High School Musical Appeals to All Ages

It started as a television movie for the Disney Channel in 2006.  It has morphed into multiple full-length feature films, shows on ice, merchandising opportunities galore and even live theater productions.   Greenwood Community Theatre is staging its own production, with opening night scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday.   Bess Park, GCT's artistic and executive director, who is directing "High School Musical," said youth have been asking her for quite a while now to produce the show.   "High School Musical" concerns several high school students at the fictional East High who show an interest in auditioning for the school's musical production.

The cast of characters includes:  basketball team captain, Troy, and the new girl, Gabriella, whom Troy meet on a ski trip; "drama diva" Sharpay and her brother, Ryan; Kelsi, the composer for the musical and the Jocks and the Brainiacs.

For the cast and crew, "High School Musical" is just plain fun.

It's a high-energy show that has attracted the likes of Greenwood High School junior Nicholas Hodges, 16, a nose guard on the Eagle football team, who can carry a tune with the best of 'em.

The production also lured Cambridge Academy athletics coach and physical education instructor, Bill Rude, who previously coached at the college level.  Rude has coached at institutions including, but not limited to, the University of Tennessee, Converse College and St. Andrew's Presbyterian College.  Rude is in his second year with Cambridge Academy.

Hodges, who grew up singing in church and directs the youth choir at Second Damascus Baptist Church in Callison, is no stranger to the performing arts.

He was in school plays during elementary school.  In middle school, he stopped theater, but added football and band.

Now, in high school, Hodges still has football, but he also has show choir.

"Some people think football players are only good at carrying a ball, but there are quite a few of us who re academically smart and also either sing, draw or play an instrument," Hodges said.

A friend encouraged Hodges to try out for "High School Musical."

"This show has a lot of music and dancing," he said.  "It's kind of like a combination of 'Grease' and 'Footloose.'

Hodges plays Chad Danforth, best friend of jock, Troy.

"I'm grateful my football coach has allowed me to attend both football practice and play practice," Hodges said, noting he's got a rigorous academic semester ahead of him, too, when District 50 starts the 2009-10 school year on Tuesday.

His course load includes American history, advanced chorus, pre-calculus and advanced algebra, to name a few.

"I'm good at multi-tasking," he assures.  "But, being in a musical production is like having a second job.  The people in this show are great.  We're all becoming good friends, even though many of the characters in the show are antagonistic."

Cambridge Academy's Bill Rude hasn't done theater since he was in high school, but a few months back, when he mentioned to Park that he had done theater before, the mention stuck.

Park was working with CA middle schoolers for their school production of "Grease."

This summer, during one of GCT's theater camps, Park encountered Rude again, when his 7-year old son, Thomas, enrolled in camp.

"She (Bess) approached me about playing the part of Coach Bolton in 'High School Musical,'" Rude said.  "I said I would do it, and I'm very happy I am.  The kids who are working on this play are very talented."

"There's no singing by me, though.  It's purely speaking parts.  However, there may be a part where I have to dance.  It should be fun."

Rude said he's a tad nervous about performing well in front of his students.

"If I don't, I'm going to hear it from them," Rude said.

For Rude, opening night is also the first day of school for him.

"I will teach class," Rude said.  "After that, I will have volleyball practice and then I will be watching my two sons, until my wife gets home from work.  Then, I will be here at the theater by 7 p.m."

Being a part of community theater, Rude said, is a chance to show young people about "being well-rounded."

"In high school, I was a three-sport athlete, but I also did plays and I was in both the concert band and the marching band," Rude said.  "This is just a continuation of that."

Life, Rude said, is a lot about developing talents whatever they might be.

While "High School Musical" is definitely not Shakespeare, Rude said the show has a positive message.

"If, while in high school, kids can realize they can become whatever they want to be, that's ideal," Rude said.  "If you want to bake, and be a jock, that's awesome.  The more tools you have in life, the better."