My pal Angela mentioned this Disney Channel show on her Stay Tuned blog, but I just got the chance to watch the documentary High School Music: The Music in Me, which follows the work of two high school in Texas to work together and stage the community theatre version of the popular TV movie.
It's an excellent show and gives a good look at what it's like to work on a community theatre project - and it's very much a "warts and all" production, showing the fun side and the struggles to bring a production together.
The directors tackled one problem I've never had to face (he said, knocking on wood) - replacing a cast member late in the rehearsal process. When one actor wasn't working out, the directors kicked him off the show and moved another actor into his spot. That sort of thing happens sometimes, and occasionally young actors have to drop out of a show for a variety of reasons - but kicking someone out of the show is (thankfully) rare indeed.
It's interesting that this production brings together two different high schools, since that's the basis of First Stage Theatre in Huntington - bringing together young performers from every school in the Tri-State. It's always great to see kids from Huntington High, Cabell Midland, Spring Valley and all the other schools (not to mention kids of all ages from Elementary, Middle and High Schools) working together and becoming good friends.
The documentary captures the excitement, the struggle and the sheer fun of putting on a show like this. Of course, most shows don't get a visit from two of the stars of the original movie, but hey, it's Disney.
At any rate, I'm sure it'll be aired again (and again and again) on the Disney Channel, so keep an eye out for it.
4 comments:
I'm sorry I didn't share your enthusiasm for the program because I thought it was WAY too short and I was a little confused.
Did we ever get the explanation of why the leads were double cast? Did they do two performances?
And I know it was a last minute switch due to the replacement of the lead, but since Ryan and Sharpay are supposed to be brother and sister, shouldn't they be the same race? I have to really question some of the directors' choices.
And Chuck, this cast had nothing on yours. It left me wondering why Disney chose to follow this particular production. I know it was about two rival schools, but because of how short the program was we never got to delve into that.
Just some thoughts...
Angela, I agree that the show was way too short - I'd loved to have seen a longer documentary on the subject.
They didn't explain the double-casting, but that's not unusual when you have a lot of talented kids all vying for the same parts - although it also takes a director who has the time and resources (and the courage) to have double rehearsals - it's much easier in the summer when you can rehearse one cast in the morning and the other in the afternoon. And honestly, I think that's one reason why they ran into problems - doubling the cast also doubles your headaches (which is why I've never tried it). They switch casts with each performance so everyone gets equal stage time.
As to the casting of Ryan, most shows (especially with teens and younger) do what's called "color blind casting" - I've seen casts where Troy was African-American, and one of the "Chad" actors in the documentary was a WASP. It's always a little weird to have a brother and sister from different races, but kids don't seem to mind, and it opens up the possibilities in casting.
Why did they choose that school? I suspect Disney was just looking for a school that had a strong drama program to follow - or they may have gone after one of the first groups to sign up when the show became available. But I agree completely that their cast had nothing on ours. I'm prejudiced, of course, but I thought we had a fantastic group.
Just for the record, I have no problem with an African American Ryan (or a Caucasian Chad). It's just weird for me to see a brother and sister that are supposed to be so close and somewhat similar in style to be different races.
You notice we saw very little of that Ryan and Sharpay's performances.
Of course, now that I think about it, we saw very little of any of the performances...
Angela, I never even thought about your comment that way (though I can see why you wanted to clarify your statement). It's always a struggle to match actors to their parts - especially when you're talking about twins like Ryan and Sharpay. And it doesn't always work when those actors don't match the image (or each other) - but it's just a matter of giving the audience time to make the adjustment.
As to not seeing much of any of the performances, I think that has a lot to do with the difference between performing live on stage and a filmed performance to pre-recorded music. A film can be impossibly slick - few stage performances can match that. But live theatre does have an energy, an immediacy that film lacks - but it's rarely captured on video. No matter how good those kids were (and a couple in the Texas crowd were very good indeed), they couldn't live up to the film performances - I suspect that's why they kept the clips short.
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