded by contributed income. So that money that I raise from individuals, and then we also have people who raise money from foundations and corporations and government, all of that money keeps the theatre going and helps educate the community.

I'm getting so passionate about it, I'm losing my words. It spreads theatre, the art of theatre, the benefits of theatre to everyone in the community, no matter what your age is, what your gender is. It's a theatre for everyone, and we want all of our programming to reflect that.

[4:19] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's beautiful. So that's what contributing income helps us do.

[4:22] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: When we're talking about professional theatres in the country, I would say that most of them operate as non-profits. True?

[4:30] Becky Birdsong: Yes. A lot of them do. I mean, especially regional theatres like Pasadena Playhouse, like the Amundsen Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum, the Kirk Douglas Theatre, you know, that those are all under center field.

[4:42] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: In downtown Los Angeles.

[4:43] Becky Birdsong: Downtown Los Angeles at the Music Center. And all across the country, even up in San Francisco, New York, D.C., all over the country, you have these regional theatres where a lot of productions like Bring It On start. And then when they become successful, then they move on to Broadway, or then they go on a national tour. So without regional theatres, there are a lot of musicals and plays that, you know, are on Broadway that you would probably never see.

[5:13] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: For sure. They need a place to work things out, first of all, in front of a crowd, right? An audience is definitely part of a show, and that relationship is, I mean, you have to pay attention to what the audience is telling you, right? And so what a gift then to take a show out of town, which is kind of what has always been done, unless you're a crazy expensive show that can't do that, like Spider-Man. I find that so important to remind people of, because number one, we all know that I'm a big supporter of community theatre on the podcast. And professional theatre, while we're also working with unions and professional actors, these organizations are also operating like a non-profit, right? Like an organization that is benefiting the community, and in return, is paying wages for artists that actually help them to survive.

It's probably the most important business relationship I've had in my career are my relationships with regional theatres, because they've allowed me to qualify for health insurance, and they've also given birth to shows that can then provide you with even bigger contracts, if that makes sense.

[6:25] Becky Birdsong: Very true.

[6:26] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So I think that's really important for all of us to remember, that these regional houses are also operating as community charities, right? And as such, need to receive individual donations. How much of a theatre's budget is usually maintained simply by ticket sales?

[6:45] Becky Birdsong: Ticket sales cover, you know, anywhere between 60-65% of the organization's annual budget. So which is not, I mean, if you're thinking of a letter grade, 65% is almost an F.

[7:02] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I never looked at it that way.

[7:04] Becky Birdsong: We're talking D-plus at best, our ticket sales in the budget of regional theatre.

[7:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So then, enter Becky Birdsong.

[7:12] Becky Birdsong: Yes, enter the development department then raises that other, you know, 30-35%, or in some other regional theatres that might have a smaller budget than the two that I've had the pleasure of working at, they raise more. So it's very, very important. And you know, a lot of people will come to the theatre and they will see the big sets. They'll see, you know, the helicopter land on the stage, and they'll see rainfall, you know, from the ceiling. And they think, well, why do they need my money? And I have to explain to people sometimes, well, we wouldn't be able to do that if we didn't have your donation. Your donation helps us do those things that enhance the production, and they give you that experience. And then that's kind of like when the light bulb goes off, or when they come and see one of our student matinees and see how the children react. And they, oh, I get it. We're changing lives. We're enhancing lives. Okay.

[8:10] Becky Birdsong: Some performers that I've worked with don't love student matinees. I am exactly the opposite person. I am so excited to kiss my co-star so that I hear somebody go, from the mezzanine, you know.

[8:22] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Now, one of the theatres that you worked at that we've already mentioned, the Amundsen, was one of the houses that presented Bring It On in its pre-Broadway engagement, like I mentioned. So take me back a little bit. What was going on in your life when you were doing this? And when you heard that there was going to be a musical version of Bring It On coming through, what did you think? And no lying.

[8:48] Becky Birdsong: I know, no lying. I was excited because when I was in high school, I wanted to be a cheerleader. I tried out twice. Yes, I tried out twice. That's really hard to say, tried out twice. Yeah. And I didn't make it. I got as far as being able to try out in front of my peers, in front of a student body, but I was never a cheerleader. So first of all, I love the movie Bring It On for that reason. I'm just, oh, a movie about cheerleading, yay. I always wanted to tumble and jump up and get people riled up and wear the cute little skirts and the uniform and everything and decorate football players' houses with toilet paper and all the good stuff.

[9:32] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's so true.

[9:34] Becky Birdsong: It's so true. So I was very excited when I heard about the musical, and I thought that's actually perfect because you can combine music. I mean, music in the movie, if you think back, music was part of the jumps. And when you watch any sort of cheerleading competition, there's always music, and they're jumping and tumbling and shouting and cheering over it. And also orchestrating a lot of the choreography. I always love when there's a laser sound effect, when they go flying through the air. The music is 100% part of selling all of their stunts.

[10:05] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Absolutely. So it made perfect sense to me. And then when I heard about the creative team, I was just, well, this is just going to be so much fun. And then I did have a moment of, oh, my gosh, the health insurance on the show must be out of this world. Because of all the jumps and the tumbling. But I was very excited. I think it was 2011. So I had been at Center Theatre Group for about six years. So, you know, had been through, you know, the shows coming in and, you know, national tours and, you know, all of that. So that wasn't surprising at all. But the fact that it was coming here after its world premiere in Atlanta at the Alliance Theatre was just really exciting. It was really exciting. And, you know, when they – I do remember that we had a donor event. And it was during tech rehearsal for the show.

[11:00] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, gosh.

[11:01] Becky Birdsong: So you know what tech rehearsals are like. But we had a private reception in a private room in the theater. And there were intervals where we were allowed to bring the donors in and they could watch some of the rehearsal. So what I love when shows come in and they're working on it, and especially during tech rehearsals, is that you get to see all of the work that is going behind that show. And it just blows your mind. I mean, the seamstress was there sewing sequence onto one of the cheerleading costumes, you know. Amanda Green was there, you know, kind of reworking a song, you know. I mean, it was just – it was amazing. And our donors just love it. They love to smell that grease paint, you know. So it was an exciting time.

