Get ready for the screaming as ‘High School Musical’ hits Vegas stage

Stand clear, post-adolescents -- a Lean, Mean Tween Machine is about to steamroll Vegas.

Heed our advisory, parents: Refrain from reciting those three words that trigger screaming, squealing, screeching and shrieking from kids coast to coast: "High School Musical" ...

You did it, didn't you? Relax, your hearing should return momentarily. But if you need to see a specialist, send the bill to Disney.

The infectious confection from the Mouse House, otherwise known as The Thing That Ate Pop Culture, lands in town in stage-show form Wednesday through Sunday at Planet Hollywood's Theatre for the Performing Arts. Let the commotion commence.

"When the houselights went down on our very first performance, the crowd screamed like it was the reunion of the Beatles and it occurred to me -- uh-oh, what happens when the stage lights come up and the stars of the movie aren't there?" recalls Jeff Calhoun, the no-longer-nervous-Nellie director of "High School Musical On Stage!"

"By the end they were screaming and I breathed a big sigh of relief. It's everything they love from the movie, we're just using a different medium to tell the story. Hopefully, we've paid it back with interest."

Interest? This franchise is earning enough to buy a small country. Maybe a continent.

Since the Disney Channel's original 2006 movie exploded onto America's tween scene like a singing-dancing neutron bomb, the fallout's been fabulous for the famed factory of family fun: Headlined by Zac Efron (now one of the heart-throbbiest stars on the planet) and Vanessa Hudgens (whose nudie Internet photos rankled Disney and prompted an "apology" to her fans), the first flick spawned a soundtrack that owned the No. 1 spot for 2006 and demolished Billboard records by charting nine original tunes on the Hot 100. "High School Musical 2," launched last year, rocketed to history as the No. 1 basic cable telecast of all time.

To avoid lapsing into a Disney press release, we'll condense the rest: Awards by the fistful, best-selling novel, Disneyland theme show, even traveling ice capades, and now, a leap to movie theaters for the upcoming three-quel, "High School Musical: Senior Year" -- plus the stage tour.

"The decision to adapt it for the stage was made before the film became such a remarkable phenomenon because the Disney Channel was looking for another way to increase awareness before the film aired," says Steve Fickinger, vice president of theatrical licensing for the Disney Theatrical Group. "They sent me the film and it was a no-brainer that kids would probably respond to it, but there was no way of knowing it would have the kind of cultural significance it's had with that age group."

Twin versions -- the two-act tour production and a 70-minute edition for schools and small theater companies with limited resources -- were licensed. And of course, Disney parted the merchandising heavens and a torrent of tchotchkes, knickknacks, trinkets and doodads rained down, including (no kidding) "HSM" panties -- just $6.99! Buy them on Amazon.com if you're too embarrassed for a store clerk to ring them up. Or save money via body art forget-me-nots.

"When we opened in Seattle, two young girls asked me to sign their faces," says stage co-star John Jeffrey Martin. "I'm there holding a fresh Sharpie and looking for their parents."

The story? In a nutshell: Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou's yen for show tunes, Romeo -- and why are you hangin' with the drama dweebs when you should be dribbling, dude?

Pegged by some as a next-Gen "Grease," it's the tale of clashing high school cliques (think: school hall Montagues and Capulets) after basketball court king Troy Bolton (Martin, originally Efron) meets shy, brainy Gabriella Montez (Arielle Jacobs, originally Hudgens), the duo discovering their shared love of -- No, say it ain't so, Mr. Macho Jock Stud! -- singing. Auditioning for the school musical, they throw East High's caste system into chaos, with the teammates, the brainiacs and the theater geeks all hatching plots to halt this social sacrilege.

Message: Defy stereotypes and explore all your talents, peer pressure be damned. The score -- highlighted by "Stick with the Status Quo," "Start of Something New," "Get'cha Head in the Game," "We're All in This Together" and "Breaking Free" -- hammers it home, albeit with new nails.

"It's one thing to have songs playing over a film scene, being essentially a music video," Fickinger says. "But with characters onstage, they have to be singing words to further the story. They've done that by expanding the lyrics to some songs, turning some solos into duets or having a different character sing a song, and writing a couple of new songs. You take a terrifically catchy pop-rock soundtrack and turn it into a true contemporary theater score."

Then there's the logistics of athletics.

"The basketball number is one of the more famous in the show, and we had to figure out how to do that without balls going into the orchestra pit or the audience," Calhoun says. "On film, you can keep shooting till they do it right. But live onstage, let's just say the actors were not experienced basketball players. But they learned how to dribble and work with a basketball. And we drop 16 basketballs down to get them to the actors, and that always gets a nice reaction."

Dancing and dribbling? That's Lisa Stevens' domain. "On film, you have the beauty of space and the advantage of different types of camera angles," says Stevens, the show's choreographer. "You can pause with cuts and edits that keep it moving. But onstage you have none of that. And the size of the stage varies. I look for levels: What can we dance on top of? What can move? What can we use as a prop? What's interesting?"

With a 34-member cast and a live orchestra, the stage update also tweaks some character traits, curbing the comic-relief aspects of drama teacher Ms. Darbus, lending her nobility.

"We made her a teacher who dedicated her life to theater," Calhoun says. "There's always the teacher you remember fondly." (More to the point: Why ridicule a theater-loving character in a stage play?)

Having caught the film before hitting the stage, Jacobs was, to paraphrase her vernacular ... concerned. "The actor who plays Troy had never seen the movie and the director told him, 'Good, don't watch it,' " Jacobs says. "And I felt: 'OK, I'm screwed. What do I do?' So I had to forget what I'd seen and look at the script as a brand new piece."

Martin, unencumbered by the Ghost of Zac, found tackling "High School Musical" wasn't dissimilar to prepping for ... Tennessee Williams? "I pretty much created it as if I was doing 'The Glass Menagerie,' as an original part for myself," says Martin, who's convinced his character eventually will ascend to the pantheon of Mouse House immortals. "In a few years at Disneyland, they're going to have Mickey and Goofy and Troy, just a regular dude in a burgundy striped shirt."

Jacobs points out that for some in the "HSM" audience, the live show is a cultural revelation. "We have a lot of families who see our show who've never even been inside a theater before -- it's an experience you can't have watching it in your living room," she says.

"And it's so rare in musical theater being part of a production where everybody knows what it is. Usually people ask, 'What show are you doing?' and you tell them and they have no clue what you're talking about. To be in something that's such a phenomenon just makes it easier, and much more appreciated as an actor."

Determined to demonstrate your appreciation? At the curtain call, toss a small token of affection onstage, but keep it classy and cost-effective. ... those panties are $6.99 a pop.

Contact reporter Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0256.