[BlogEntry] High School Musical : The Play

I knew what High School Musical was just based on the sheer amount of television I watch. But I was surprised when my at the time 4yr old started getting into it. It seems that her friend was having a HSMusical-themed birthday party. Fair enough. So we watched the movie with the kids, and other than the singing and dancing, I think the plot went right over their heads. Science decathalons? Basketball playoffs? Eh.

Fast forward nearly a year, and for K's fifth birthday we got tickets to take her and her sister to the play. I was curious how they'd handle it. I'm a big theatre geek, but I prefer my stuff a little bit on the … deeper? side.

I have to say, I was impressed very impressed. The plot is for the kids, of course – smart girl and dumb jock boy get together to sing for the musical, despite all the cliques that tell them they're breaking the status quo (in a musical number that for some reason makes me think of Little Shop of Horrors' "Down On Skid Row"). The singing and dancing is actually very good. If you like big, full-cast numbers that shake the back wall of the theatre, that's exactly what you get with this one. There is one really weird scene in the middle where there's a slow love song, and for some reason a couple of dancers come out and do this little ballet thing while the stars are singing. Very West Side Story. But that was the only real slow point.

A special nod, too, to the stage direction. There's a point in this place, near the finale, that has no less than three crowd scenes going on simultaneously – the musical auditions (where two students dance some sort of tango/rhumba number), a science competition, and…get this…an actual slow motion basketball game, complete with two teams of players, ball in play, and basketball net with backboard suspended from the ceiling. All timed out to a single musical number, no less. I was quite impressed. Maybe not helicopter-in-Miss-Saigon impressed, but still it was damned cool.

The kids did very well. K kept asking me "Where's Gabrielle?" until I pointed her out, and then she was happy – until the second half when she kept asking me what song they were on. I think she was getting tired. E, on the other hand, appeared to be watching a different show than the rest of us. When I asked her favorite character she said something that, as best I could figure out, involved "The beauty who danced with the beast."

Overall, very impressed, glad we went, excellent show for the family.