The cast of Wildcats: The Musical | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
For all those who grew up watching Disney Channel in the 2000s, High School Musical Watching the movies was a rite of passage. We watched wide-eyed when Troy and Gabrielle started singing on New Year’s Eve, truly experienced the start of something new as they moved on to their high school years at East High, and cheered for the Wildcats and their victories on the basketball court.
“We are bringing back everything that people have come to love High School Musical “This series is big enough to be brought to the stage,” says Diandra Clementine Nicholas, the 23-year-old director who is directing the stage adaptation of the first series High School Musical film, Wildcats: The Musical The teenage spirit will be brought alive on stage in Chennai this weekend with a young cast and crew.
“We just added a new character and a new song. The film adaptation has been staged in schools in the US before, and I made some changes to adapt it for our stage,” she says of this musical theatre version.
just like the first movieWildcats: The Musical It’s the story of East High School’s new student, Gabriella, who forms an unlikely friendship through music with the school’s star basketball player, Troy. The story also features plenty of drama, sports and, of course, music and dance, thanks to East High’s many colorful groups and characters – theater queen bee Sharpay and her twin brother Ryan, smart scholastic club head Taylor Mackesy and Chad, the perfect jock bestie.
While they expected only a few people to show up for the initial audition call, about 80 people registered to audition for Poochoo’s Productions. The cast consists mostly of young people fresh out of school and in college, with Deandra being the oldest member of the production.
Over the past three months, Diandra said the cast has been trained in singing by their vocal conductor Antara Sara Chacko and in dancing by their choreographer Vishnulakshmi. “Along with our executive producer Uthara Menon, we have been working together as a core team on this big production. This is my first time working on such a big production, and it has been a learning experience, especially in terms of patience,” the young director said.
The team is confident that musical theatre and High School Musical The music, the dance, the drama and the story will be loved. As for the newcomers, Deandra is sure of one thing. “You will fall in love High School Musical,” she says.
Wildcats, the Musical It will be staged at The Music Academy on TTK Road on June 8. Tickets are available on allevents.in and start at ₹250.