[11:46] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So many years working with this show, too. Like you said, the amount of danger – because, I mean, theater is always dangerous, right? You're doing it every single time like it's new. And it's literally life or death sometimes with this show.

[12:01] Becky Birdsong: Yes. Yes.

[12:03] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well, that's really exciting. So like you mentioned before, the original film, Bring It On, which I loved, I remember seeing it, came out in 2000. I am what? Class of 2000. And it was a total smash, right? Starring Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union. Hello.

[12:21] Becky Birdsong: Yes. Yes.

[12:23] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Just an incredible cast and a really fun film. It gives birth to just a string of sequels, and I did not realize all of the Bring It On sequels that went straight to video until this very moment. Here we go. In 2004, we had Bring It On again, then Bring It On All or Nothing, Bring It On In It to Win It, Bring It On Fight to the Finish, Bring It On Worldwide Cheer Smack, and then my personal favorite, a Halloween special called Bring It On, Cheer or Die. This just kind of goes to show how big of a hit the first movie was, and that it really found its fan base in, honestly, probably young girls who were having a lot of sleepovers, because they didn't bother to release any of these films in the big screen again.

They just went straight to video. People are going to be watching them at sleepovers on a Friday night. That also, I think, is a really important thing to keep in mind, because Bring It On the musical does not have the same plot as Bring It On, the first film.

[13:28] Becky Birdsong: No, it doesn't. That surprised me when I saw it, the different plot.

[13:35] Becky Birdsong: In fact, it's probably most like the third one.

[13:38] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: BRING IT ON all or nothing, starring one Miss Hayden Panettiere. But there are still a lot of differences. So I wonder if that's why it's called BRING IT ON: THE MUSICAL in the same way that all of these other sequels had different names. It's within the BRING IT ON universe, but with a different story. Now, do you have, I mean, we're all guesses here, right? This is all hypothesis, but why do you think they didn't want to do that original film's story, when so many musicals kind of just cut and paste the plot of the movie that sold the tickets in the first place? My thought is the original movie, they find out that their winning cheer or all of their, you know, material basically was stolen from an inner city school, correct?

[14:33] Becky Birdsong: Correct. Yeah, the clovers.

[14:34] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: If I remember correctly. The clovers, yes.

[14:36] Becky Birdsong: Yeah, bird's cold in here. There must be some clovers in the atmosphere.

[14:41] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, yes, absolutely. So I wonder if they were just being cautious of that and just what that could mean. I mean, maybe it wouldn't sell. It does set up kind of a Jets and Sharks type situation where it's the white school against the black school. Yeah. And if they're going to take that on national tour, or, you know, putting it on Broadway, where people are going to be coming in all over the country and all over the world to see it, maybe they wanted it more universal, more pleasing, integrated, pleasing to the palette plot, maybe.

[15:22] Becky Birdsong: Yeah, yeah. I wonder the same thing. What I will say about the original film, though, is that that was the first moment I learned what appropriation was. To be honest, someone coming from a vanilla white Utah background, this idea that like, the white people got where they were because they stole all of their cheers from the black school who can't afford to go to nationals, so they're never going to find out, like no one's going to ever learn about that. That whole dynamic was completely foreign to me until I saw Bring It On. And that is ignorant, I will admit. And so I'm very, I'm actually kind of grateful that a super popular movie like Bring It On brought that to my attention.

[16:02] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah.

[16:03] Becky Birdsong: And it also makes me a little bit sad that they didn't continue with that, because I think it continues to be a very important conversation about minority contributions to art, and how those contributions are then taken and monetized, even, you know, whether it's for trophies or money. So I miss that. I do miss that from this new plot. But what the new one does give us, what the musical version does give us, is a lot more teamwork, a lot more of people working together toward a common goal. And I really feel like the big moral of Bring It On is, what is your definition of winning? Right? How do you define a win?

[16:42] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No, I agree. And, you know, thinking back to the musical and the plot, the white cheerleader who comes to the inner city school, surprisingly, and finds out, oh my gosh, you don't have a cheerleading team or a cheerleading squad. But wow, you guys are great dancers. What if I taught you guys how to cheer, and then you taught me how to dance? And ta-da! We have a cheerleading squad, you know?

[17:12] Becky Birdsong: Yeah, the collaboration of that.

[17:13] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: The collaboration. And that, you know, we're all human. We can, you know, pardon for what I'm about to say, but, you know, we can all get along and, you know, work together. And of course, it wasn't easy. They had to learn to, you know, like each other. But, you know, it's a beautiful message. Just look what we can do when we work together.

[17:31] Becky Birdsong: Yeah. And, you know, I love the song Cross the Line, because it's about, like, we don't, how do you know who you are until you push yourself past what you thought you were supposed to do, or what you thought you could do? And when looking at how this musical was put together, and who put it together, I think that that can be applied to everybody involved. Because, I mean, at this point, we look back at this creative team, and it's full of Pulitzer Prize winners and Tony Award winners. You got Tom Kitt, who had just come off winning a Pulitzer for Next to Normal. You got Amanda Green, who he had met in the Layman Engel Workshop, which I talk about all the time on the podcast, where, you know, composers learn how to essentially write musicals.

And they had written High Fidelity together. She also had written Hands on a Hard Body, if anybody has heard of that musical, which premiered on Broadway the same season as Bring It On. So, like, she's incredibly prolific during this year on Broadway. And then you've got a little guy by the name of Lin-Manuel Miranda, who, you know, people have heard of a little bit. But at this point, he had written In the Heights, Hamilton's Well on its Way, and so this is a little in-between stop.

[18:45] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And my cynical brain would think that maybe the white people started writing this musical, and then they realized, oh shoot, we have no idea how to write the inner city school. We need to bring somebody else in. Enter Lin-Manuel, right? And yet, a lot of the videos that I have found of this team talking gives insight to a very collaborative process where one composer, and they're all composers, one composer would come up with a chord progression and then pass it to somebody else who maybe felt more comfortable writing for a specific character and then they would pass it back. And so a lot of these long sequences, like, we'll talk about it obviously when we go through the plot, but Friday Night Jackson, where you're seeing all of these different characters and hearing their perspectives and yet it's all one song, that was only possible because they were collaborating, crossing the line, and passing the song back and forth to each other. And I find that incredibly inspiring as someone who tends to be a control freak with everything I do. That is very inspiring.

