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Special Section: High School Musicalemphasized the need to have fun with the show and not toget hung up on “but that’s how they did it in the movie.”Luckily for me, our choreographer at the Ames CommunityTheatre (who also played Gabriella) didn’t even see the movieuntil the entire show had been choreographed. The onlyreal concession I made to sticking to the movie was when Irequested that the song “We’re All In This Together” have acertain shoulder movement in it that appears on the Dance-A-Long version of the film on DVD.There are other places where you really don’t want to relyon the movie. I originally went into the music without a musicdirector, thinking that if I listened to the movie soundtrackenough, I should be able to help the actors with the parts. This wasan obvious mistake once I received the scripts and reference CDsfrom MTI. The music, although familiar, has changed a lot from themovie, and if there is one thing you do not want to underestimate,is the time involved to learn the parts to the songs.“The music is harder than it seems — especially if usingteenagers who typically haven’t had a lot of theatre and vocaltraining experience,” says Shields.Fortunately, just before we started rehearsals, we found atremendous musical director at the local university who wasin her senior year majoring in musicinstruction.One of the directing challenges wasthe parts of the show where I wantedthe kids to just act like normal highschool kids. I thought a simple “actlike you are at a party” direction wouldmean they would automatically startswinging and snapping and dancing,but in the beginning they just didn’tknow what to do. Kittrell noticed thesame thing in Stagedoor’s production.“Kids who don’t blink an eye atLes Miz and Sweeney Todd were takenaback at having to play ‘themselves’in a realistic manner,” says Kittrell.“For the kids, that was the biggestchallenge.” When working with kids,simply “being yourself” is a scaryproposition, so directors should beprepared to tell the actors exactlywhat they want them to do.Curtain RaisersIn the final hours before curtain,your production will come together.For us, the first night that we used thestage lights on a full set was a significantimprovement from just the nightbefore with its fluorescent lightingand half-painted set. Trust your actorsand have a good time with the show.It is deceptive in the amount of energythat it takes to produce, both on- andbackstage. Instead of worrying aboutother local productions before or afteryours, embrace them. You may evenbe able to rent them your basketballor cheerleading uniforms.High School Musical presented achallenge to our small communitytheatre in Iowa, but the experienceamong the cast, crew and theaudience is one that will always bea source of conversation. Have funwith the show and make it your own— your patrons will be Bop-Bop-Bopping to the Top in the aisles andsinging your praises, whether you area 100-seat house or 3,000. After all,we’re all in this together!36 December 2007 • www.stage-directions.com