Are you ready, Wildcats? 🏀
Hope Mill Theatre and the Lowry have brought East High to life with Disney’s High School Musical, and if you’re a fan of the original 2006 film, you’re in for a treat. This is a huge production that successfully brings the magic, energy and nostalgia of the movie to the stage, while giving this much-loved story its own identity.
Tobias Turley and Leonora Correia take on the iconic roles of Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez respectively, and let me tell you, these two are extraordinary. It would have been incredibly easy to simply replicate what Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens did on screen nearly 20 years ago, but Turley and Correia wisely make the roles their own. Their chemistry feels completely natural, and vocally they are exceptional. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that their vocal performances are stronger than those of the original film portrayals.
From Start of Something New through to Breaking Free, the pair completely understand what makes Troy and Gabriella such an instantly lovable pairing. Their performances capture the innocence and excitement of two teenagers discovering something unexpected while also having the confidence to put their own stamp on two characters that are already so familiar to audiences.
And then there’s Kaycee Stroh. Twenty years after she first appeared as Martha Cox in the original High School Musical, Stroh returns to East High — but this time she’s on the other side of the classroom as Ms Darbus, the wonderfully eccentric and extremely enthusiastic drama teacher.
Stroh is clearly having an absolute ball with the role. Ms Darbus is determined that the school’s production of Romeo and Juliet will be a success, and Stroh embraces every bit of the character’s theatricality. Seeing her return to the High School Musical universe after all these years is a lovely touch for fans of the original, and she provides plenty of the comedy and personality that keeps the production moving.
Jason Donovan takes on the role of Coach Jack Bolton, Troy’s basketball-obsessed father, and gets his teeth into a character who could easily have been played as nothing more than the stereotypical demanding sports coach. Instead, Donovan gives him a little more depth.
There’s no doubt that Coach Bolton loves his son, but there’s also an interesting question running underneath the character: is he pushing Troy because he genuinely believes in his son, or because he is trying to live out his own hopes and dreams through him? Donovan balances that conflict nicely, making Coach Bolton both amusing and surprisingly relatable.
Of course, no High School Musical would be complete without the Wildcats, the basketball team, the cheerleaders and all those instantly recognisable musical numbers — and this production absolutely delivers.
The staging is an absolute masterclass. The production design, choreography, lighting and set work together to make East High feel like a living, breathing place. The basketball sequences in particular are brilliantly staged, with the audience genuinely feeling as though they have been transported into the middle of a Wildcats game. There is an infectious energy in the auditorium during these moments, and you can’t help but get swept up in it.
It’s that energy that makes this production work so well. The cast throw themselves into the choreography and musical numbers, while the production manages to recreate the larger-than-life feel of the film without ever feeling like a cheap copy.
And ultimately, that is probably the biggest compliment you can give this High School Musical. It understands that the audience already loves these characters and songs, but rather than simply trying to recreate the film beat-for-beat, it embraces the theatricality of the story and gives the cast room to make it their own.
Whether you grew up watching Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay and the Wildcats on Disney Channel or you’re discovering High School Musical for the first time, there is something here for you. It’s big, colourful, energetic and packed with nostalgia — exactly what you would want from a stage adaptation of one of Disney Channel’s most beloved films.
So grab your red and white, get ready to stick to the status quo (or absolutely not), and head to East High.
We’re all in this together — and this production is a winner.
Dan Smith
For Canal Street Media