Thursday, July 3, 2008

Theater Review: High School Musical

By Mark-Brian Sonna of MBS Productions

The Fair Park Music Hall’s lobby was overflowing with families. Excitement was in the air. The energy from the audience arriving was palpable. The lobby had multiple concession stands of souvenir merchandise. I spotted a hot pink T-shirt that had emblazoned on it "I Love Troy Bolton." I was ready to buy one just from the pre-show buzz. I waited. I wanted to see if the show was good enough to warrant me forking over some bucks to buy a t-shirt or a mug, or even both!

I walked in the theatre. The curtain had emblazoned on it the title of the show: Disney's High School Musical. I walked to my seats. I was given premium seats for this show, not something that usually happens; I get good ones, but never this good. I smiled in anticipation because I could really enjoy this show from this vantage point. The lights began to fade. The audience roared in screams of excitement. My pulse quickened a bit. The show began…

The set was fantastic! The scene changes were a spectacle to behold! The costuming was wonderful! The lighting was not only superb it was even arena concert worthy! No expense was spared! The singers had fantastic voices! The cast was gorgeous to look at it! The musical score that has become world famous for every song is like an earworm that you can’t help but find yourself toe-tapping to it and I was tapping away! The show is a disappointment! The audience that was screaming before the show began never screamed again!

What went wrong?

This show is a Six Flags show on steroids. Not that the shows at Six Flags are bad, but they tend to be so overproduced that there is very little room for spontaneity. They frequently feel canned.

What has made the original High School Musical film a classic is the youthful energy and the genuine performances of all the performers. The storyline is completely hokey, but there is a self awareness of the implausibility of it all, which makes you accept the fact that Troy, the quasi-jock, and Gabriella, the quasi-math wiz, will do anything to be together and to be in the upcoming production of their high school musical. The g-rated story line is life affirming and makes the lessons of “being true to yourself” and “follow your dreams” palatable. All the characters are broadly drawn yet there is such sincerity in the performances in the original film that you buy the whole enchilada, eat it, enjoy it, and go back for seconds and thirds Hence why there is a High School Musical 2, and a soon to be released High School Musical 3.

What makes the stage version fall flat is that the characters: they were somewhat of a caricature to start with but they now have become cartoons. It isn’t the performers fault as much as it is the way they have been directed. Every moment of this show is staged, and it’s staged poorly. Yes, the scene transitions are a wonder to behold, but I wanted to yell out: “Could someone just stand still for a moment and tell us the story?!” The stage remains so busy with movement that there is never a composition. It’s dizzying. It’s also hard to figure out who is talking for I found myself constantly having to search the stage to see where the character had moved to. Frequently two or three scenes are playing simultaneously so trying to spot the actors becomes a frustrating “Where’s Waldo?” experience. The performers are so busy moving around they don’t have time to sit back and act. John Jeffrey Martin makes a good Troy Bolton; he has the looks, the singing talent and can dance pretty well, but he is constrained by the overbearing direction of Jeff Calhoun. Mr. Martin is able to break free a bit more in Act 2 and he shows us the glimmer of what the show could be. Unfortunately, Arielle Jacobs as Gabriella Montez never escapes. The effect is almost like puppet theatre. The director should have trusted his two leads more and allowed them free reign, these kids have loads of talent.

John Jeffrey Martin as Troy Bolton

The other two main characters are Sharpay, the school Diva and her twin brother Ryan. Heléne Yorke made us truly dislike Sharpay. It doesn’t work. We are supposed to enjoy not liking her, in this case we just truly don’t care for her. Ryan, played by the understudy on opening night, is so gay that he borders on being offensive because he’s the ultimate stereotype. I noticed they didn’t do this with the black kids, the NAACP might have objected. Again, it’s not the performer’s fault, its obvious they’ve been told and allowed to play their characters to this extreme.

If you’ve seen a stage version of HSM before, there are some changes. Some songs are cut down a bit and scenes have been extended. I’m not sure the shortening of some of the songs works as well since the music is the strongest thing about the show. The new dialogue is good. Ms. Darbus the Drama teacher has a much larger part then in the previous stage version and film. Unfortunately, she, like the rest of the production, becomes cloying because she is been made to play her role as a one note. There’s a reason cartoons are short, they get tedious if they go on too long and this show is over two hours long.

It is a disappointment to see that much talent on stage, good production values, and arguably pretty good material and not see it realize its full potential. The show is not awful, it is average. Young kids will like it, discerning older ones and adults not as much.

The one thing that is atrocious in the show is the choreography by Lisa Stevens. The last time I saw a production of HSM the theatre group attempted to recreate the film’s choreography by the brilliant Kenny Ortega. WRONG! Mr. Ortega freely admits that he choreographed HSM for film, not for the stage. Ms. Stevens is right in her instinct in making her choreography proscenium stage friendly, in other words, the dancing faces the audience. The problem is she has no concept of spacing composition. Everyone is evenly spread out across the stage as if they were in a dance class. Every now and then a tight cluster forms or a circle and then it’s back to even spacing. No counterpoints, diagonals, or negative space usage. Every movement is done on a beat, there is no syncopation. It also is monotonous. "Get’cha Head in the Game" should be a showstopper with the use of basketballs. It started off with promise by having the basketballs bounce creating an ever growing complex rhythm, but then it went nowhere. A few balls were passed back and forth on the beat. Big woo. Balls should have been flying everywhere at an ever increasing break neck speed creating visual threads and arcs of ever evolving complexity. Not here. Just a few bounces back and forth. Yawn. "We’re All in this Together" was the best piece because she practically recreated the film’s moves, and in the film this is the one dance number that faces exclusively in one direction, to a single camera angle, so it lends itself for reproduction on a stage.

The best part of the show was the extremely long curtain call. No, I’m not being sarcastic and saying I liked it because that meant the show was ending. The curtain call was long but it was very good. A medley of the show’s songs is performed as different performers come on stage in character and take their bows. What made this part work so effectively is the performers were relaxed, they were singing with much energy, they didn’t have to follow precise blocking moves and they looked like they were having fun. It was a blast. It became infectious. A big smile crossed my face. If the whole show had been that way I would have bought the "I Love Troy Bolton" t-shirt and would proudly wear it as I write this review.

Instead, I left empty handed.

Dallas Summer Musicals' High School Musical runs through July 13 and tickets can be purchased online or by calling 214-631-ARTS.

Pegasus News content partner - MBS Productions

Related stories

• Theater Review: Footloose (July 21, 2008)

See more stories in:

• Arts > Fine Arts > Theater > Musicals