HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL!!!- Page 2

[i*heart*fame]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 5:06pm

The reality is that despite the merits of the show, it will be a huge hit. They might be in a piece of trash but you can bet they will get a lot of publicity and new fans.

Also, Shakiem Evans is insanely talented! He will be great!

[stonewall2]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 6:24pm

Alison Fraser was Martha in "Secret Garden" and she was super while Patti Murin just toured as Belle in "Beauty and the Beast"(another Theatre of the Stars production)- how low can one go for a paycheck? There is no possible way that they can term this junk as "theatre"- and does anyone else think it weird that the two kids that say that always have the leads (Sharpay and Ryan)are brother and sister? The great majority of the time, the male and female leads are romantically involved and these two are quite closely related??? Incest anyone? YUCK!

[DoReMi]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 6:44pm

Someone stop this train wreck of a show.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 8:33pm

I'm in a current production of HSM in CA. We started rehearsals 2 days ago. I wish I never auditioned. Grrrrrrr.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 8:33pm

I'm in a current production of HSM in CA. We started rehearsals 2 days ago. I wish I never auditioned. Grrrrrrr.

[jeremykushnier1fan]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 8:40pm

Anyone role in particular?

[jeremykushnier1fan]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 8:40pm

Anyone role in particular?

[theatregeek]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 8:46pm

I agree, the guy playing Jack Scott is really hot!!! He has some super cute pics on his myspace page, or his website www.michaelmahany.com (does that make me a creepy stalker because I know that?) Anyway, I personally think the show is going to be great, for one it has an incredibly talented cast, the sets and costumes are supposed to be incredible (I mean it's Disney) and the director, Jeff Calhoun is a genius. For the people bashing the show I think they need to remember that although High School Musical is some what corny it has gotten a younger generation excited about musical theater! This show in Atlanta is selling out like crazy!!! It's bringing kids to the theater. Musical theater (like most of the arts) is a struggling art form, if we can use High School Musical as a tool to get kids excited about and interested in theater then I think its our duty as theater patrons to support it. There are many shows out there that I strongly dislike, but if those shows get people excited about the theater than no matter how much I despise them, I cant help but support it. Its those blockbuster shows that make it possible for the smaller shows to even get a fighting chance....Well that's all I have to say for now, thanks for listening...oh and a side note I found this blog online that the girl whose playing Gabriella made, it's an account of their enitire rehearsal process up until the opening of the show. It's pretty cool, if you want to check it out here's the link: www.highschoolmusicalblog.com
(P.S. Sorry about all the run-on sentences)

[Dibbledl01]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 8:58pm

first of all, musical theater is not a struggling art form. It is actually TOO popular an art form that, for someone like me studying voice and musical theater, too many young adults are aiming to make careers in it. It's making it even more difficult for me to get into a show. HSM is not a true representation of musical theater. It's basically a bunch of 12 year olds singing through their nose for Disney plus they lip-sink at every concert they perform (not exactly musical theater is it?) and, as for the blockbusters, those musicals are making young adults watch out for upcoming productions. young adults are logging on to keep up to date with what's coming and who's new. yes the cult musicals like wicked and rent are huge but they lead to other things.

Dear God, what has my dear Ron Bohmer gotten himself into.....:sigh:

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 11:44pm

>> if we can use High School Musical as a tool to get kids excited about and interested in theater then I think its our duty as theater patrons to support it

Y'know, if I'm shelling out 75 to 100 bucks for a theatre seat, then I damn well expect something with a little more substance than this. Let's be blunt: this aint Broadway calibre stuff. I dont care how brilliant the director is or how gorgeous the costume and set design might be. It's thin, fluffy material that's better suited for community theatre than the New Amsterdam.

You want to get kids interested in musical theatre? Start working at the local level, and give them something more than just tired productions of MUSIC MAN and SOUND OF MUSIC. But let's not start lowering the bar on Broadway any more than it already is.

[jeremykushnier1fan]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 11:52pm

"if we can use High School Musical as a tool to get kids excited about and interested in theater then I think its our duty as theater patrons to support it"

That's not a bad way of looking at HSM - but The Sound of Music did it for me when I was a kid. What's wrong with Julia?

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:02am

It's not "our duty as theatre patrons" to support crap like HSM.

