On ice, teenage musical endures

‘Disney’s High School Musical: The Ice Tour’ offers yet another
medium for the wildly popular show.

By JOHN BENSON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

In case you haven’t heard, we live in a “High School Musical” world, where the story of Troy and Gabriella has reached ubiquity seemingly overnight.

Just as the “High School Musical” marketing frenzy has followed, so has the transformation of the Disney Channel movie into new venues. Late last year a Broadway version of the show came through Northeast Ohio. Now the Disney on Ice folks have their own version. “Disney’s High School Musical: The Ice Tour” makes a stop in Cleveland Jan. 12 through 21 at Quicken Loans Arena.

“It’s an amazing phenomenon, and I think every generation sort of has their ‘High School Musical,’ if you will,” said Jay Smith, Feld Entertainment director of show development, calling from Orlando. “There was ‘Grease’ and ‘Footloose,’ and before that time, it was ‘Bye Bye Birdie,’ It’s sort of like that genre, that formula, sort of resonates with the young audience.”

He added, “But I think the thing with ‘High School Musical’ is, if you look at ‘Grease,’ it’s all about being the bad kids and smoking and getting pregnant. The message with ‘High School Musical’ is so positive, about being yourself, and if you believe in yourself, you can succeed. I think it’s a very positive message about a bunch of clean-cut kids. There is something there that just resonates.”

When it came time to modify “High School Musical” into a Disney on Ice production, that responsibility fell to Smith. Early on he said this show was different from others he brought to the ice in the sense that the music drove the storyline.

All the hits

That means fans can expect to hear all of the first movie’s hits (“Get’cha Head in the Game,” “Start of Something New” and “We’re All in This Together”), as well as two new songs (“Cellular Fusion” and “Counting On You”), which were written for the Broadway show.

Something else familiar for audiences will be the costumes and choreography. Smith made sure movie costume designer Erin “Topaz” Lareau and choreographer Charles “Chucky” Klapow were involved with “Disney’s High School Musical: The Ice Tour.”

Challenging work

Storyline aside, there were certain aspects of “High School Musical” that were challenging.

“I think there are some very iconic moments in the show,” Smith said. “For example, the song ‘Get’cha Head in the Game,’ we were pretty sure we could play basketball on the ice, but that was a pretty interesting exercise during the pre-production to get skaters to bounce basketballs. It’s a very clever moment in the show, and a pretty neat number.”

Smith said considering “High School Musical II” aired this past summer and “High School Musical III” is headed to the silver screen this year, odds are those shows will eventually end up as Disney on Ice shows. Invariably, it appears as though audiences can’t get enough of Wildcats from East High School.

“I think ‘Disney’s High School Musical: The Ice Tour’ is just another way of enjoying the music and the story,” Smith said. “It’s a party. And because it plays arenas, you sort of feel like you’ve gone to his gigantic high school pep rally.

“It’s fun because the audience sings along and they’re on their feet dancing. It’s just a big — it sounds corny or trite — feel-good celebration.”