The musical follows a cheerleading captain and her team trying to survive the annual cheer sleepover when a serial killer strikes.

The show premiered in Los Angeles at the Hudson Backstage Theatre in 2015, and an Off-Broadway production played from February to April 2019.

Cairo suggests a game of truth or dare and makes Mattie, the freshman on the team, drink the contents of Farrah's bottle.

The doorbell rings and Cairo and Annleigh introduce themselves to the pizza delivery girl, Eva Sanchez, who they recognize as the star cheerleader of West High's team, who are the Tigers' rivals.

When the other girls come running in after hearing her scream, Reese lets them assume Clark was killed by the same person as Chess and Farrah.

Outside, Kate and Annleigh struggle over their feelings for their dead loved ones, with the ghosts of Farrah, Clark, and Chess watching them and asking them to promise not to forget them ("Move On").

Mattie is back from Juvie, Cairo is the new cheer captain, Annleigh has met a new guy in grief counseling, and Kate is dating Eva.

Reese starts to show them all the new cheer and they all, including the ghosts of Farrah, Chess, and Clark, as well as Riley, who is in prison, reflect on moving on and healing with the support of each other ("Finale").

Additionally, the spoken track "Time-Out" is featured on the cast album before "IDK" and is performed out-of-character by Zoe Jensen, who played Farrah.

[8] Hosted by New York City's Musical Theatre Factory, a concert with songs from the show was performed at Joe's Pub on August 26, 2018.

The cast featured Callandra Olivia as Riley, Jade Johnson as Cairo, Cailan Rose as Kate, Rachel King as Annleigh, Gabi Hankins as Reese, Talisa Friedman as Farrah, Adam Cropper as Clark, Cait Fairbanks as Chess, Charlotte Mary Wen as Mattie, and Ari Afsar as Eva.

It was directed by Michael Bello, with choreography by Katherine Roarty and musical arrangements and orchestration by Patrick Sulken.

Editors of The Advocate wrote that the world premiere of We Are The Tigers, "combines elements of mean-girls stories and teen horror movies to come up with a fresh, often hilarious, and sometimes moving tale of trying to survive high school"[14] and Examiner.com gave the musical five stars, saying: "[T]he songs are wonderful and the performers, besides having great voices, have perfect comic timing".

[citation needed] Steven Stanley, writing for StageSceneLA, called the show, "a genre-bending, rule-breaking new musical which, while not yet ready for off-Broadway, features engaging characters, catchy songs, and sensational performances that make its World Premiere run at the Hudson Backstage an entertaining Halloween season treat.

"[15] However, Deborah Klugman in LA Weekly said, "The talent is certainly there... but it’s hard to gauge its full measure in a thoughtless vehicle like this one", calling it "another painfully sexist, stupid musical".

The cheerleader-centric storyline consists of a generic collection of mean-girl cliches that were tedious even when this sort of comedy was trending in 1990s.

David Clark wrote in BroadwayWorld that the show "makes you forgive its missteps by being infectiously plucky and actually fun.

"[20] The New York Times's Elisabeth Vincentelli wrote: "Unfortunately, Preston Max Allen’s meandering show is a textbook example of how to squander a promising concept.

[21] Zachary Stewart of theatermania.com stated: "This cheerleaders-in-a-basement screamfest is not a great musical – nor is it an unpleasant way to spend two hours and change," saying "I laughed during We Are the Tigers, but not nearly as much as I'd hoped to.

There's a truly crazy (and crazy-funny) musical lurking in here somewhere, but Allen would have to clear out some of the tall grass he's grown around the show to find it.

Add in the rock solid, powerfully sung, beautifully acted performances by every member of this tight knit ensemble, and you get a killer evening of musical theater.

"[23] The cast album, released on April 26, 2019,[24] received a positive review from Broadwayworld, where Clark wrote: "Each of these talented and capable singers makes these tracks memorable and tunes that your heart will ruminate on for some time ... don't be afraid to get swept away by the bops and beats as long as you're willing to listen to and reflect on these well-crafted stories.