[Ebonic_Singer]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:57am

John Jeffrey Martin was in Rocky Horror, Grease at Papermill (as Kenickie), Hairspray (Link and Corny u/s) and Good Vibrations. He is absolutely incredible and I am so excited for him to have the lead in this--what a talented cast of performers who haven't been able to fully shine yet!

[AlmondEyes252]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 9:03am

Hopefully (since "Mom" and "Dad" will have to shell out $95) somehow, someway, they will pour enough talent into this to make it appealing to the younger audience, but still have it be worth while for the patrons. Kind of like Lion King, its cool for kids, and entertaining for adults.

As much as I don't want to.. I guess I'll just have to see it before I say anything else about it.


I don't know why I'm trying to defend this.. My initial reaction is "Dear God, why would you do that?"

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 1:48pm

>> It seems very premature of all of you to critique it, saying it is "crap" and "mediocre regional theatre" without actually seeing the finished product.

Unless the finished product is a thing of unbridled brilliance, which is *highly* doubtful even with all the talent swimming around in its pond, it's more likely to be just like the movie but plunked onto the stage. And the movie was a CBS Afternoon Special with mediocre songs. There was nothing notable or special about it. And no amount of stage brilliance will disguise that fact. Should you think otherwise, I have only to point you to two other such travesties, FOOTLOOSE and FAME. I'm sure everyone involved with both of those was talent with a capital T, but both are egregious pieces of work that *never* should have been on a Broadway stage. Yet both of these make HSH look like freaking Shakespeare in terms of a developed plot with developed characters.

So again, unless this director is a master magician who can create a thing of depth and beauty from this kind of second-rate material, this thing is a Tourist Trap Production. No more. No less.

[theatregeek]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 2:10pm

I thought about not responding to your message Dibbledl01, but you are so blatantly missing my point that I have to. Let me address what you said first. Your first point of argument was that Musical Theater is not a struggling art form and you're reasoning was because "it is actually TOO popular an art form that, for someone like me studying voice and musical theater, too many young adults are aiming to make careers in it. It's making it even more difficult for me to get into a show. " Besides the fact that this statement is a very selfish and myopic way to look at theater, it does not prove that theater is not a struggling art form. Just because there are a lot of people who want to work in this business does not mean that there are enough jobs (i.e. shows) available. If you are a performer as you previously mentioned then you would understand that the kids working in High School Musical are WORKING!!! They are being paid as professional Equity performers to sing, dance, and act. High School Musical has given these performers a JOB! If you are so worried about working as a performer than you should understand that big productions such as HSM are what's going to pay your bills IF you are talented enough to land the gig....thats the gritty truth of this business.
Your second argument is that HSM is not a true representation of musical theater because "It's basically a bunch of 12 year olds singing through their nose for Disney plus they lip-sink at every concert they perform (not exactly musical theater is it?)" Your right your description of HSM right there is not musical theater, but that is NOT what this stage version of HSM is in Atlanta. All the performers in the show are trained professionals, none of it is prerecorded, and none of it is dubbed. This is a LIVE musical staging of the movie, so even though the story line is very similar to the movie (I am assuming) and some of the music is the same, the performers are not the ones from the movie, or as you so eloquently put it "12 year olds singing through their noses"
As to your last point concerning my blockbuster statement you say something about kids logging on to find out what's new? "as for the blockbusters, those musicals are making young adults watch out for upcoming productions. young adults are logging on to keep up to date with what's coming and who's new. yes the cult musicals like wicked and rent are huge but they lead to other things." I am not sure what point this statement makes. Its obvious by your response that you didn't understand my point about big musicals so let me try to clarify. A big musical on Broadway (even if its a show that you hate) creates lots of buzz and draws in a large crowd which is a GOOD thing for all theater. It brings people to New York to see theater!
My point in responding to your comment was to explain to you that although you feel that HSM is not your kind of a show (to put kindly) it is the kind of show that is going to help you WORK as a performer. Because of that you, and all the other people bashing this show should respect the fact that many talented people are working hard on this show and to trash talk it before you've even given it a chance (because this is NOT the movie) is EXTREMELY not supportive of you as a theater patron, performer, etc... Not to mention just plain ignorant. How can you judge something you haven't even seen? If you see it and still feel this way then your points are completely valid, until then, speculation and assumption gives your arguments no validity.
Updated On: 1/8/07 at 02:10 PM

[ILoveMyDictionary]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 6:39pm

The guy who's playing Troy is the son of the choreographer of a production of Bye Bye Birdie that I'm in now. Not that anyone cares or needs to knwo.