High School Musical 2
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Updated: October 28, 2009 5:37 PM
The screaming started before the curtain lifted.
It didn’t stop until the first musical number finished. Throughout the rest of the juicy, bubblegum drama, the pre-teen audience sang along to every score, young girls dreaming that someday they’d have a high school locker neighbouring a hunky basketball player.
“It was definitely the best audience you could hope for,” North Vancouver actress Jessica Kelly said. “I just think it made me realize how popular this thing was.”
So popular that she’s found herself in her second production of High School Musical 2, the latest at Centennial Theatre.
But this time she’s ready.
“We were sitting in the dressing room and kids started sneaking in through the stage door,” Kelly said of her introduction to the hit musical. “After that night we had to hire security.”
Reflecting on the situation, it’s not surprising, she noted. Disney channel’s first High School Musical movie was viewed by more than 225 million doting eyes. The story’s plot mimics the ageless tale of Romeo and Juliet, this time around with a brainy girl and all-star basketball champ whose star-crossed paths collide at a high school play. But this one has a happy ending.
Kelly grew up with red-headed Annie, West Side Story and the playful teasing of the Pink Ladies, but this is the first musical that really speaks to the Facebook generation, Kelly said.
“I teach musical theatre and I would say I am getting more kids (coming) because of High School Musical,” she said, who holds the classes at John Braithwaite Community Centre.
The series has really brought musicals into the mainstream, actor Brandyn Eddy said.
Like Kelly, it’s the Capilano University musical theatre graduate’s second round of the show. He plays Ryan Evans, twin of Sharpay who is determined to breakup the production’s central high school sweethearts.
“(The play) was nothing like I had experienced before,” Eddy said. “There is something about 700 screaming 10-year-olds, that’s something very different.”
With an onstage band and flashy light show, it’s more like a pop concert, he said.
Crowds of crazed 10-year-olds jive in the isles, having learned the musical’s dance numbers from Disney’s “How to” guide that accompanies the movie, Eddy said.
But it’s not just the kids who lip sync along with the phenomenon, Kelly noted with a smile.
“The parents love it too. You think they would have heard it enough times that they wouldn’t want to hear it again, but they love it.”
High School Musical takes to Centennial Theatre’s stage Nov. 4-22. For more information call 604-984-4484 or visit www.centennialtheatre.com.
raldous@northshoreoutlook.com
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