[20:00] Becky Birdsong: I had no idea that that was how they would, you know, write together. That's amazing. And how long would that take? My gosh.

[20:05] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Right? True, true. And I mean, there are songs where you're like, oh, this is definitely a Lynn song or oh, this is definitely Tom Kitt's song. But at the same time, it's a fascinating experiment that I don't think we have a lot of in musical theater. Back in the day, if a show was in trouble, you'd bring on Jerry Robbins, my friend Jerry, to look at things and, you know, do a show doctor, right? Do something that was probably uncredited. But in this case, we have three very talented, very prolific composers with very specific identities, all working together and saying right from the get go, this is as much my score as it is yours as it is yours. Impressive.

[20:45] Becky Birdsong: That's amazing. Yeah, that's amazing. I never knew that.

[20:49] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Then directing and choreographing, you've got Andy Blankenbuehler, who at this point had won a Tony for choreographing In the Heights.

[21:02] Becky Birdsong: Yeah, so he has the Lin-Manuel connection there. He really revolutionized, I think, a lot of Broadway choreography or just maybe musical theater choreography in general. And this was one of his first high profile director and choreographer situations, which I think was probably very exciting for him. He was a little nervous, though, from what I understand, because he went to an all boys school and had no concept of really of cheerleading at all. So he had to do a lot of research about cheerleading choreography. He brought on a woman by the name of Jessica. I'm sorry, Jessica, I don't have your last name here, who was a cheerleading coach and choreographer to help with a lot of the stunts, which it's not just one or two stunts in the show. It is a two hour musical filled with legit cheerleading. And then if that's not enough, you've got Jeff Witte writing the book who had won a Tony Award for Avenue Q.

[22:04] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: You're applauding.

[22:05] Becky Birdsong: I am applauding. I love Avenue Q. Oh, my gosh.

[22:09] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, my gosh. How cute.

[22:12] Becky Birdsong: Yeah, I super talented. I love Jeff Witte. So, so clever. I mean, he lives up to his name, right?

[22:20] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes. Good. We're also talking about somebody who, once again, is not afraid to cross the line. If you've got puppet porn stars and essentially talking about gay rights in a show with puppets, right? He also, I didn't realize this, but he was the first one who wrote Head Over Heels. And then, and then he ended up leaving the production once the creative team changed. But another show that really pushes boundaries in terms of gender and sexuality and in between those two is this show, Bring It On, which, with very little fanfare, brought us the first trans character in Broadway history. Let that sink in.

[23:06] Becky Birdsong: Yeah, that's incredible. This was 2010, 2011?

[23:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I mean, I think it was 2013. Like 2012.

[23:14] Becky Birdsong: Okay. Into the 2012, it went to Broadway.

[23:18] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Right, right, right. Yeah. Okay. And I think that's also I'm glad you brought that up because this is a really interesting time between the irreverence of the Book of Mormon and the full jump into mainstream hip hop musical theater of Hamilton. And Bring It On is kind of existing in that experimental stage, which leads to my hot take. I'm not entirely sure Hamilton would be what it is without Bring It On.

[23:41] Becky Birdsong: Interesting.

[23:42] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I remember hearing from somebody who I was working with, when Hamilton came out, they said, it sounds too much like Bring It On. And I was like, I don't know if that's a read. Like, I don't know if that's a decent criticism. Because, okay, great. So it sounds like Lin-Manuel. I don't know. That's my hot take.

[24:04] Becky Birdsong: I agree. No, I like that thread. I like that.

[24:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: But this is my long winded way of saying, regardless of what you think of this show, I think it stands in a really interesting experimental time in musical theater, that ultimately benefited us in a huge, huge way. And, you know, while we're talking about that, let's think about, you know, the people that were in the cast, Adrienne Warren, Ariana DeBose. And now look, look at them.

[24:33] Becky Birdsong: I mean, seriously.

[24:34] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, we haven't even gotten to that. Here I am just talking about like, the creative team. You're absolutely right. Holy cow. Even Taylor Louderman, right?

[24:44] Becky Birdsong: Louderman, yes. Taylor Louderman.

[24:46] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. So you know, and look at where they are now. You know, Adrienne Warren won a Tony, Ariana DeBose won a Golden Globe, and I think she's about to win an Oscar.

[24:54] Becky Birdsong: I agree. Oh my gosh, even in the clips, like the few clips that you can find of her, nobody moves like her.

[25:03] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. Oh my gosh, she's amazing.

[25:05] Becky Birdsong: Isn't she the best?

[25:09] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: She's amazing. Yeah. I mean, she pulls focus without pulling focus. You know what I mean?

[25:14] Becky Birdsong: No, you just want to look at her. That's all.

[25:17] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well, true. Yeah, exactly. Like, you just want to look at her because she's just striking in the way she moves, in the way she looks, in the way she, you know, she sings. Oh my god, you know, talking about a triple threat. She should not be able to sing that well and dance that well. It's not fair. At the same time.

[25:35] Becky Birdsong: Says Chita Rivera, right? How dare you, ma'am?

[25:41] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's incredible. And you are exactly right. So let's talk a little bit about when it does open. Like we said, it went on its national tour, ended up on Broadway, but just for a limited engagement. They didn't do like a big opening and say, we're running forever. They just said, we're running for this amount of weeks. Then they extended because it was popular enough to extend. And then they closed. It was long enough to get a cast album out of it. It was long enough for everybody to realize that there was a Bring It On musical. And it does manage to get a nomination for best musical, which I think surprised everybody. Let's look really quickly at what other musicals were nominated this year. For best musical, you had Kinky Boots, Matilda. That was the big rivalry, right? And then A Christmas Story and then Bring It On. It's almost like it knew it didn't need to be a hit in order to do everything it wanted to do. I don't know. What do you think?

[26:38] Becky Birdsong: That's interesting. No, that makes a lot of sense. I like that the creatives or the production team knew, like, these are the things we want to get out of it. So this is the length of time that we need.

[26:49] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And here we are covering it on the show, thanks to Olivia requesting it. So...

[26:55] Becky Birdsong: Thank you, Olivia.

[26:56] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Thank you, Olivia. We're going to take a mini break right now, and then we'll be right back to go through the show.

