\'Bring It On\' and \'Closer Than Ever\' Extend Runs

By STEVEN MCELROY

Gimme an E! Gimme an X! Gimme … Well let's cut to the chase: The Broadway production of “Bring It On: The Musical” will continue through Jan. 20 at the St. James Theater, the show's producers announced on Thursday. It had been scheduled to close on Oct. 7.

“Bring It On,” inspired by (but not based on) the 2000 movie, is about rivalry among high school cheerleading squads and features gravity-defying choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler (also the director). The show began previews July 12 and opened Aug. 1. Reviews were good, or good enough, with many critics describing the production as vibrant despite a predictable storyline.

The extension lengthens an already unusual journey for “Bring It On,” which arrived on Broadway after a developmental production at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta and a 13-city North American tour that ended in Toronto in June. A new musical opening on Broadway in midsummer is unco mmon, and the producers of “Bring It On” took something of a leap of faith in doing so. But then the prior tenant of the St. James - appropriately enough that was “Leap of Faith” - closed suddenly in the wake of negative reviews and the St. James became available.

“Bring It On” features a book by Jeff Whitty (“Avenue Q”), music by Lin-Manuel Miranda (“In the Heights”) and Tom Kitt (“Next to Normal”), and lyrics by Mr. Miranda and Amanda Green (“High Fidelity”).

Off Broadway, the York Theater Company has announced an extension, too. The revival of “Closer Than Ever,” the 1989 revue with music by David Shire and lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr., will run through Sept. 30. This is the second extension for the show, which opened at the Theater at St. Peter's Lutheran Church on June 20.