It’s likely that every student has seen High School Musical, watched the dance-along, and sung the catchy songs. But they probably never dreamed that they’d take the role of a HSM character.  Fortunately, this dream has turned into reality for the upper and middle school students involved in the school play.

This year’s new musical director (and theater teacher), Jeannine Elisha, said the experience has been absolutely amazing and that she has had so much fun.

To audition, the students sang a song, matched pitch, and read a scene based on the character they were trying out for. They were judged by the Upper School Director, Mr. Forrester, as well as Mrs. Elisha, and music teacher Ms. Jurgensen.

“Everyone was going to be able to get into the play. It was a matter of who was going to be best for what role,” Elisha said.

The musical this year is not an all-school musical as it was in previous years. The format switched to two separate musicals: one for the lower and intermediate school, and the other with only middle and upper school students.

“It wasn’t just my decision; it was the administration’s decision as well. What I really love about the idea is that it gives the opportunity for more of the younger students to have a lead role and more stage time,” Elisha said.

Elisha said the decision of which musical to choose this year was based on the “buzz” in the Upper School.

“There were lots of students that had come to me and requested High School Musical, and they had also come to Mr. Forrester and said they had wanted to do that musical,” she said.

Senior Caroline Gregory, who is playing Sharpay, said that when she heard it was High School Musical, she wanted all of her friends to get together and to do it.

“I thought it’d be fun to have a bunch of seniors as the lead roles and just do it together because it was something we’ve never done before. We’re all stepping outside of our comfort zone with this and it’s a lot of fun. It’s been really worth it,” she said.

With a cast of only 15 students, more than half of the actors play sports as well, so it was a challenge for Elisha to block scenes and teach music and choreography to such a small part of the cast on a daily basis.

Brooke Somerville, who played Martha, said that not everyone could make it to each practice, so it was stressful to get the acts together with actors missing.

Comparing HSM with last year’s musical, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, there was a smaller cast, and no live orchestra, so the music played from a CD.

“It’s actually a pretty big challenge because you have to be right on cue. A band is more flexible. It can help hide your errors, whereas with a CD, you can’t do that. Overall, though, it’s been less stressful because of the smaller amount of people,” Elisha said.

Senior Keith Dunkelberger, who played Zeke, said, “The first time [we] sang a solo or a duet together was fun because it was just kind of goofy. It’s funny just to laugh at each other and laugh at yourself because you know it’s not going to be Broadway material. It just has to be the best you can do.”

Gregory added, “Our first rehearsal was probably the funniest because we had to go through the entire play without our book, and we just went straight through. Watching each other mess up or get perfect lines was fun to go through.”

Senior Bryce Liebel played the role of Taylor. She said that during the musical you got to hang out with all your friends and have a great time. She said that acting for this musical came to her most naturally because the movie is set in a high school, so it’s not super hard to get into character.

Same goes for junior Amanda Viota, acting as Gabriella, saying that acting was the easiest part about the play.

“The movie was something we’re all familiar with because we’ve all seen High School Musical. It’s something we grew up with. Putting it on stage is just a modified version of the movie, as we all know the story line and how the characters act,” she said.

Senior Faith Rodriguez took on the role of Ms. Darbus.

“The fact that I’m a senior and that the musical is one we grew up watching makes it a lot more fun. There’s this huge sentimental aspect,” she said.

When asked, many of the actors did agree that learning the choreography was the toughest part of being in the musical.

Ryan was played by senior Toby Howell, and he added that remembering what comes next, like which scene, is also challenging.

Senior Sid Price played Troy Bolton, and Price said that what he liked about playing Troy was that he is just like him. Price added: “He’s a multifaceted character.”

Something Elisha was very excited about was “to just see the whole thing together as one big performance and to see how much growth the students made from our first rehearsal to our final production.”