Don’t underestimate the power of tweens to impact the entertainment industry. Disney hasn’t.
Tweens are the base that propelled two Disney Channel original TV movies about a group of singing and dancing teens at Albuquerque’s fictional East High into a worldwide phenom known as “High School Musical.”
Today, G-rated “High School Musical 3: Senior Year,” starring Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, makes its foray onto the American big screen.
Over the past weeks, the sequel premiered in Paris, Madrid, Munich and London. Closer to home, two area high schools — Columbine and Smoky Hill — remain in the running in a Disney/My Space contest to show “School Spirit” by sending in a video or participating in brand-enhancing activities.
One of the funnier aspects of “High School Musical” is that its teen thespians don’t perform staples old (“West Side Story”) or new (“Seussical”). Instead, the famous Wildcats sing original tunes. And in one of those delightful twists that pop culture loves to throw at us, the original 2006 “High School Musical” is fast becoming one of the most performed musicals in U.S. high schools, says the Educational Theatre Association.
Directed by franchise vet Kenny Ortega, this third incarnation boasts 10 new songs for teen idols Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay, Chad, Ryan, Taylor and (your tween’s name here) to croon.
To help find our own school spirit, we asked some stage and screen luminaries for their own high school song-and-dance experiences.
What was your “High School Musical”?
Monique Coleman, pictured below (level-headed Taylor McKessie in “High School Musical”): “I was in 20 plays and musicals before I was 17, so it makes recalling one specific play hard. I was in “Brigadoon” and “My Fair Lady” at Heathwood Hall Episcopal School (Columbia, S.C.). I was in “Bye Bye Birdie” for a community theater. The more important thing I can say to young people is that theater, and musical theater specifically, is a great way to start to feeling inspired. It keeps you out of trouble. I never needed to be the lead. I was in the chorus for “My Fair Lady.” I was usually in the chorus. Sometimes I was in the back of the chorus. It doesn’t matter. You don’t need to be in the spotlight.”
Asked which “My Fair Lady” tune is her fave, Coleman struggles with the name then begins quietly singing into the phone… “All I want is a room somewhere. Far away from the cold night air…”
Carol Burnett (Her play “Hollywood Arms” is currently at the Arvada Center)
“I wish I could tell you, but in the three years I was at Hollywood High School, they had no drama classes. The drama teacher had left just before I became a sophomore, and they didn’t hire anybody until I had already graduated. I didn’t really get hooked until I went to UCLA. It was an original show called ‘Love Thy Coach,’ and, yes, I played a football coach. It was so silly. But that’s when I learned that I could belt out a song. That gave me a lot of encouragement, and I decided I wanted to be an actor. I had wanted to be a journalist, but every time I say that to a journalist, they say, ‘You’re lucky you didn’t do it!’ ”
Georgia Engel (starring in the Denver Center’s “Drowsy Chaperone” through the weekend.)
“When I was in 10th grade, I was cast as Zaneeta in ‘The Music Man’ at the Washington School of the Ballet, and I auditioned against all of the really good dancers. I was taking just one after-school class twice a week from Mary Day, the world-class ballerina-maker. That I got the part of Zaneeta over all her ballerinas piqued her interest. She came to my mom and dad and offered me a scholarship. My mom and dad had two girls right ahead of me going into college, so there was no way they could taken me to a private school. So I have always attributed my getting a scholarship and getting a good dance background to having been cast in ‘The Music Man,’ and the only reason I was cast was because it’s also a little comedienne’s role, too, rather than just a dancer.”
John Carroll Lynch (Denver native and star of such films as “Fargo” and “Zodiac”)
“I was a freshman at Regis High School, and I played the emcee in ‘Guys and Dolls’ for the Original Scene at the Colorado Women’s College (a former citywide theater company for teens and young adults.) It was the first play I ever did and I still remember my line: ‘The Hot Box is proud to present, Miss Adelaide and the Hot Box Farmerettes.’ I painted the sewer (backdrop) and I remember it looking extraordinarily purple because our director, K.Q., was color-blind and a little too proud to admit it. I loved being around the people, I loved the collegial nature of it, I loved the deadline … and I loved being around girls.”
Seann William Scott (actor in “American Pie” and the upcoming “Role Models”):
“Oh, my brother was the musical guy at our high school (Park High in Cottage Grove, Minn.) I was the athlete. But I was big into talent shows. I can sing. Really. In fact, I’ve been wanting to write Tim Burton and tell him he should make a Broadway version of ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas.’ Wouldn’t that be great? I’d love to be Jack Skellington.”
John Moore (The Denver Post’s own theater critic)
I loved performing in high-school plays, but musicals completely intimidated me. My friends did musicals all through high school at the Original Scene, but I wouldn’t even go see them. Finally, senior year, the Original Scene was doing a huge summer production of ‘Godspell’ that was so loaded with talent, they cast and mounted two completely different versions. My future movie-star pal, John Carroll Lynch, made me promise that if I saw him do nothing else, I would see him play Judas in ‘Godspell.’ That performance, as they say, changed my life.
