Depending on your circle of friends and associates, you might have heard tell of something called High School Musical [Disney Home Video]. This was a TV movie from the Disney Channel, which first aired on January 20; the premiere pulled more than seven million viewers, with more and more people watching the repeat showings. The CD [Disney 61426] is a platinum seller, which has been known to top 100,000 sales in a week. Now, Disney has issued the TV movie on DVD. To say that "High School Musical" is a massive success with girls in the under-13 group is an understatement; it also seems to attract a large share of boys. "High School Musical" is not a Broadway musical; not yet, anyway, although Disney quickly recognized they have a potential goldmine. "High School Musical" is presently being developed for the stock and amateur market, with an eye toward something grander should things work out. Talk about a built-in audience.

Broadway-caliber "High School Musical" is not, at least in its original version. The songs are more pop than theatrical; the story was devised as a TV movie for children, as opposed to something you might find along Shubert Alley. Even so, "High School Musical" is not without amusement. (The young gal composer-in-residence, who looks sort of like Passionella before the transformation, is snidely referred to by the villainess as a "sawed-off Sondheim"; one of the basketball players confesses that he makes a mean crème brulee, which leads to several crème brulee jokes.) As for the songs? I don’t expect Marc Shaiman need go biting his nails in fear, nor Michael John LaChiusa either. But director/choreographer Kenny Ortega has done a savvy job, thrilling the kids while offering at least some amusement for the adults in the audience.

But consider that gazillions of youngsters across the country are absolutely enthralled by a movie about teens trying out for the school musical; a movie that is lukewarm on geek activities, like varsity basketball, but glorifies musical theatre above all else. (The over-the-top drama teacher is played by Alyson Reed, who starred on Broadway as Marilyn Monroe in Ortega’s 1983 musical Marilyn, which she followed with Cassie in the ill-fated Chorus Line movie.) How many kids is "High School Musical" going to bring into tryouts for the next school play? How many kids and their parents is "High School Musical" going to bring into the next touring show to hit Smalltown, USA? "High School Musical" can be seen as a secret marketing tool for live theatre, and one that is being spread across the pop culture in a manner that the theatre industry couldn’t hope to achieve. Within a few years, I expect they’ll be producing it in every high school in the land.  Continued...