Hey peeps, "High School Musical" is on stage at the Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre, and it's like, ya know, totally righteous.
The popular Disney story filled with wholesome teens singing and dancing their way through a story of diversity and breaking stereotypes makes for an evening of fine family entertainment.
Set in fictitional East High, the show focuses on two cliques, the jocks and the geniuses, with one group preparing for a championship basketball game and the other for a science competition.
In between is the upcoming school musical, an updated version of the William Shakespeare play, "Juliet and Romeo." And, in fact, "High School Musical" is itself a little Romeo and Julietish.
The Romeo is Troy Bolton (Nic Bryan), a star basketball player with a superjock image to uphold, even if he doesn't want to. Part of this problem is his dad, Coach Bolton (Jeffrey Rice), who, as a student, blew the championship game by missing the final basket and is determined that his son will atone for the sins of the father.
The Juliet of the story is the new girl in school, a science whiz named Gabriella Montez (Virginia Cavaliere), who meets Troy — and both are swept off their feet.
Together, Troy and Gabriella decide to join the drama club and audition for the school play, being directed by Miss Darbus, aka Darbus the Deranged (Stacie Johnsen), who herself generates enough drama to fuel a dozen drama clubs. But the idea totally goes against the peer groups the couple belong to, which leads to a snappily choreographed number called "Stick to the Status Quo."
In auditioning for the show, Troy and Gabriella are pitted against Sharpay Evans (Ashley Stults), a total back-stabber who is not afraid to cop 'tude and not only wants her way in all things, but feels she deserves it. Tagging along with Sharpay is her whipped brother, Ryan (Brad Broman), a splashy young man who occasionally lets his human side out — until Sharpay promptly smacks it back in.
Sharpay does her best to trash Troy and Gabriella's audition, she tells Ryan in a rare moment of honesty, because not being a "brainiac," she must remain in the popularity spotlight or she'll be nothing.
As the big day approaches, the geniuses try to talk Gabriella out of doing the play and letting down the science geeks at their competition, while the jocks — led by Coach Bolton — pressure Troy to scrap the acting idea and help the school win the hoops championship. But because this is Disney, the kids in each social niche realize they have been selfish and work out a way for Troy and Gabrielle to do both.
Even Sharpay accepts defeat with grace.
To be quite honest, having never seen any version of this show, and pre-judging it strictly on its title, I came to the theater with a feeling I was going to see some dreadful piece of juvenile schmaltz. I am happy to say I was wrong.
While I found the music relatively forgettable, the story was upbeat and carried an important message to the many young people — as well as the grown-ups — in the audience, about the dangers of locking people into niches and being unaccepting of others.
It has many fine performances, my favorites being Stults as the school bimbo — we all knew someone like Sharpay in school — and Johnsen, who made Darbus a true drama queen with a very wry sense of humor.
"High School Musical" will make for a wonderful evening of family fun for dudes and dudettes of every age.
The show runs through May 30.
E-mail: lalexander@lnpnews.com