To be clear, Neale Beck had heard of High School Musical before. He just didn’t know anything about it.
But, last fall, when the 17-year-old student started digging around to learn more about the popular Disney flick, Beck was more than happy to go along for the musical theatre ride in his final year at Pinetree secondary.
Drama teacher Natalee Fera cast Beck to play Ryan Evans, the “flamboyant, sassy and awkward” twin brother of Sharpay Evans portrayed by fellow graduating student Aleesha Agostino.
“With Neale by my side, it’s fun,” she said. “I didn’t know him before but now we’re singing and dancing together, which I never thought we’d do in a million years.”
A total of 46 students are involved in this year’s Treehouse Theatre musical — either on stage or with the production crew — which opens Thursday at the Coquitlam secondary school.
Daphne Santos takes the lead — for the second year in a row, after being picked as Tracy Turnblad in last year’s Hairspray — as Gabriella Montez (portrayed in the film version by Vanessa Hudgens) while the hunky Troy Bolton character (Zac Efron) is played by Ryan Sharpe. In Hairspray, he also won a starring role as the TV host Corny Collins.
“Gabriella is a really, really sweet girl and extremely smart,” Santos said during a group interview last week in the school’s theatre makeup room. “She has to find her way to be more than a stereotype: She has to learn how to shine.”
The storyline follows Gabriella through her journey in a new school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Troy guiding her way at East High.
Christian Lamigo, Grade 10, is Chad Danforth, Troy’s best friend, while the kindred spirit role of Taylor McKessie is taken on by Rebecca Zanni.
Kyara Nelson — “I’m a die-hard fan of High School Musical,” she states enthusiastically — is the timid Kelsi Nielsen and purple-haired Darienne Murphy is perfectly cast as Ms. Darbus, the eccentric drama teacher.
“High School Musical was the right fit for this group,” said Fera, who is also the director and choreographer. “It was released 10 years ago when my 46 students in the cast and on the crew were at the perfect age to be its original audience.
“They are a generation of kids who were introduced to musical in a fresh, trendy way.”
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