- guardian.co.uk, Sunday February 3 2008 10.59 GMT
- The Observer, Sunday February 3 2008
How to explain the High School Musical phenomenon? The 2006 American TV movie spawned a popular sequel (and HSM3 is in the making), a sellout live US tour and a version on ice, while the CD of its music went quadruple platinum and the first DVD sold 12...#8239;million copies in six days. A year-long British tour of the live show has just begun and is selling fast; £9m of tickets have already gone.
Fans of the high-school movie genre - including classics such as Grease, Fame and Fast Times at Ridgemont High - will recognise HSM's paint-by-numbers set-up. Basketball jock Troy (Ashley Day) meets brainiac Gabriella (Lorna Want) and they discover a mutual love of singing, which sets them apart from their cliques. They audition for the school musical, but are thwarted by the wily drama-club president Sharpay (Helen George).
It's easy to mock Disney shows, but if the target audience of young girls, who are bombarded by messages of attaining impossible perfection, understand HSM's moral heart - of being true to yourself - that's surely a good thing. In David Simpatico's adaptation, that message comes across clearly; he has removed the films' huge dollop of cheesiness, so it's more palatable for grown-ups, too.
A quick vox pop at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley, south London, where I saw the show last week, revealed it was a hit. Lizzie, 14, from Biggin Hill, Kent, said she enjoyed it hugely. 'It's nice to see it for real. I think Troy and Gabriella are really good, although maybe Sharpay could be a bit meaner.' For sisters Shona, seven, and Becky, five, from Croydon, the show's appeal lay elsewhere. 'We go to dance classes every Saturday,' Shona said, 'but the dancing here is much better.'
