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Review: 'High School Musical' sticks to the status quo
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The kids in Disney's "High School Musical" sing and dance up a storm.
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - Did someone say good, clean fun? That’s the order of the day with the national tour of Disney’s “High School Musical,” which rolled into San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre for a two-week run, and moves to San Jose in June.
Although it’s not Sondheim or Rodgers and Hammerstein, this pop-culture juggernaut’s biggest value is that it may likely be a catalyst for many youngsters’ further interest in theater.
There weren’t many huge surprises for kids and their parents in Tuesday’s opening-night audience. The show’s songs and plot stick closely to the original, a Disney Channel movie written by Peter Barsocchini that became a TV phenomenon.
Yet with clever sets, bright, colorful costumes and a won’t-quit cast of young musical theater thespians, this live version of the “you can be anything you want” story strikes a fun, even inspirational, note.
The show’s success is notable, too, given that it’s packed with run-of-the-mill, written-by-committee tunes — 13 songwriters are listed in the program — and boasts little in the way of conflict: jock-boy Troy meets brainy-girl Gabriella, both encounter difficulties when they decide to try out for the school play.
The climax doesn’t even involve the production of the East High School play, which sounds promising: a neo-feminist romance titled “Juliet and Romeo” in which the lovers live and move to Oakland.
Yet the leads are thoroughly charming. Arielle Jacobs, a Half Moon Bay native, and John Jeffrey Martin look and sound great together; they display the perfect combination of humility and chutzpah.
As Sharpay, the girl who always got the lead until Gabriella came along, Helene York is delicious in the fun villain role. Her brother Ryan (Bobby List) shows off some excellent dance moves.
Ellen Harvey plays the drama teacher Ms. Darbus with gusto. Perhaps the show’s most amusing scene is the detention period where she instructs the students in acting exercises, telling them to be animals or showing them how to handle an invisible “ball of noise.”
The bit recalls other musicals, as when the kid on the school public-address system announces to “kiss the day goodbye and point me toward detention.”
David Simpatico, who wrote this show’s book, clearly has a love of theater, giving Sharpay this priceless line: “We have to save our show from the people who think Eugene O’Neill is Shaquille O’Neal’s older brother.”
IF YOU GO
Disney's High School Musical
Where: Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St., San Francisco
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday; 1 p.m. Sunday; closes April 27
Tickets: $23 to $85
Contact: (415) 512-7770 or www.shnsf.com
Note: Show runs June 10-15 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts; call (888) 455-7469.
Comments from Examiner Readers
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Bessica said:
The government should get out of marriage entirely. Straight or gay, we need good family law to protect children, we need contracts for interdependent relationships. Marriage is an important institution. Rename the legal part something else for EVERYONE. Many GLBT on the site **bisexualmingle c o m** want the same-sex marriage.
2 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I thought it was a great production and both Alexa Ortega and Adam Barry were absolutely fantastic.
16 agree | 10 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The Government Inspector: Quite poorly done. Actors unprepared. Line delivery mishaps. Overpriced. Prop failure at the end. It reminded me of sequels such as Oceans v11 - v13, where a group of well known actors use their names to draw a crowd and sell tickets. Uk. The result is a mediocre performance, in part because of too many cooks -- and some of these cooks, e.g. Geoff Hoyle are really good. Hopefully this review will save someone else the time and money.
16 agree | 11 disagree
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Parkside Poulegene said:
Re: High School Musical I just took my daughter Sharmuta to this show and we had to leave early! When we got home I took away all her "High School Musical" CD's and tee-shirts. If she even mentions the show again she's grounded for a month, and that goes for her other mother too. This show is really racist, homophobic and pro-Zionist and pro-Bush-Terror. There's too many white people in it. This show needs to be shut down and outlawed.
12 agree | 12 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Thank you for the first honest review that I have read on this production. The length of Act two was tortuous to sit through.
385 agree | 332 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I bet the scene where Macbeth and Macduff are branishing their CLAYMORES is a hoot!
300 agree | 314 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Playing naked? Not really - the main character's body is covered by fur! As the reader before wrote the actor playing Macbeth is extremely hairy. It is quite strange to see how hairy a mans body can be... His body hair was the most impressing thing of the whole play.
324 agree | 293 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Bloody, Bold, Resolute, and Naked - AND HAIRY!!! I read an article that all actors were not allowed to shave any body hair three months before the play started to look "naturally". So it is impressive how hairy the actor playing Macbeth is - he has a furry chest and even a quite hairy back and bushy pubic hairs. It is very unusual today to see such a hairy actor fully nude, because normally an actor shaves at least his back hairs doing a nude scene on stage or in a movie... So big compliments to Daniel Eichner for presenting us his great furry body fully nude!
353 agree | 308 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Good review... one of the few critics able to articulate some of the problems with this show. I left at intermission and the lighting was troublesome. sometimes I wonder what the other critics are thinking --- if you are still curious fgo on Saturday afternoons when the tickets are "pay what you can."
388 agree | 346 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Munch claims "there is no denying" that the nudity in WSC's "Macbeth" "does little to enhance or elevate Shakespeare’s Scottish play." Well, the critics at www.PotomacStages.com and www.DCTheatreScene.com have taken the opposite view. Potomac Stages, in fact, wrote: "in no uncertain terms that this is a quality production that presents "the Scottish play" in a new and very effective light (or is that a new and very effective darkness?)." DC Theatre Scene wrote: "The actors’ nudity provides an extra dimension to their presentations...By being physically naked, these actors become emotionally naked as well. This production of Macbeth is a great gift to those who have the will to receive it. We are unlikely to see anything like it in the foreseeable future." So it seems the only thing there is no denying is that Munch doesn't speak for everyone.
405 agree | 314 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Tonight's performance of "Macbeth" started at 8:05 pm and was done precisely at 10:30. I'm not the best at math, but that seems like under 2 and half hours...not over 3 hours, which the critic claims the play to be.
391 agree | 356 disagree
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JaimeK said:
Shame Fat Pig wasn't given an actual review on the acting. There were some pretty phenomenal performances. Especially Erin Riley as Helen and Courtney Ryan as Jeannie. Very VERY good show.
517 agree | 405 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Closes in 4 days
449 agree | 400 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Why review it a few days before it closes and not mention its closing in the review?
441 agree | 430 disagree
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EdnBetty said:
We just returned from Titus Andronicus, the play that Kenneth Tynan called "the worst play Marlowe ever wrote". We expected gore and got it! Tsoutsouvas was also great, but Valerie Leonard was vamping it over the top. And that voice set my teeth on edge!
745 agree | 480 disagree
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Reader said:
Yes, "She Stoops to Comedy" at Woolly Mammoth is a treat!
545 agree | 464 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Oh, we just a-DORed this show!
572 agree | 457 disagree
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