[27:06] Becky Birdsong: Okay, we're back and let's go through the show. Are you ready, Becky?

[27:08] Becky Birdsong: I'm ready.

[27:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So Act One begins, and we meet Campbell, as in the soup. And

[27:17] Becky Birdsong: Campbell is, I mean, how would you describe her? She's like every, she's like your stereotypical cheerleader, right?

[27:23] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah.

[27:30] Becky Birdsong: Yeah, stereotypical cheerleader, very gung-ho, very, you know, excited to be the new captain. And, you know, she wants to win the championship. She knows she's going to win the championship. You know, she's just a very optimistic teenage girl.

[27:40] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes.

[27:41] Becky Birdsong: I think the hardest role in the show, because the entire story revolves around her, plus her heart. And she's also like a privileged white girl. It's a difficult sell.

[27:57] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah.

[27:58] Becky Birdsong: But they have given her a lot of songs to try and get us on her side. There's this opening song called "What I Was Born to Do," in which she just, I mean, she honestly and sincerely in a part-of-your-world type of way is saying that cheerleading is her passion, right? This is what she was born to do. And this is also the moment in the show where the tricks begin.

[28:21] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Another interesting groundbreaking thing that they did, it wasn't just musical theater performers. They also had a handful of like professional cheerleaders in the show. Have you seen the Netflix series Cheer?

[28:31] Becky Birdsong: No, I've heard about it, but I have not watched it.

[28:37] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Season one was super inspirational. Season two was rough. I mean, these athletes are incredible. And there's a lot of toxic leadership going on. If you want to learn about toxic leadership, watch Cheer, because I learned a lot. I learned a lot, but also I respected them so much. They work so hard. And that kind of discipline gets pounded into you from a very young age. So way to go, you guys. They're all born to do it.

[29:03] Becky Birdsong: Campbell's very nervous because she's a junior in high school becoming a senior. She really wants the job of head cheerleader. And she's really hoping that all the girls will vote for her to be so. She ends up getting it, which she's very excited about. So her and her friends, which include Skyler, who's kind of your stuck-up rich girl, and Skyler's number two, whose name is Kyler. Kyler's name isn't really Kyler, but Skyler told her to change it to Kyler, so here we are.

[29:42] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: They all know those two. We all grew up with two of those in high school.

[29:48] Becky Birdsong: Bless their hearts. These names, Becky, can we talk about white people and their crazy names in post-2000? I was hosting a dance studio thing for my little sister because she had a dance studio. And so I was supposed to introduce all of the dancers as they were doing their numbers. And I looked down, and it's my bad. I did not look at the list beforehand to see if I needed any help pronouncing the names. The name was N-A-V-E-I-G-H. And it was Navy.

[30:26] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh.

[30:28] Becky Birdsong: Your face. I wish everyone could have seen your face.

[30:30] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I was about to say, was it Navy?

[30:32] Becky Birdsong: Right, or Naveh or something.

[30:34] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Naveh, yeah.

[30:36] Becky Birdsong: It's Navy, but everyone just got to be tricky. I'm sorry, white people. So anyway, we got Campbell, we got Skyler, we got Kyler. We probably got a Navy in there spelled with an E-I-G-H. And they are all attending tryouts to get the new team on. One of the new members of the team is going to be this girl named Ava, who is only a sophomore. But Campbell really sees a spark in her, and she knows that she'll work very hard. So she allows her on the team, even though she's just a sophomore.

[31:14] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Now they go to cheer camp. Go figure. And Ava is still really nervous. She's not doing great. And that is threatening their chances of winning the Spirit Stick, which if you're a fan of the movies, you know, the Spirit Stick is a big thing. And to boost Ava's confidence, Campbell promises her that she's going to be a sophomore Spirit Leader.

[31:37] Becky Birdsong: Now, what this means in the lore of Bring It On the Musical is that if Campbell can no longer be captain, and then Skyler can no longer be captain, and then Kyler can no longer be captain, then Ava as Spirit Leader has to step up and be captain. Of course, that's never going to happen, right?

[31:59] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Now, the thing is, two weeks before the end of summer, right before school comes back, Campbell receives this letter that tells her that there's redistricting going on, and now she is no longer going to Truman, where she was captain of the team. She now has to go to an inner-city school called Jackson. So, this whole section of the musical is about 25 minutes, and if I'm being completely honest, all I'm doing is twiddling my thumbs waiting to get to Jackson, because we all know that that's when the show really starts. Am I right?

[32:33] Becky Birdsong: Exactly. Yes.

[32:34] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I mean, and that's kind of the other tough thing about this version of the story, is that we all know our favorite characters are coming, and they can't come fast enough.

[32:45] Becky Birdsong: Yeah.

[32:46] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That sounded dirty. I'm so sorry.

[32:47] Becky Birdsong: Yeah.

[32:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, I remember feeling kind of the same way, like getting excited to see the people at this new high school, you know, which we all knew were going to be fabulous. Not that, you know, Ava and Skyler and Kyler and all of them were fabulous, but we just wanted to get to the good part, as they say.

[33:10] Becky Birdsong: Yeah. Yeah, 100%. I mean, this does bode well for diversity in theater. The fact that I'm sitting here and I can't wait for a Black person to show up. That being said, can you share any of your experiences in creating theater, in producing theater and fundraising that could shed a light that might be more profound than what I just said?

[33:35] Becky Birdsong: Yeah, let me think on that for a second.

[33:38] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Please, take your time.

[33:39] Becky Birdsong: I mean, you do have people who feel exactly like you feel, like we can't wait for, you know, the Black person to come on stage, or, you know, we can't wait for it to get to the good part. It could be a good and a bad thing, depending on who that person is, you know. So, it's kind of tricky. It's like, are you excited to see the Black person? Because you know that this is going to be the interesting part of the plot, meaning this is where you're going to see all of the good things that, you know, make you feel good. Like, yeah, Campbell's going to be the outsider. She's going to meet these, you know, inner city kids. And yeah, first there's going to be conflict, but then they're going to learn to work together and grow, and then the world is a beautiful place, you know.

