High School Musical Continues Across U.S.; Ice Show Next?

Yet more high school and regional theatres have signed on to present stage productions of Disney's runaway hit High School Musical.  In addition, future plans for the show may bring High School Musical on ice.

"Since its extraordinary debut on the Disney Channel U.S. in January 2006, 'High School Musical,' written by Peter Barsocchini, has broken viewership records around the world and the soundtrack from Walt Disney Records was the #1 album of the year on the Billboard Top 200.  A 40-city live High School Musical concert tour ­ featuring five of the film's original cast members ­launched in San Diego in November and makes its final stop in Los Angeles on January 29.  The concert tour most recently played to a crowd of more than 15,000 at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ, on Monday (1/8/07)," press materials state.

"The movie has delivered continued success in international release and proven so popular that a sequel is currently in the works - it is expected to be filmed in the spring and will premiere this summer on Disney Channel. And now, High School Musical is a live theatrical production being produced in regional theaters and schools across America."

"When we saw that kids were really connecting with "High School Musical" in early 2006, my first priority was to develop an adaptation of the material so that actual students could perform their own versions of 'High School Musical,'" says Thomas Schumacher, President of Disney Theatrical Productions (DTP).

In April, play and musical licensing agency Music Theatre International (MTI) began taking requests to license a full-length, two-hour version and a 70-minute, one-act version geared toward middle schoolers. The first student production was performed at upstate New York's Stage Door Manor in August.  "I'm so excited that by the end of this 06/07 school year, more than 1,000 schools will perform the show, representing an unprecedented 5,000 performances of High School Musical, says Schumacher, "and the requests keep coming in."

In addition to local student productions, DTP has granted licenses for High School Musical to five domestic professional theatre companies:

Children's Theatre Company, Minneapolis, MN (Jan 3-Mar 11)
Theatre of the Stars, Atlanta, GA (Jan 14-Jan 28)
Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Pittsburgh, PA (June 5-17)
Music Theatre of Wichita, Wichita, KS (June 13-17)
North Shore Music Theatre, Beverly, MA (July 3-20)

The Atlanta premiere of High School Musical coincides with the 2007 Junior Theater Festival, the biggest event of its kind, designed exclusively for theater groups working with elementary and middle school aged kids.

About the future, Schumacher said, "As High School Musical fever sweeps across Europe, we're getting interest for local stage productions there, too.  For the U.S., we¹re currently working with Kenneth Feld on an exciting idea to produce a celebration of High School Musical that would include ice skating, but a different take than we've done with 'Disney on Ice' in the past.  If we can make it happen and things are moving fast, the show would be able to reach nearly every major U.S. market next season."

In addition to licensing High School Musical, Beauty and the Beast and Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida for local full-length musical productions around the world, Disney Theatricals and MTI have established a unique collaboration to develop musicals especially for students.  Aladdin Junior and Mulan Junior are 60-minute shows appropriate for middle-schoolers to perform.  Cinderella Kids, 101 Dalmations Kids, Aristocrat Kids and The Jungle Book Kids are 30-minute stage versions of classic Disney films aimed to introduce elementary school children to the joys of putting on a live musical.

People interested in licensing High School Musical or other Disney titles for local productions should contact MTI at www.disney.com/hsm.