High School Musical Review

By RANDY KANDEL

From the first second to the last song, Republic Theater Company’s muscular staged reading of Paul Cozby’s High School Musical (not to be confused with the Disney Channel movie of the same name) pulses with comic can-do and the emotional ups and downs of adolescence. Energy bursts through every twist of triumph and mishap in the complicated script about students producing their first musical. The students are thwarted by a corrupt principal and board member (Luke Strandquist and Breeda Wool), sidelined by a football game, and saved by a rival gang from an alternative school (Mike Gomez, Emily Falvey and Shawn McLaughlin).

The students are also constrained by their places in the high school social hierarchy, which blur into the play within the play. Cozby’s comedic music seamlessly advances the plot with catchy melodies and lyrics that astonishingly generate nostalgia for high school. For example, blonde diva Shannon Davies and her similarly endowed friends (Molly Thomas and Kristin Farrell) make a snappy mean-girl trio with “Everybody Can’t Be Wonderful,” while her handmaiden sings a plaintive lament with “Sometimes I Cry.”   Remarkably, since 2003, when Cozby caught the enthusiasm of his daughter’s school musical cast party and wrote and scored the play within a few weeks, his life has paralleled that of Marty, the nerdy, artsy playwright character. In two beautiful songs, Marty longs to have “A Moment” when everything comes together for him and a place “Where I Shine.” Richer, more powerful players depose him, but he doesn’t give up.  

Similarly, six months after the first full paid performance of Cozby’s High School Musical, the Disney Channel premiered its version with similar stock characters, co-opting Cozby’s thunder (Cozby is now in litigation to protect his intellectual rights). That’s not surprising. Anything this good is bound to have its share of  copycats.