Brooklyn Alexis Freitag was born in Carlyle and lived here until the age of five. She moved to Florida at that time and she began cheering there. She traveled with her cheer team to countries most blond-haired, blue-eyed girls would not dare go.
She then moved to Kentucky with her family and after finding out about the auditions for Bring It On: the Musical; she went full force into preparing her audition. She wore a hot pink wig and sang, 'This Love' by Maroon 5. The casting crew liked her peppy fun attitude and asked her to join the ensemble.
"I remember baking cookies with her when she was younger," said her aunt. "She said she hated her name, Brooklyn Alexis, and wanted it changed. When we asked what she wanted to change it to, she said Sparkie."
She began as a gymnast, but when a girl on the cheerleading squad broke her foot a week before a big game, they tossed Brooklyn into the spot.
"She was always a confident, talkative girl," said her aunt. "She was so different from her quiet and shy brothers."
The musical features sky- high gymnastics, cheering, acrobatics, tumbling, aerial and stunts. As well as having to sing and act.
Due to the high difficulty of the cheerleading choreography; the production uses seasoned cheerleaders, as well as Broadway gypsies with a 50/50 split, using the best talent available from each world.
Although the Musical is based on the 2000 movie and it's straight to DVD sequels, the story is not the same. The writers have changed it up, while keeping the same cheerleading atmosphere, and adding more dynamic characters.
"The opening night in Toronto was the same day as her grandfather's funeral. But we told her to stay put and make us proud," said her aunt. "I will be taking her grandmother down to see her perform, before it hits Broadway."
The show is put on eight times a week, and is currently at the Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto.
The story is that of Campbell, a peppy blond heroine, a rich cheerleader, who was enrolled at Truman High and was the captain of the cheer squad. After a change in the school district area, she is forced to enroll at tough, inner-city Jackson High instead.
Campbell suddenly has to prove her talents are more than just cheerleading to get into the school's street dancing crew and be accepted. The plot is full of backstabbing and dramatic friendships coming to an end, which leads to turning a street dancing crew into cheerleaders so they can beat the rich girls at the upcoming nationals.
The show runs until June 3 in Toronto, and the crew hopes to be going to Broadway after that.
"Music was always in the family, you could always hear it coming through my parents walls at night, and now Brooklyn is keeping that in the family with bring it on." Her aunt explained.
