CEDAR CITY — The Forge Center for the Arts kickstarted their all-American summer with the opening night of High School Musical: The Musical! The great Ellen Wheeler produced and directed the musical adapted for stage from the 2006 Disney Channel film High School Musical. The play plunged into Millennial memory boxes and brought back classic musical numbers from the movie such as “Start of Something New,” “Get ’cha Head in the Game,” “Breaking Free” and many other fan favorites.
When entering the Forge Center for the Arts the big star of the show was the newly built stage lovingly named the Foundry. Scenic Designer Ky Habel artfully hand painted every wood piece on the stage and moving set pieces to bring East High School to life. It brings real live color to the Wildcat student cast.
Huge shoutout to Austin Fronk who played the head basketball star and moonlighting singer Troy Bolton. Fronk’s energy was both boundless and infectious as he sang and danced Troy’s story to life. His co-star Cheyenne Grace who played Gabriella Montez, the secret great mathematician and a rising singing star, brought endless real life singing talent to vocalize Gabriella’s stories to life. Fronk’s and Grace’s harmonization during their several duet pieces were especially beautiful.
Natalie Lynch was delightful playing the drama teacher Ms. Darbus, who had fabulous outfits during the whole show. Designer Rochelle McLelland utilized costumes to be able to perfectly encapsulate all East High School’s student body and staff looks. Taython Horman helped the story move smoothly as the hilarious student body announcer Jack Scott. One of my favorite announcements he made during the whole show was, “The skydiving club is meeting on the roof after school and the first aide club is meeting right below them.” Another cool element that helped move the story along and its transitions was the creative use of blue light during scene changes and when time passed in the story since there is not a curtain to open and close on the Foundry.
To wrap up the review of the leads for this production, I have saved the most raving praise for last. Kira Paskett, who played the flamboyant drama star Sharpay Evans was absolute perfection! She brought Sharpay to life in a big way with everything between her acting, dancing and singing. Paskett also meshed well with Perry Egan who played Sharpay’s twin brother and partner in performance of Ryan Evans. Paskett and Egan also performed the iconic Sharpay and Ryan pre-performance handshake to my movie nostalgia’s delight!
While these lead performers were incredible all the way through, a strength of the show was the 26 cast members who sang, danced and acted in a glorious ensemble to really bring the wildcat student body and staff to life! My two favorite ensemble moments from the show include when they were acting as different types of animals during drama detention and when they spelled out Old Crab Mug while trying to spell out Go Drama Club.
Choreographers Brielle Bowden and Remington Comp had a huge positive effect on the musical for their ingenious chorography throughout the whole show. All the dances were highly energetic and kept the audience engaged. I watched the audience bounce in rhythm during the “Get ‘cha Head in the Game” number after some cast members threw blow up beach ball basketballs into the audience. This interaction added an awesome effect to the whole scene for that specific song. High School Musical: The Musical! at the Forge Center for the Arts at the Foundry Stage is a great opening show for this All American Season!
SHOW INFO: High School Musical: The Musical! on the Foundry Stage at the Forge Center for Arts(170 E. Fiddlers Canyon Rd, Cedar City) closed June 13th. Single Tickets ranged in price from $15-20, with group discounts available. Upcoming season offering include Oklahoma playing June 18th-22nd and 1776 playing June 26th-July 3rd. Tickets and showtimes are available at theforgearts.com
Editor’s Note: This review was written on time. The delay was on our end and we apologize to the cast and creatives for the overdue review.