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Feature|By Geri Jeterall photos by Jeff SpeerTending toHigh School Musical 2In deep camouflage, Ryan and Sharpay (Jonathan Sangster and Molly Rosenberger) spy on Gabrielle and Troy.The high school version of the hit show blooms in Green Valley.The first High School Musical television movie spawnedsing-along, dance-along and pop-up DVDs, a stage version(Disney’s High School Musical: On Stage), a concerttour, an ice show (Disney’s High School Musical: The Ice Tour)and another stage version designed specifically for highschool productions. Obsessed tween fans filled the Disneycoffers, purchasing DVDs, soundtrack CDs, games, stickers,clothing and other licensed ephemera — a masterpieceof brand extension. HSM2 has generated a similar flurry ofspin-offs and licensed merchandise. It also provided a boonto schools and theatres producing the stage version of theshow, as they consistently sold out and brought in a hugeinflux of participation and cash into theatres.This year, Disney rolled out both professional and highschool versions of Disney High School Musical 2: On Stage. Aswith each incarnation of the original show, adjustments hadto be made to the script, staging, score and choreography.To get the high school version on stage, The Walt DisneyCompany and Music Theatre International (MTI), the exclusivelicensor of The Disney Collection, asked six schools toparticipate in a pilot program to work out any problems inthe adaptation. All six schools participated in preparing theoriginal HSM for high school performers to great success;four of the schools agreed to work on HSM2. Because of theirparticipation, the four schools were then granted permissionto premier the show prior to general licensing.Green Valley High School in Henderson, Nev., one of theparticipating schools, made the production an integral partof its summer program. Theatre Department Head JenniferL. Hemme met the members of theatrical rights agencyMusic Theatre International over eight years ago at theSoutheastern Theatre Conference (SETC). When MTI’s boothcomputer broke down, Hemme loaned them her laptop; theyhave been friends ever since. Through them, Green ValleyHigh School has been asked to act as a pilot program fora number of shows being adapted for high school performance,including the two High School Musical productions.Getting StartedThe school’s theatre department is small — Hemme is theonly instructor, although before the latest round of schoolbudget cuts, the 250-student department had a part-timetechnical theatre coach/instructor. She has been fortunate,though, in enlisting help from generous friends and the localLas Vegas theatre community. Additionally, before losing thetechnical theatre position, the industrial arts department lostits woodshop program.“I happened to be in the right place at the right time,”explains Hemme, “and suggested that we hire a technicaltheatre teacher and expand the tech program. The woodshopkids were moved into tech at that time.” Most of thesestudents remained in the theatre program, so when thetechnical theatre position was eliminated Hemme still had asmall group of students who had been trained to handle thetechnical responsibilities. Nevertheless, for a production thesize of HSM2, the technical demands were significant.“Our main technical challenge was to have enough techsover the summer to work the show,” says Hemme. “Therewere also some smaller things, such as how to deal with therealities of stage versus screen productions. For example,24 December 2008 • www.stage-directions.com