The Show: 

It’s the stage musical based on the popular Disney Channel movie that spawned two sequels. Popular high school jock Troy Bolton meets brainiac Gabriella Montez when they are forced to do a karaoke duet while on vacation, then get reunited as she becomes the new girl at school. Peer pressure on both of them to stick to their respective cliques threatens to erase their romance unless they find the courage to rise above it. The one thing that may give them an opportunity to stay connected is singing some more tunes together in the upcoming high school musical. But that isn’t going to go over too well with their classmates – especially the prima donna Sharpay Evans, lead actress in every musical since kindergarten, who wants to break the two up so she still has a shot at Troy and so she can remain the stage star of the school.  

The Production:  

Sandra Day O’Connor’s new summer theater program got a big turnout for this show with more than forty performers all in this together. Nathan Sheppard is a good, confident, humble Troy Bolton. Playing opposite of him is Blair Easter’s sweet and sincere Gabriella Montez. 

Desperately trying to break those two up is Emily Sheppard as a crazed Sharpay Evans who never misses a chance to flirt with Troy – even when she’s dancing auditions with her brother Ryan. Ryan Ardelt stars as his namesake character, doing so with great humor and dancing, and being a good little brother by gamely acting as the backside to Sharpay’s animal impersonation in drama teacher Ms. Darbus’ (an amusing Tori Niemiec) dramatic detention.  

The entire cast filled O’Connor’s large theater with strong energy as they danced to student Anya Rogers’ nicely choreographed numbers and as they belted out the show’s big numbers including warring over cliques in Stick to the Status Quo, soaring and flying in Breaking Free, and gleefully united in We’re All in This Together.

Performed July 26 - 27, 2013

Rob Hopper
rob@nationalyouththeatre.com
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Executive Director
National Youth Arts

~ Cast ~ 

~ The Jocks ~