‘High School Musical’
on ice is cool

Kids Stuff
By William Feldman

Welcome to Kids Stuff. Today’s column includes a preview of a phenomenon that will hit Philadelphia in less than a month — High School Musical: The Ice Tour.
This show will coolly stick to the status quo, as it will be skating its way into the Wachovia Center for 15 performances from Friday, Dec. 28 to Sunday, Jan. 6. This ice tour was inspired by the Disney Channel original movie High School Musical and High School Musical 2.
I had a chance to preview the show in central New Jersey. The original High School movie was an instant hit among kids when it premiered in the U.S. in 2006. No wonder why Disney decided to put this on Broadway, as well as on the ice.
Basically, the moral of the story is don’t fall under peer pressure. Just be whatever you want to be.
All your favorite friends from East High — Troy, Gabriella, Ryan, Sharpay, Chad and Taylor — are back, along with featured music from the popular High School Musical.
Anyway, the skate production began with Gabriella Montez, a timid new student at East High School, and Troy Bolton, the captain of the school’s basketball team, singing independently of each other about a holiday vacation.
I’m not sure how many people picked up on this small detail: I interpreted the span of High School Musical was a one-week period. It began on a Monday at 7:45 a.m. and ended Friday at 5 p.m. with the reprise of We’re All In This Together and a medley of songs from the play.
Again, the gist in the original High School Musical is Troy and Gabriella love singing. They sign up to audition for the lead roles in the school’s musical, Juliet and Romeo (that is the real name) but their friends try to deter them. Troy’s basketball teammates want him to stick to athletics and concentrate on winning the championship. Gabriella’s teammates on the academic science team needed her to help them win the championship. The ‘jocks’ and the ‘brainiacs’ go through one cycle to keep them apart.
Next, realizing that they made a humongous mistake, they attempt a plan so Troy and Gabriella can partake in all the school activities. At one point, I felt I was at a concert as the audience — parents, teens and pre-teens — were loudly chanting to the songs in the production.
The ice production was divided into two time frames separated by a brief intermission. The original movie High School Musical, Part I, was definitely equivalent to its counterpoint stage production. It featured music from its soundtrack, including We’re All In This Together, Get’cha Head in the Game, Start of Something New, Stick to the Status Quo.
After intermission, Part II of High School Musical 2, was introduced.
One scene that is noteworthy and must be highlighted was Get’cha Head in the Game in Part I, where performers showed incredible hand skills during a basketball scene. This prop included two regulation baskets that were pushed onto the ice.
The performers were able to simulate playing basketball while on ice skates and were able to hit all of their shots — not an easy feat on skates. You actually believed they were playing basketball on a real court.
The production also changed the aura of ice to a golf course and to a baseball field, all by modern technology. If you read anything by author Ray Bradbury, you would know he would be proud of his scene of the future.
If you are wondering if Disney can pull off an ice production, look who’s involved in this endeavor: Father-and-daughter team Kenneth and Nicole Feld; Kenny Ortega (producer), an Emmy Award-winning director and choreographer for Disney’s High School Musical, High School Musical 2, the 2002 Winter Olympics opening ceremonies, Dirty Dancing and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; Charles Klapow (choreographer) Emmy Award-winning choreographer for High School Musical, High School Musical 2 and Cheetah Girls.
Also involved: Jeff Calhoun (director), a Tony Award-nominated director of Brooklyn the Musical, Grease, Annie Get Your Gun and the Deaf West production of Big River as well as Theater of the Stars’ production of High School Musical in Atlanta; Peter Barsocchini (writer), Disney’s High School Musical, High School Musical 2; Cindy Stuart (skating choreographer), Disney On Ice; Olympic gold medalists Jamie Sale and Davie Pelletier; six-time Canadian National Champion Jennifer Robinson; Stars On Ice with Olympic gold medalist Christopher Dean, co-choreographer with Olympic gold medalist Robin Cousins, just to name a few.
As I was leaving, I had a chance to briefly interview Andrea, a mother of four from Teaneck, N.J. She stated when she looked over and saw both her kids grinning from ear to ear, she knew splurging for tickets was worth every penny.
For more information, go to www.ComcastTIX.com, call 1-800-298-4200, or go to the Wachovia complex box office or select Acme locations.
A list of participating Acme locations can be found at www.comcasttix.com/east/outlets.php
Columnist William Feldman can be contacted by e-mail at wmkidscolumn@aol.com