It’s a case of life imitating art these days over at Kentridge High School, with the whole school coming together for a single drama club performance – just like the play itself.
This year, the Kentridge Drama Department is doing a production of “High School Musical” with a cast of more than 100 students drawn from every clique in the school.
“We have every sport and every club at Kentridge represented in this production,” said drama teacher and director Jennifer Grajewski.
The play, based on the highly successful Disney movie of the same name, is about a “jock” and a “brain” who meet on a ski slope and then discover they are going to school together. Through their relationship and participation in a school musical, the entire school is brought together.
“It’s a modern-day ‘Grease'” Grajewski said.
But at Kentridge, the overwhelming response of the students has led to a giant-sized cast that reflects not only the entire student body, but also the play’s central message that “we’re all in this together,” according to Grajewski.
“We’re kind of living ‘High School Musical’ right now,” she said.
Grajewski said she originally had reservations about the play, but agreed to consider it after the joint Kentridge and Kent-Meridian production of “Fame” this past fall.
Because of the work the kids did as part of a joint cast, Grajewski ordered “High School Musical” and is now a convert.
“It’s not a show I really wanted to do, but the kids were really interested,” she said. “It ended up just being an incredible experience.”
More than 200 kids showed up to audition for the cast and the cast grew to 102 students, all of whom Grajewski said were very into the show and all became close despite different cliques and backgrounds.
“A lot of them never knew each other,” she said. “It’s brought kids together that would never be together.
“We had all these jocks and kids from other groups trying out,” she added.
The play’s four leads are all seniors. Derek Clement stars as Troy with Linnea Shockley as Gabriella. Corbin Sterling plays Ryan and Kelly McLaren plays Sharpay.
“They are all talented kids,” she said of her cast, adding that the four leads have a total of more than 30 shows between them.
Grajewski said fans of the movie will not be disappointed, but the book for the stage version is slightly different and includes a few new songs not found in the film. She also said the dialogue is better and deals more with real high school issues.
“It really deals with a lot of the pressures kids face,” she said. “I like the stage version better than the movie.
The interest in the play also boiled over to ticket sales and a third weekend was added to the show, which opened earlier this month. Tickets are still available for the added performances, which begin at 7 p.m. May 13 – May 15.
For more information visit http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/KSD/KR/.
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