In 2006, the original Disney Channel film “High School Musical” took the world by storm. The movie, filmed right here in Utah, sparked sequels, adaptations and even a TV series.
Now, 20 years later, East High is taking things to the top with a production of High School Musical: The Musical.
The show opened up on Feb. 19 and closed on Feb. 25. Each performance had a theme: a costume contest, a dance party, a trivia night — even an auction for a piece of the original East High gym floor.
“It’s just such a party for the fans,” play director Kevin McClellan said. “It has this meta feeling of this is a real place, what’s fact and what’s fiction and how it blends together.”
The seven-performance run alternated between two casts. McClellan said the production included about 130 students.
“So many of them have had their sights on this show for years and have really trained their voices, trained their bodies, and shown dedication," McClellan said.
The show saw several guests from “High School Musical” during its run. On closing night, Bart Johnson and Kate Reinders took the stage to welcome a sold-out crowd. Audience members like Kristian Rust may have known them better as Coach Bolton from “High School Musical” and Miss Jenn from “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.”
“Just, like, the energy of the actors and energy of the crowd feeding into each other, it felt like everyone just loves what they're doing on stage and loved being here,” Rust said.
The show’s set replicated East High’s own lunchroom — with the original just down the hall.
“I can go out there and say, I forgot what that looks like, go out there and take a picture and come back,” McClellan said.
Several audience members wandered the halls during intermission to see the places their favorite scenes were filmed: the lunchroom, Sharpay’s pink lockers and the theatre itself.
“It's really cool,” Rust said. “I know these places. I've seen them before.”
This isn’t the first time East High has stuck to the stuff they know and performed “High School Musical”. McClellan directed the show once when the musical was first released for amateur performances, and again for the movie’s tenth anniversary. He plans to keep the tradition going.
So, whether you’re an old fan of the Disney Channel movie, or a new fan of the musical, the East High production reminded us that “we’re all in this together.”