(Troy played
by Joshua Randall & the Jocks)
Definitely for the younger generation. (Review by
Barry Meehan)
Northcliff High School in Johannesburg must be
given great kudos for giving their pupils the amazing opportunity to stage big
musicals and tour them to Durban to run in the Playhouse . The performing
arts are sadly neglected in so many schools around the country, but Northcliff
is a standard bearer in this field.
That being said, High School Musical is a
pretty radical departure from their previous productions in that the kids have
had huge fun in past years playing zany and over-the-top characters in shows
like The Addams Family, Spamalot and Sister Act. In
Disney’s stage version of High School Musical, the cast are playing
characters pretty much like themselves, giving them not much to work with in
terms of madcap characterisation that many of them would have experienced
before.
(Left: Coach
Bolton played by Miguel da Silva & Ms Darbus played by Giana de Abreu)
Unfortunately, the script doesn’t offer a lot of
help in this respect either in terms of dialogue and songs, none of which are
particularly memorable.
All the stock high school characters from so many
movies of the genre are on stage – the basketball jock and his team mates, the
cheerleaders, the brainy and pretty maths girl, the bitchy drama girl and her
downtrodden brother, the ardent drama teacher and the basketball coach, who
never won a championship on his time, but is determined at all costs to win the
High School championship with his son as the playmaker, no matter the son’s
ambitions in his other endeavours, like auditioning for the High School
Musical.
The cast certainly give it their all, and are
excellent in the big production numbers. It would seem though, that more
emphasis has been placed on this aspect of the production, with less attention
being focused on the acting sequences, which sometimes come across as a bit
wooden and under-directed. But one must remember that these are school kids
performing to the best of their abilities, and obviously having huge fun doing
so.
(Right: Tyla Puzey as
Sharpay, Shannon Howard as Gabriella & Pride Mncube as Taylor)
The show is also very much an ensemble piece, so it
would be wrong of me to comment on individual performers. Let’s just give each
and every one of them an A for effort! And an A+ for the band, who keep the
music flying along with gusto!
Of course, the show is designed to teach youngsters
life lessons, and succeeds very well in this regard. And as High School
Musical has a cult following since the movie came out in 2006, anyone under
30 will know the plot and the characters and enjoy re-living the experience. So
make sure your kids and grandkids see it – it’ll mean something to them and
they’ll love it!
High School
Musical runs in The Playhouse Drama until June 23, 2019.
Performances Tuesday to Saturday at 19h30 with a
matinee on Saturday at 14h00 and a further performance on Sunday at 15h00.
Tickets from R60 to R115. Pensioners/Seniors get R115 tickets for R90 for
performances from June 20 to 23.
Booking can be made through Computicket on 083 915
8000 or at www.computicket.com or through the Playhouse Company Dial-A-Seat
facility on 031 369 9555 or Box Office numbers: 031 369 9596 / 369 9540. –
Barry Meehan
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