High School Musical On Stage: A Butchered Version of the Film?

Last night, we were lucky enough to see the High School Musical On Stage tour, and we were a bit disappointed.

The professional stage tour claims to be based on the hit Disney Channel Original Movie, but the magic the film had was absent in the stage musical. The most notable reason for the lack of magic was the fact that memorable scenes like the New Year's Eve karaoke party were reduced to a two-minute flashback sequence.

Troy and Gabriella also lost their position of central focus in the story line. Additional scenes and lines added the the stage production made Sharpay, Ryan, and Ms. Darbus equally as important. It didn't help that John Jeffrey Martin and Arielle Jacobs were not that good of actors or singers.

On the other hand, Helene York (Sharpay) was a showstealer.

No scenes took place outside of the school, so characters like Mrs. Bolton and Mrs. Montez were understandably removed from the production. However, the character of Jack Scott, East High's announcer, was added and created some mild humor.

Now on to the part where the script gets butchered. "When There Was Me and You", a solo ballad in the film, was turned into a duet between Gabriella and Troy, with the Jocks and Brainiacs in the background. "Bop to the Top" was also turned into a group number. The only song change that we personally enjoyed was combining "Bop to the Top" with "What I've Been Looking For" for the audition sequence.

Also, many of the lines were changed, with no clear reason why. Sharpay's line of "I'd rather stick pins in my eyes" after being asked to watch a basketball game was changed to something to the effect of "I'd rather suck the snot out of a dog's snout until its head caves in!" Not to mention, the winter musical was changed from "Twinkle Towne" to "Juliet and Romeo".

These are just some of the many reasons we did not enjoy the stage production of High School Musical. We suggest not seeing it if you haven't already.