High School Musical

Published 10:15 pm Wednesday, April 4, 2007

By By Adrienne McKenzie
Students at Northview High School sang and danced in front of a packed house both Friday and Saturday night as the senior class presented "High School Musical."
According to Daniel Cutler, a senior at NHS who played star basketball player Troy Bolton in the musical, the plot was full of people breaking different stereotypes.
"I played a basketball player who had kept it a secret that he could sing," Cutler said. "After he told everybody that he could sing, others came out about their secret talents. It got people thinking about stereotypes."
The play "High School Musical" is based on the Disney Channel Original Movie that aired last year.
At the beginning of the musical, Bolton and Gabriella Montez, played by senior Bailee Deese, met each other while on a winter vacation. They became friends over the winter break but expected not to ever see each other again. The company that Montez's mother worked at transferred her to Albuquerque, N.M., where Bolton happened to live and Montez began attending the school Bolton went to.
Bolton and Montez chose to try out for their school's musical. After their audition, they received the callback, along with Sharpay Evans, played by senior Rachel Killam, and Ryan Evans, played by James Scott. In the musical, the Evans' had been the lead in 17 school plays and were not thrilled about Bolton and Montez receiving the callback.
When the day for the callback arrived, Bolton and Montez sang "Breaking Free" to win the lead in the musical.
The students had a great time practicing and performing the musical and said they knew they could not have pulled it together without NHS teachers Terri Jernigan and Elaine Holk.
"It was a lot of fun," Killam said. "It all came together at the end. Mrs. Holk puts a lot of work into these plays, she organized all the music. But it's her last one for a while. We couldn't have done it without her and Mrs. Jernigan."
Cutler said that none of the other plays that were considered for the senior play would have fit the cast as well as "High School Musical."
"I don't think any of the other plays we were thinking about doing would have fit as well," Cutler said. "The casting fit this class. Most of us played the opposite of what we actually are. That's what made it fun though."
Dani Tyree, who played Kelsi Neilson in the musical, felt that because she participated in the musical, she learned more about her classmates.
"I had a lot of fun because I go to school with these people, some of them since elementary school, but I really got to know them during the play," Tyree said.
Purvis Smith Jr., who played Chad Danforth, had a favorite scene in the musical.
"My most exciting part about it was the 'status quo' scene because it was in the cafeteria and there was dancing and it was fun," Smith said.
According to the students, the cast members have been practicing since Feb. 1.
"We have two musical theater classes so we practiced every day in class since Feb. 1," Killam said. "Then on Wednesdays we practiced every week. Last week we practiced every day."
Cutler said Friday night was the first time the cast members had gone through the musical completely and in attire.
"Up until Friday we had never had a run through and so it was like a dress rehearsal," Cutler said.
Although it was the senior play and seniors played the main characters, there were underclassmen that were involved in various areas of the musical.
The seniors in the play include, Cutler, Smith, Paul Howard, John Donaldson, Killam, Scott, Shawn Turner, Lindsay Barnes, Amanda Wilson, Britney Jackson, Brittany Hicks, Deese, Rachel Daniels, Leah Wilson, Heather Sadler, Brandy Wiggins, Ashley Rawlinson, Ed Adams, Tyree, Crystal Hollingsworth, Adrea Watford, Valerie Peterson, Krysten Sanders, Tanganykia Johnson, Tarmanykia Redmond, Crystal Rolin, Amanda Moretz, Amy Underwood and Ryan Chason.
The freshmen, sophomores and juniors in the play include, T.J. Gunn, Ledell Williams, Phillip Mayhair, Ethan Cole, Gage Riley, John Harrell, Josh Pridgeon, Kalyn Vaughan, Olivia Bryan, Carley Hetrick, Rebecca Hendrix, Adrian Holbert, Racheal Bauer and Luke Killam.
Cutler said the audience attendance was superior on both nights.
"We sold out Friday," Cutler said. "Saturday night we were close to being sold out. It was a good turnout."

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