Are you excited about it for that? Are you excited just because you just want to see some Black people on stage singing and dancing? You know, it's kind of a different, you know, it's a different motivation, I guess, for the lack of a better word. But, you know, coming from working at the theaters that, you know, I had the pleasure of working, you know, at previously at Center Theater Group and now at Pasadena Playhouse is that they really were looking for diversity. They understand Los Angeles is a very diverse city. So, we want all different colors, shapes, sizes, genders, religions, you know, on our stages, because that is Los Angeles. That's the world.

[35:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And, you know, the saying, is it art imitating life or life imitating art? You know, we influence it. Art influences life, life influences art. And I think the more that you continue to show or tell different stories of people, you know, that look like you, don't look like you, I'm sorry, I'm going to sound like, you know, we are the world, but I think it's just going to make us stronger. It's going to make us better. So, I think we have to keep pushing that type of art out there or putting it out there. I said pushing because it does kind of feel like we're doing that now because we've been on the back burner for so long. And now, it's going to be, it's going to take some time, but I think as if we continue to produce the art, that people will get more comfortable with it and will support it if they're not supporting it, and the people who are supporting it are going to keep supporting it.

[36:06] Becky Birdsong: That's beautiful. It's really interesting because I can almost picture subscribers at Center Theater Group rolling their eyes when they see that a musical about cheerleaders is going to be on the same season as their, you know, beloved Chekhov or whatever it might be.

[36:24] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That in and of itself is another form of variety, right? Just the kind, once again, that's kind of what popped in my head when you said the different kinds of stories that we have. Andy Blankenbuehler, once again, who is the director and choreographer, had this great quote. He said, we all have opinions on cheerleaders. In high school, we either hated the cheerleader, we had a crush on the cheerleader, we were envious, or we thought they were stupid. Whatever the cliché was, people have the same clichés about the show, meaning Bring It On. But in the end, we're really intent on creating a musical that's an exciting emotional story, and I think that's going to surprise some people. And isn't that the great universal truth of theater, is that no matter who the story is about, if it's connected to humanity, you will see yourself in it, and you will be moved.

[37:13] Becky Birdsong: 100%. I love that quote. 100%.

[37:17] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Thank you for sharing that.

[37:19] Becky Birdsong: Sure.

[37:20] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So now we're at Jackson, and Campbell, of course, feels like an outsider. Who she does run into, however, is this girl named Bridget, who was kind of a loser in her old school, and now she's turned into the most popular new girl at this school, because she's a little curvy. Instead of being a stick-thin white girl, she's kind of a girl with junk in the trunk, and now all of the boys at Jackson really like her. And so she has no idea how to handle that, and she's actually a really great character. But they're kind of embarking on this together. These songs, going back to back, "Welcome to Jackson," "Do Your Own Thing," "We Ain't No Cheerleaders," these are all great songs in which we meet all of the people at this high school, including Danielle, who's kind of the alpha. This is our beloved Adrienne Warren. She's also the leader of a dance crew that includes a girl by the name of Nautica, and La Cienega, La Cienega being our trans character.

[38:23] Becky Birdsong: And this is when I'm reminded, is this supposed to be taking place in LA County?

[38:29] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I believe so.

[38:31] Becky Birdsong: Because the musical feels very East Coast to me. It's not until I meet this character named La Cienega, which is a street that runs all the way through Los Angeles, that I'm like, oh wait, are we on the West Coast? I had no idea.

[38:44] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well, I think it could be anywhere. But yeah, La Cienega, I mean, it has to be.

[38:50] Becky Birdsong: Yeah, it has to be. 100%.

[38:54] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I believe the movie took place on the West Coast. It was LA and San Diego.

[38:59] Becky Birdsong: But the movie felt very West Coast to me. The movie felt like Bel Air meets Carlsbad.

[39:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I love my West Coast. Shout out for West Coast love. Here I am making fun of white people for naming their child Navy, and I'm like, but La Cienega's great. And it actually really evokes a scene for me. I'm such a hypocrite. Whatever.

[39:24] Becky Birdsong: The strong belief that this dance crew holds is that they are not cheerleaders.

[39:28] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No, no, ra-ra-za-spoomba.

[39:34] Becky Birdsong: Yeah. Because, I mean, what do you think comes with that? It's not cool to be a cheerleader.

[39:38] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: First of all, you look too eager. Nobody wants to look like they care about anything in high school.

[39:45] Becky Birdsong: That is so true.

[39:46] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And nobody cares more than cheerleaders.

[39:51] Becky Birdsong: So you have to be gorgeous in order to pull that off, or just kind of a little delusional.

[39:58] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: They're not interested in playing that game.

[40:00] Becky Birdsong: No.

[40:02] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: However, they do want to continue their dance crew. They let Bridget in because, once again, she's the cool new girl. Campbell really wants to find a way in as well. Danielle's not sure about it, but Campbell proves herself. She goes to see her at her fast food job and sticks up for her when a customer's being rude to her. By the way, everyone, please be kind. I was just on a couple of flights, and those flight attendants are so stressed out of their minds because of all of our crazy behavior. Everyone, please just be civil and kind.

[40:25] Becky Birdsong: But in the same way, Campbell is sticking up for Danielle. And so she says, okay, you stuck up for me. I appreciate it. You can perform with our dance crew, but you have to wear this old leprechaun mascot, which actually has a lot of layers to it, right? This area probably was Irish at one point.

[40:56] Becky Birdsong: And uh and so it they have this stinky old leprechaun suit that she makes Campbell dress in and dance in and she actually kills it when the time comes when Friday Night Jackson hits and everybody's watching them dance in fact everybody's watching leprechaun instead of the dancers and so Danielle's very impressed as is this boy named Randall. Now Randall is a character who appears in all of Tom Kitt's musicals. I don't know if you've ever thought about this.

[41:26] Becky Birdsong: No continue I'm intrigued. Okay so next to normal it's hey what's his name Henry? Yes yes Henry. This guy who sees the girl who's a little stressed out of her mind is like I see something in you and all you have to do is calm down and then in Freaky Friday which I love and I can't wait to do an episode on Freaky Friday one day you got the guy who falls in love with the girl who's actually the mom he has the weird song called like women and sandwiches where he's just like it's fine women are kind of kooky but like sandwiches have variety too so it's all good and then in this musical you've got Randall who's essentially doing the same thing that girl man she's yeah in a leprechaun suit but yeah even in that leprechaun yeah exactly yeah his little love song to the leprechaun yeah they're he they're always a little off a little bit of an outsider looking in and always really sweet and sympathetic so Randall's getting a crush on Miss Campbell.

