High School Musical Jr

High School Musical Jr is the shortened adaptation of the popular Disney film.  It is a big hit with youth groups as it condenses the well-known story and songs into a production of just over an hour which is great for younger performers.  This was the latest offering of Hilltop Theatre Company’s junior section following the success of Matilda Jr last year.  As always with this society, I had a lovely welcome and lots of great chat with the front of house team.  Thanks to Iain, Glad and co!

The set was well constructed and looked excellent.  I am always interested to see what societies do with smaller venues and limited wing space and Hilltop’s creative team really delivered with this one.  Well done everyone. 

Lighting was simple but effective but there were a few issues with sound quality and balance.  It’s a tough ask to get this right when using backing tracks and sometimes the spoken dialogue was overpowered but on the whole, the singing carried over the tracks.

On the subject of singing, the group of young performers all sang brilliantly, whether individually or as a collective and I send my congratulations to you all for this.

As Troy Bolton, Shane Probert did a great job in a role made famous by Zac Efron.  He lead the cast very well with good acting, movement and strong vocals in the musical numbers.  Well done Shane.

Opposite Shane was Mabli Rogers as Gabriella.  This was a very different character to those I’ve seen Mabli portray previously and I think she did a good job.  It is important to challenge ourselves and have versatility in this industry.  Mabli sang and moved well throughout.  Congratulations.

As Sharpay and Ryan Evans, Jasmine Gough and Niall Dorrington burst onto the stage with huge energy and equally large characters!   They worked well together and individually, delivering great comedy throughout.   These characters are the polar opposites to Troy and Gabriella and I believe that Jasmine and Niall delivered this contrast perfectly.  They both sang and moved well.  Two excellent performances.

Nia Tame, James Gardner, Phoebe Faulds, Jack Evans and Jago Davies did a good job as Kelsi, Chad, Taylor, Zeke and Coach Bolton.  Each had their own distinct character and good energy throughout.

I really liked Evie Parker’s performance as Ms Darbus.  She had a real command of the stage and was very funny.  The audience particularly enjoyed her handling of a small blip in the opening dialogue where Evie got herself back on track with a little “Oh Hello”, before delivering the lines perfectly.  Well dealt with and handled in character, well done.

As Jackie Scott, Beti Baird was brilliant!  She had boundless energy and enthusiasm, with a super character.  The audience looked forward to her little introductions whenever she took to the stage, whilst pushing along a speaker that was almost as big as her!  Well done Beti, a very funny and excellent performance!

Other named characters all added something to the production.  Good work everyone.

One of the real strengths of this performance lay in the choreography and particularly in the delivery of it.  The main cast all danced really well and they were accompanied by several ‘featured dancers’ who I think need a name check!  Congratulations to Elsie Maddocks, Viva-Belle Hughes, Poppy Morgan, Grace Morgan, Georgia Lamb, Imogen Faulds, Lucy Pattison, Ellie Probert, Jessica Fox, Scarlett Hadley, Phoebe Robinson and Sylvie Robinson!  I also liked the fact that the choreographers differentiated the moves for the younger cast members, who all did a brilliant job!

Thank you Hilltop for a lovely production.  I look forward to returning again soon.

 

The views in this report are solely of the author.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.