On January 30, the McNicholas Theatre Department will present High School Musical on Stage! by David Simpatico. The show runs through Feb. 1 at the Anderson Center.
Based off the Disney movie High School Musical, the musical follows basketball player Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez, who is new to the school, as they audition for the school’s musical, and, in doing so, encourage others to break out of the mold of who they are expected to be. High School Musical on Stage! portrays the importance of being true to yourself and not being held back by the expectations of others.
“The kids have been asking me for years, ‘Can we please, please, please do High School Musical?’ and I thought, why not? And that’s how it happened,” Director Teresa De Zarn said.
Junior Ian Phillips plays the role of Troy Bolton. “I’m really happy to be onstage and have more of a leading role, and I’m very excited and very happy to be putting in all the hard work to step into Zac Efron’s shoes,” Phillips said.
Senior Allie Hart plays the role of Gabriella Montez. “Through this you see relationships and love and excitement, all of these great feelings that these students are having, and I feel like a lot of us are going to miss it when we’re gone,” Hart said.
“It’s been challenging for us because of all the holidays we’ve had…we’ve had to work very quickly, so that’s been challenging, but I think it’s coming together,” De Zarn said.
Performances begin at 7 p.m. on Jan. 30, followed by shows at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 31, and two shows on February 1 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. All shows will be performed at the Anderson Center. Tickets are $15, and will be sold at the door, during lunches, or online by clicking here.
“I think the message here is really a good one, which is about acceptance. Not just tolerance, but acceptance of everybody who’s different around us and embracing those differences, I think it’s a very strong message here,” De Zarn said.
The McNicholas Milestone 