[42:24] Becky Birdsong: Now one of the big fun plot twists in all of this is that Campbell then finds out after she's joined the that she's been let in on the dance crew that back at her old school Skylar turns out she failed home ec and so she can no because of her bad grades she can no longer be captain of the cheerleading squad and then Kyler who's right below her gets mono so she can't do it which means sophomore Ava is now captain and that starts to play on Campbell's insecurities she starts kind of inventing this plot that like Ava did all of this to spite her like that she's this evil genius who got her redistricted and made sure that Skylar flunked home ec and gave the other girl mono it's this whole conspiracy uh everyone's telling her like you you may have gone a step too far but it's enough to make Campbell step up and ask Danielle if they can start a cheerleading squad because she is not going to let sophomore Ava take her team to nationals she instead wants to inspire her own team there at Jackson and that's how the first act ends is with Campbell deciding to you know essentially create a conspiracy of her own.

[43:56] Becky Birdsong: Mm-hmm yeah a little paranoia a little bit of paranoia here before act two we're going to get a little bit of story time from one of the original cast members of bring it on so without further ado enjoy.

[44:10] Nikki Bohne Lloyd: Hello my name is Nikki Bohne Lloyd and I am so thrilled to be joining this bring it on episode special as it was a big and monumental part of my life creating this musical and being a part of the original Broadway cast so I initially started with bring it on the musical in oh was it 2011 maybe 2010 2010 um it was quite a while ago and I was cast as the standby for Skylar Kyler Ava and Campbell at the time of my auditions the show was very different and initially we took it on the road to workshop it and test out the stunts test out the book with audiences and the characters music everything was constantly changing um we found out we were going to Broadway during our run in Toronto and that was a huge and exciting deal we had always known that there was a good shot that the tour would move to Broadway but getting that actual notice of being transferred to a Broadway theater was a pretty incredible experience and then from there we were able to shape the show honestly I think the tour show versus the Broadway show was maybe 30 the same 40 the same it was a huge change they completely added new songs took away songs changed up the book and to have that constantly shifting was a very challenging job and one that I took very seriously and I am grateful that I did because one of my greatest memories and also most terrifying memories of being a part of the show was our opening night in LA we were playing the almonds in theater there and I had yet to really be on stage I hadn't we had you know we were putting together a brand new show so time was of the essence they were really just focused on getting the leads up and running for the first preview and not anyone else so I watched from the sides I watched from the audience I remember you know singing the songs on the treadmill I spent my lunch breaks my evenings memorizing scripts and music that changed every single day and I vividly remember it being our invited dress it was our invited dress rehearsal and the show finished and I'm just oblivious I think I had a friend there I was chatting with and all of a sudden someone taps me on the shoulder and says Nikki I think you need to go backstage so I started walking backstage and everyone's looking at me honestly like with this like with this face of are you okay like almost like condolence like wondering how are you feeling and I'm I was so confused and taken back by the energy um I get rushed onto stage and Andy Blankenbuehler our director just says start from the top and I was like okay as who start from the top is Campbell so I start you know I start and I'm I get about 15 minutes into the show and I turn to him and I go what is what's going on am I doing the show and he goes yes you're on for the one o'clock matinee in the morning as the lead I don't even know if I had time at that at point to even process what that meant so I just ran through the show until the stage um was shut down because they had to close at some point so I think I got a good 30 minutes on the stage I made it through about you know two-thirds of the show and they said okay you have to go home you have to go you have to go to bed so I went home I went to bed I texted my dad I said I'm on tomorrow as the lead in our first preview ever at one o'clock had to be a one o'clock matinee couldn't have been like an 8 p.m show where I had all day to practice but I went home I went to bed I woke up at six or seven and there really was no time for rehearsal I had to be thrown into costumes I had to be you know they had to fit my wig like I didn't even have costumes at the time like they weren't completed so they were throwing stuff on me they were trying to figure out how to just get me presentable for this first preview um not to mention I had also not really done any of the stunts I had maybe been in one stunt rehearsal so we had to modify all the stunts for me because I'm not a cheerleader none of the leads were we all had to learn to be cheerleaders and so I had to learn to do all that while at the same time trying to wrap my brain around a show I had never done I think there's a lot of times in your life where you're nervous but you think I've worked hard I've prepared for this I'm good but I sat in the wings thinking I tried to prepare but I'm really not prepared to do this I don't know if I can do this and I remember saying just a little personal prayer myself in my heart thinking like I really need some help getting through this show and I remember getting on the stage and the rest was a blur but at intermission I had the entire creative team come in I mean we're talking Lin-Manuel Miranda Tom Kitt Amanda Green Jeff Woody Andy Blankenbuehler they all run in at intermission and give me this giant hug and I just won't ever forget that moment where they just they were blown away it was pretty cool it was a pretty cool they said we have no idea we're watching out there and I gotta be honest I don't know what they were watching either because like I said I don't remember much of it but to have that kind of support and flooding during the intermission like that's just a moment I'll never forget and I finished the show the curtain went down everything was fine and I survived that moment I actually did the next two shows after that and then our lead returned who had a sprained ankle so that was probably the most memorable one of the most memorable days of my whole career um I mean just in in regards to the actual show itself was really really cool to be in the room where it happens for lack of better words because I working with Lin and um so many other incredible people I mean just geniuses watching them come up with songs and collaborate Lin has written his a lot of his own work on his own but it was interesting to see him work in conjunction with other writers and how they bounced ideas off each other how they you know laughed about certain things and let's switch this up and let's do this here and it was really cool to be a part of that creative process eventually I did get to take over for the lead Ava which is kind of the antagonist of the show and I was able to play her for about a month before we closed because Ellie got a role in a tv show so that was kind of cool because I was able to play a role a little bit more consistently and feel like really confident in it so it was nice to be able to get into a groove a little bit with that character really feel like I could put some layers on explore it a little bit and adopt that character into my persona as I would in a normal run and I think as far as what it contributes to musical theater I really think there was this big transition period right after bring it on I mean could have probably even before bring it on but um you know Lin has really shaped a lot of the new age broadway stuff and you can hear that in a lot of the bring it on bring it on music but that was kind of paired with like it's kind of in between a Lin-Manuel show and say like Illegally Blonde I thought it was a very interesting approach where they were trying to I think go for a little bit more of that youthful pop vibe on the album as well and I think we're we're continuing to see that on the broadway stage you know even just listening to things like six the musical and it's just it's all transitioning more to this really pops styling and that wasn't just the style of the songs it was like the style of how they approached the original broadway cast recording I feel like that was probably the most unique contributing element that bring it on brought to the broadway stage except in addition to the stunting which has never really been seen on broadway and that was another interesting element um I think you know you saw the Cirque de Soleil show and a few other things like Spider-Man was there at the same time as us and you see these you know this is this other realm of spectacle that we have yet to see but it was really cool working with cheerleaders seeing a different aspect of musical theater how you know we could show something different on a broadway stage it was not easy it's not easy I think especially cheerleaders those stunts are like hard on your body and doing that repetitively eight times a week I think is really tough we started seeing that um and how that can you know really impact people so I thought that was a very unique and special part of our show but that's um about it coming from me uh Nikki Bohne from Bring It On the musical it has been many years since I have put myself into a basket toss.

