High School Musical Jr

I said to myself as I walked through a busy town towards the Stamford Corn Exchange Theatre that I must remember that the carparks are free of charge in town on a Sunday! Another hot day in town, I was glad that I was sat lower down this steeply raked auditorium, I remembered my physics that hot air rises, but I’m not sure that applied to the stage, it looked all hot. The lights dimmed, the audience quietened and the curtains opened to a full stage.

Yes, it was a full stage, a very large cast list, but strangely even when the whole company was on stage it never looked crowded. Making good use of the raised platform at the rear of the stage and the stairs meant that spacing was always good although there was one sequence with the Cheerleaders with some quite acrobatic moves (Breaking Free) where there was a bit of masking and from where I was sat I couldn’t clearly see some of the moves, the only other comment re staging was that particularly in the final scene with the Braniacs and the Jocks spread right across the stage those extreme stage left and extreme stage right were not well lit. Apart from a few technical issues with Troy’s mic in the first half, sound was generally good although a bit of the dialogue spoken by those not mic’d up would have been difficult to hear from the rear of the auditorium.

These were only minor gripes amongst what was a fast paced and well performed show. I imagine that the really good singing was down to Cassie drilling the youngsters with their songs, and I don’t mean just the principals, the company singing with so many youngsters was really good, nice and clear and everyone singing in unison. The Choreography too was well drilled, to have all the youngsters in step and in time together deserves much credit and made for a well drilled and performed show. Of course, there may always be one or two out of step, but if there were I didn’t notice them and some of the younger children showed great enthusiasm.

The principals were all well cast, I was most impressed with some of the minor principals and enjoyed the performances of Otto Forkin as Jack Scott, Barney Cooper as Coach Bolton and Isla Joyce as Kelsi the pianist, good characterisation, they made these roles their own. I was not disappointed with the performances of Niall McGarrity as Troy, as good as always, and Carmen Baum as Gabriella, these two worked well together and had the right chemistry for teenage sweet hearts with great singing and performances, clear dialogue and clearly held the stage when together. Ivy Freeman Hall gave a great characterisation of the ego-centric Sharpay and clearly revelled in her role with great stage presence and singing. These three were competently supported by members of their ‘gangs’ – Jorja Long as Sharpay’s brother Ryan, these two were a great double act defining the sibling’s different characters. Jess Godding gave a good portrayal of Ms. Darbus the School’s drama teacher. The other principal roles were well performed by Jazz Macrorie, Samantha Cash, Millie Jackson and Eliza Short.

This was a well performed production which the directors should be proud of, a large company, well costumed, straightforward set and slick scene changes gave a professional performance to a receptive audience  

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