Braw Venues’ High School Musical is a perfect rendition of the early 2000s childhood nostalgic film, with their young adult cast performing and singing their hearts out; essentially forcing everyone in the audience to let their Wildcat hearts break free!
Held in the Grand Hall at Grand Lodge, the beautiful venue makes a great background for the musical, ironically vastly different from the musical’s setting of the fictional East High School. Whilst this allows the show to have a high level of grandeur, it is a shame that it was a struggle to hear the young cast’s voices during their dialogue between songs (however, this may have only occurred at the showing I attended early on in the Fringe!). I was unable to tell what the cast were saying most of the time, as the dialogue was almost alike to mumbling — but this is definitely not to blame on the American accents they used for their performance, as this slice of their talent was exquisite, and seemed indistinguishable from a true American accent.
The actress who played the movie’s female protagonist, Gabriella, was astonishing in how she sounded exactly like Vanessa Hudgens in the original High School Musical film. I also particularly appreciated the “it-girl energy” of Sharpay’s actress, as she radiated across the stage, and had the audience in the palm of her hands. It is extremely evident that the young adult cast is filled to the brim with talent, and the chemistry between all the cast was energising, so much so, that I was unable to tell who was having more fun during the show: the audience or them?
Performing the movie’s hit songs like ‘Breaking Free’, ‘Get’cha Head in the Game’, and of course, ‘We’re All in This Together’, the audience almost became part of the musical themselves, as they joined in by humming along to the songs.
The show promises a fun time, proving to be a favourite amongst varieties of different people in this Fringe audience — from families, to older couples, and of course, to those who experienced the popular Disney movie as a large part of their childhood. Bravo to this young cast and their team!
Image by Mark Chan