[54:34] Becky Birdsong: But those years were treasured, and I have fond memories of my time in BRING IT ON THE MUSICAL.

[54:47] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: All right, so in Act Two, once again, Campbell's trying to create this new cheerleading squad at Jackson. Danielle isn't all about it because she's really trying to get into college. And so Campbell lies and says that if you win nationals, you win a scholarship.

[55:04] Becky Birdsong: And that encourages Danielle to say yes. And everyone else is kind of catching the vision in this incredible song called It's All Happening. I mean...

[55:15] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, that's my favorite song of the show.

[55:18] Becky Birdsong: It's a bop, right?

[55:19] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, yeah.

[55:21] Becky Birdsong: There are a couple songs on this that are incredible, but this one is one of my all-time favorites. I mean, I left, I did leave the theater just singing, I guess it's, no, it's not the chorus, but, you know, it's, you know, let's go. Like, I just, it just stuck in your head.

[55:36] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Absolutely. And it feels so good.

[55:39] Becky Birdsong: It feels so good. Yeah, yeah, it just motivates you. Like, you just want to go out and, you know, do a cartwheel or something. I don't know.

[55:46] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It would be a really bad cartwheel on my end, but yes, I completely agree.

[55:52] Becky Birdsong: I can do a cartwheel, but I'll pull something doing it, so.

[55:56] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Let me stretch first.

[55:57] Becky Birdsong: Exactly.

[55:58] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And then we'll talk.

[56:00] Becky Birdsong: Yeah. Now, back at Jackson, there's a character by the name of Twig, who is played by the adorable Nick Womack. And Twig is obsessed with Bridget and her lady curves. And so Twig asked Bridget on a date and Bridget says, like, no, thank you. I literally have never been on a date before, so no. And Nautica and La Cienega come to her rescue and sing this great song called It Ain't No Thing, in which, like, they're telling her, if there's anything that's making you insecure, trust us, it's not that big a deal. Especially when you've got a trans character telling this girl, here, I'm going to pull up this lyric real fast.

[56:45] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Love who you are, and the world will adore you, and the couple that don't, at least they can't ignore you. Come on, that's so great. I love that.

[56:53] Becky Birdsong: That is beautiful. Yeah.

[56:55] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: If there is a spinoff of Bring It On, it should be Nautica and La Cienega. I want to see where those two end up.

[57:01] Becky Birdsong: I agree. And see if they're TikTok influencers or something, you know?

[57:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Ouch, you nailed it on the head.

[57:10] Becky Birdsong: Oh, my gosh. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. They are TikTok influencers. They now have a Netflix series where they're, like, redoing a motel.

[57:20] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes. All right. So, Bridget got her self-esteem boosted from these two. And so, she's going to say yes to Twig. Randall asked Campbell. Wow, that is going to be quite the wedding invitation.

[57:37] Becky Birdsong: Yes.

[57:38] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: They go on a little picnic, and everything seems to be fine, except for Danielle, who has discovered that Campbell lied about the college scholarships, and so breaks up the squad. She's like, nope, not happening.

[57:52] Becky Birdsong: Oh, Campbell, why'd you do it?

[57:53] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Exactly. And Randall sings her this great song, once again, comes to the rescue, and sings this song called Enjoy the Trip. Now, this song is about him loving the Grateful Dead. If you listen to it very carefully. Because I guess in high school, like his freshman year, he was very bullied. And then a janitor pulled him aside and said, hey, buddy, listen to this music, see if it'll make you feel better. And then it did.

[58:21] Becky Birdsong: And it's one of my favorite things that Tom Kitt did, because this has Tom Kitt written all over it. The fans of the Grateful Dead, and I've only found this out in the past year, because there's this researcher named Amy Cuddy, who looks like essentially a cheerleader. She's tiny and perky and blonde, and researches emotional health. And yet she is a total deadhead, obsessed with the Grateful Dead. And so whenever she posts on social media, it's usually about her going to a Grateful Dead concert. And one of her big messages is like, you don't know who is a fan of the Grateful Dead. You never know when you go into this community, which is like this, it's a true community in the way, and this is where I think it's brilliant, in the way that cheerleading is a true community.

You never know who you're going to see, and who this type of art has touched. And so the fact that Randall's taking this moment to tell somebody who's in her own community and feeling ostracized by her own mistakes, right, that take it in stride, come back to what you love and why you love it, and then realize that the rest is just life. It's, you know, enjoy the trip. It's a sweet moment.

[59:32] Becky Birdsong: That's lovely, yeah. So back at Truman High School, which is Campbell's old high school, you got Skylar, Kyler, and Ava, who are discussing the fact that the Jackson cheerleading team is now a no-go, and they're not going to be any competition for nationals, right? And as they're talking about that, Ava's like, oh, poor Campbell. I don't know why she would lie to them like that. That's terrible. I'm going to pray for her. And so the other two girls leave the stage, and so she, Ava, you know, says a prayer to God to, you know, bless Campbell that she'll find her way in the same way that Ava did. And that gives way to this song, Killer Instinct, in which Ava confesses that everything Campbell was worried about and paranoid about is true.

