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One cheer for 'We Are the Tigers'

One cheer for 'We Are the Tigers'
One cheer for 'We Are the Tigers'

NEW YORK — If a toilet is a prominent element of a show’s set, rest assured it will be used.

And so it is in the new cheerleading musical, “We Are the Tigers.” Since the show is about teenagers, the bathroom action involves drunken vomiting. And since it is a horror comedy, the upchucking is followed by a brutal murder.

For some of us, the combination of cheerleaders, jump scares and songs makes for a tantalizing mix. After all, high school boosting has long been a staple of horror films, from “Cheerleader Camp” to “Jennifer’s Body.” And the activity was entertainingly staged in “Lysistrata Jones” and “Bring It On: The Musical,” which played Broadway in 2011 and 2012.

Unfortunately, Preston Max Allen’s meandering show is a textbook example of how to squander a promising concept. There is almost no cheering and not nearly enough slashing; on the other hand, there is an abundance of exposition, often done via samey-sounding tunes that echo each other. (The play’s East Village venue, Theater 80 St Marks, once hosted “Silence! The Musical,” a fantastically funny spoof of “The Silence of the Lambs,” which proved that music, horror and comedy can be combined into a winning package.)

Most of the first act consists of an extended introduction to the Giles Corey High cheerleaders as they prepare for their traditional annual sleepover, hosted by the ambitious, brittle captain, Riley (Lauren Zakrin).

The teenagers are all out of central casting, cheer division. They include the heavy-drinking Farrah (Zoe Jensen) and the Vicodin-popping Chess (Celeste Rose), whose ambition to become an Olympian gymnast was derailed by an injury. There’s Chess’ best friend, Kate (Jenny Rose Baker) — you can tell she’s rebellious because she is acerbic and wears a flannel shirt tied around her waist. Annleigh (Kaitlyn Frank) is a devout Christian who has been holding out on her boyfriend of six years (Louis Griffin). Reese (MiMi Scardulla) is the mascot desperate to join the team.

As for Eva Sanchez (Sydney Parra), first seen delivering a pizza, she is a brilliant cheerleader at a rival school and the only one to get a last name — which is a quicker way to indicate her background than endowing her with a personality or backstory.

After lengthy numbers outlining not very tangled knots of ambition, resentment and feuds — if you have also seen “Clueless, the Musical,” you might start wishing you were back at that hapless show — a mysterious foe sets out on the girls with a sharp blade.

For no plausible reason whatsoever, Riley’s bestie, Cairo (Wonu Ogunfowora), argues against calling the police, and the team’s newest member, Mattie (the very funny Cathy Ang, last seen in “KPOP”), is subsequently scapegoated straight into an orange jumpsuit.

Every once in a while, Allen, who wrote the book and score, suggests the satire that could have been, as when Riley earnestly laments, “I just wanted to cheer, and people died.” Or when Mattie sweetly says, “Sorry, Mom and Dad, prison has hardened me” after letting out an expletive.

But the show can never quite figure out what it wants to say, or how, and the sluggish pace is hampered by Michael Bello’s slack direction. Scenic designer Ann Beyersdorfer’s idea of a basement girl-cave is unnecessarily outlandish — complete with a decked-out kitchen that is never used — and actually prevents efficient blocking.

The show’s most notable positive is that the cast of 10 features nine women. Most of them deserve to move on to brighter projects.

Event Information:

‘We Are the Tigers’

Through April 17 at Theater 80 St Marks, Manhattan; 866-811-4111,tigersmusical.com.

Running Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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