by Ceci LeBeau
5/17/2015

Joy was overflowing as the entire cast belted out the finale, "We're All in This Together" at the Middle School last night. This song, an affirmation of care, friendship and unity could be the younger set's "Imagine." Roberta Weiner's Prana Production of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL captured the story of exclusion and divisiveness turned into support and inclusiveness brilliantly.

Set in a modern day high school, the story begins much like GREASE with a boy and a girl meeting on vacation and then being amazed to find themselves in the same school when vacation is over. Samantha Paquette as Gabriella and Jack Randlett as Troy carry their parts as honest, hard working students with ease, and convey the innocence of a blossoming love well. Their foils, Erin Kipp and Josh Taylor, are cynical, conniving, self-centered...and hilarious! As the embodiment of the queen of the teen scene, Sharpay, Erin nearly steals the show. Her vocal range is amazing, and she has just the right strut to keep the audience laughing. Josh as Ryan plays the hen-pecked boyfriend with flair.

Considering that the average age of the student actors was probably 8 or 9, the choreography was truly outstanding. The show opened with an inserted "Elementary School Musical," with songs from THE KING AND I and ANNIE, which children from Kindergarten through fifth grade carried off with aplomb. This group then sang "The Start of Something New" from a raised aisle with contagious enthusiasm. The stars' couples dancing was excellent, especially in the classy "Bop to the Top" number. The rowdy, active school scenes, the cheerleading scene, the concentrated classroom scenes and basketball scene all showed hours of practice. The spoof of drama class, with Kathleen Mulready as the over-the-top drama teacher, was artfully done with a Chinese gong and a billowing scarf nearly down to her shoes.  Katie North and Jason Stokes as the friends who try to sabotage Gabriella and Troy's chance to try out for lead parts in "Juliet and Romeo" were convincing as they dashed back and forth between right and wrong.

The message of this wholesome Disney show will appeal to anyone who ever survived adolescence. The Sharpays of the world, with their insistence on cliques and conformity, are exposed, and are even regretful in the end. Just as the entire cast sings the soaring "Breaking Free," with its memorable line "there's no star that we can't reach," that cast is made up of the tall and the small, the melodic warblers and the screechers, the stand outs and the shy. There is room for everyone in this marvelous musical, just as there is in all Prana Productions.