She 100% blackmailed her mother to transfer Campbell to schools. She hacked into the school system to give Skylar the grade, and then she intentionally, like, hired a boy to lick the toothbrush of Kyler so that she'd get mono. So, like, all of these suspicions were 100% true.

[1:00:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's, like, my favorite reveal. Evil genius in little Ava.

[1:00:48] Becky Birdsong: Yeah, I did not see that coming at all. I think it's, I think the show is best when you don't see it coming, because that's a really fun reveal. Back at Jackson, however, Campbell is, you know, repenting of her own sins. She's saying her own prayers and apologizing to Danielle. Danielle confesses that she has missed cheerleading, and so they sing their, like, for good song, because I knew you, we can be cheerleaders. And so now they're back on. It's going to be a Truman versus Jackson showdown. So now we're seeing the routines. I've never seen anything like this in a theater before. They're performing to, like, a canned song in the middle of the musical. Like, no one is singing this song live, right? Is that true?

[1:01:41] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Right. Yeah, I don't think it was live.

[1:01:41] Becky Birdsong: So Truman is performing their routine, Legendary, and it's amazing. Yeah, super clean. They're nailing all of their tricks. And then after the performance, Ava runs into Campbell, and she's like, wait, why are you guys here? And she's like, oh, we're back on. We're getting ready to perform. And Ava, like, spins this crazy, like, sociopathic monologue of, like, oh my gosh, you must be so, like, insecure because your team hates you. I would, I really hope that you perform well. Like, it is evil.

[1:02:22] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Evil. So evil, Ava. Right? Evil Ava is her name. And Danielle and La Cienega and Nautica all call her out on it. And we finally see Ava's true colors. She is Satan incarnate. Jackson then takes the stage to do their routine, which I've already talked about it many times, called Cross the Line. In this song, it starts out canned, right? Like, it's just performance, but then the whole cast starts singing along with it. And they kind of break all the rules in their performance. But it makes the crowd go crazy at this competition. They're chanting, Jackson, Jackson, they can't get enough. And Campbell's like, oh, I hope we'll win. And Bridget says something like, well, if they ignore the fact that we went a minute over, that we started singing in the middle of it, and that we kind of went out of bounds a lot.

[1:03:19] Becky Birdsong: Yeah, I think we have a great shot. So, the truth is that Jackson doesn't even place. Like, they don't get third. They don't get second. They don't get nothing. Truman does win nationals. But here's where it comes to the point of what is winning. Yeah, Ava gets the big trophy that is as tall as she is, and runs off like a little gremlin. And everybody else who may not have placed have realized everything that they have learned by going through this experience. Whether it's risking caring about something, or risking to tell the truth and be honest, whatever it is, being friends with someone who may be different than you, that is the true prize. That's the true victory. So, then they sing this last song called I Got You, which is a little bit of a downer after everything that we've just seen.

[1:04:11] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, the energy is so high. The energy is so high, nothing's gonna top it. So, they like bring it down to like a nice, nice mid tempo. But anyway, it's a feel good show. I'm really happy that it exists, once again, not only for what it gave birth to in terms of careers, in terms of projects that came later, but also giving, I think, young people something really fun to perform in their youth. I would have loved to have done this show when I was in high school. You know what I mean? Instead of Brigadoon. I love Brigadoon. I would have rather have done Brigadoon.

[1:04:46] Becky Birdsong: Exactly. It's a family show, too. You don't see a lot of those.

[1:04:53] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, that's true.

[1:04:53] Becky Birdsong: You know, touring or on Broadway.

[1:04:55] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: The purpose is to bring the twins.

[1:04:57] Becky Birdsong: To bring a family. Yeah. So, you know, going back to, you know, when you said, you know, Brigadoon isn't like for everyone who's like a subscriber at a theater or something. But, you know, it was something they could bring their grandchildren to, or their children to, or if they didn't want to see it, give the tickets away to a family they knew or, you know, something.

[1:05:17] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Bringing a whole new crowd to the theater. Absolutely. I hadn't even touched on that.

[1:05:22] Becky Birdsong: Yeah, exactly. I think it brought a lot of new people to the theater, which, you know, still speaks to burgeoning so much, so many other things.

[1:05:32] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: This would be the perfect show for Astuta Matinee, don't you think?

[1:05:36] Becky Birdsong: Yes, absolutely. I think we did have one.

[1:05:39] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, you had to have one.

[1:05:41] Becky Birdsong: We had to have had one. We had to have had one.

[1:05:43] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I wanted, I want regional theaters to do this so that they can, I mean, it'll give something for their educational outreach to do. Because kids, students would love to come see this show.

[1:05:53] Becky Birdsong: Yeah. It's important to have different types of theater, different types of art for different people. So, you know, as we were, like we were saying, like this was a perfect family, young person show. And you're not, no, you can't like plan a whole season of just that. It'd be great if you could, but you know, you have to kind of, you have to mix it up and have different shows for different people. So, but I really enjoyed it. And I loved going back down memory lane with you. It just really brought up a lot of good feelings.

[1:06:25] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh my gosh. Thank you, Becky. Thank you for doing this with me. I'm so grateful for everything that you're doing. As always, if you have recommendations for shows you'd like us to cover on a musical theater podcast, you can always email me at amusicalpodcast at gmail.com. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter at amusicalpodcast. We also have a TikTok. You can subscribe to Patreon exclamation point where for only $1 a month, you gain access to bonus episodes and special content made specifically for you in the month of February, Patreon listeners have gotten two, count them one, two special bonuses. What else do we have?

[1:07:07] Becky Birdsong: We also have a Tee Public store. If you're okay with using Spotify, we got playlists there where every episode we've done, we've picked one song and it goes in that playlist. You can find us there at AMTP, a musical theater podcast. So many things, so many ways to stay connected in this, our beautiful podcast community that I am so grateful for. Hey, Miss Becky, how do we follow you or anything you may be up to?

[1:07:31] Becky Birdsong: Well, you can follow me also on social media, Instagram and Twitter at Becky Byrd. And thank you very much.

[1:07:37] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes. Becky, keep killing it. Hope to see you at the theater soon.

[1:07:45] Becky Birdsong: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. In the meantime, everybody out there listening, how do you know who you are unless you cross the line?