'High School Musical On Stage' opens April 26-27

Posted on: Apr 18, 2019

The first musical to dance its way across the Delano High School Performing Arts Center stage is one that nearly 100 cast, crew and pit orchestra members grew up watching on TV and in the movie theater.

“Disney’s High School Musical On Stage” is an adaptation of the 2006 television movie that became its own franchise and gave a new generation a G-rated Grease-style tale of athletes, brainiacs, thespians, skater kids and others breaking social boundaries and finding common ground. Click here to choose your seats and buy tickets.

“The kids are very excited about it because they grew up with it and the little kids in town have grown up with it also, so they have expectations of having a good time,” said director and DHS language arts teacher Joe Lawrence. “It’s metaphorically about why we do these things, why people should push themselves to try something new and get outside their comfort zones and not just stick with their cliques in the status quo. It questions the way teenagers think about school and each other, and in doing that we’ve actually brought in a lot of kids who haven’t done theater before. We have a lot of new talent.”

Shows will be performed over two weekends. The first weekend includes performances at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, April 26-27. The second week includes 7 p.m. shows on Thursday and Friday, May 2-3, and a matinee at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 4. 

“It’s going to be good for everybody, from grandma and grandpa to little kids,” said Lawrence. “The story is fun. It’s a good message. Everything about it is solid. Even theater enthusiasts like myself who might be a bit snooty will like it in spite of themselves because it’s fun and high-energy and the kids are having a blast. Sometimes you have to do some crowd pleasers, and that’s what this show is.”

Rookies and veterans
The story revolves around a school’s star basketball player and an intellectual newcomer who are attracted to one another despite their differing interests. When they decide to try out for the school musical together, however, they meet resistance from teammates, established thespians, and other social groups. In the process, they help other students acknowledge their hidden interests and come together.

Lead characters Troy and Gabriella are played by rookie actor Brock Wuerger and Lydia Ramstad, who joined theater for the first time in the fall. Both are seniors. 

Junior Brody Paul plays Chad Danforth, Troy’s basketball sidekick, and is also a first-time actor.

“I wasn’t playing a spring sport and I wanted to try something new,” Paul said. “Honestly, I’m getting a lot more out of it than I expected. Vocally, I’m learning a lot of things that I never would have imagined. I was usually just a sports guy, but this is awesome. I love what I’m doing now. I’ve gained a lot of new friends and I still get to play basketball, which is great.” 

On the other end of the theater experience spectrum is senior Juniper Anderson, who is playing skater girl Avril in her final high school show.

“I’ve been doing this since seventh grade, and this is definitely one of my favorite shows,” she said. “I like that we have a much bigger variety of people. It’s not just the same 20 people it always used to be.”

Fellow theater veterans Autumn Trujillo, who plays a thespian named Dante, and Mari Olson, who plays the scheming Sharpay, agreed.
“It has a much bigger cast than any of the other musicals I’ve been in, so that adds another element to it,” Trujillo said.

“I’ve done a lot of shows. This one has been a lot of fun because there are a lot of people you wouldn’t expect to be in theater, and Joe really does a good job of bringing everybody into this,” said Olson.

Another newcomer is seventh-grader Presley Pawelk, who Lawrence recruited specifically for her dancing skills.

“‘High School Musical’ was the first movie I ever saw in theaters, so that’s been fun,” she said.

While the cast is a mix of new and experienced actors, Lawrence said the group is excelling together through the extra challenges posed by a musical.
“When it comes to singing, a lot of them are choir kids. They have training. They just have to learn to sing this different style,” he said. “Choir and musical theater is a lot different, but I’m excited about it. Our leads are really solid. Our chorus is really, really good, and it’s a good ensemble.”

Settling into the space
When high school students took the stage last fall for “The Complete Works of Shakespeare [Abridged],” the cast and crew had only just been introduced to the new PAC. Now that a number of concerts and other shows have taken place in the space, Lawrence was eager to make greater use of the facility’s possibilities.

“Last time we only had two days, so we were essentially just turning on the lights on and making sure people could see,” he said. “Now we can do a lot more with lighting and sound and tech. We’re going to use the fly system. We’re trying to do as much shock and awe as possible.”

Anderson said that while she is sad to see the end of her high school acting career approaching, it has been fun to watch the development of the theater program’s numbers and capabilities.

“It’s so cool to see how it’s progressed and how we have the drama boosters helping us out with this,” she said. “It was such a small production before. Now it’s big.”

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