Sunday, July 22, 2012

LOGOS: Bring It On: The Musical

I have to admit that I like the National Tour logo for Bring It On: The Musical just a little bit more than the one they came up with for Broadway.  BUT I really like them both, and for entirely different reasons.

THE BROADWAY LOGO: Grade A

I think the thing that gets me down about the Broadway logo is the title lettering.  By itself, as it was first introduced when the marquee went up, it tells us exactly NOTHING about the show, except that it is modern.  It doesn't look like the lettering from the film - a good choice, since the show is trying to distance itself from the movie franchise - and is about the only positive I can think of about it.



That is until they added the logo to the title, which now supports the image and still manages to stick out enough that we know what show to look up for tickets.  The truth is, cheer leading is the most, perhaps only, really important thing about the show, and making the logo so creative and dominant is a very smart choice, and in the process, reveals a smartness - a "grown-upness" - about the project.  In other words, teens, bring the folks, cuz they'll like it to!



The leaping cheerleader silhouette, back arched in athletic joy, dominates the logo: we know that the familiar title is at least about the familiar subject we think it is.  But like all the best, most interesting show logos, the details are what really makes it work.  Inside the silhouette are 5 production photos that tell us a lot: two head cheerleaders eyeing each other, but smiling reminds us of the film; cheerleader finds romance with cute guy, different, sneering cheerleader hints at trouble in the ranks; two unique looking teens introduce us to the idea that there will be new characters in this version; and finally, a dancer doing her thing taps into the fact that this is a musical, not just a cheerleading show.  And faster than you can say, "Rah! Rah!" you have a pretty cool, attractive and telling show logo.

THE NATIONAL TOUR LOGO: Grade A

So, why do I like the tour logo a smidgen better?  Two reasons: the lettering and the symmetry.  First, the lettering just screams varsity sports.  And, second, the symmetry of the layout is both comfortable and still exciting.  Topped with a cheerleader doing a split, the logo tells me that the cheering will be of the skillful-cheering-really-is-a-sport caliber.  And the photo at the bottom, cheerleader hands stretched up (and from two different teams - check out the wrist sweatbands), ready to catch her and pointing at the title, finishes off the clean sharpness of the entire thing.


As you can see from the above, there are two permutations of this logo.  I think I like the blue on better.  It catches my eye more and it has the slick arena lights in the background that just screams athletic competition and (a little bit) theatricality.


Jeff
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