High School Musical 2 is back at the Toronto Centre for the Arts Studio Theatre as a March break special. This, however, is not a revival of the production that played to sold-out houses there last summer. It is a new staging by students of area high schools and colleges, using a 70-minute tab version of the script geared to kids with short attention spans.
Based on the second film of the popular series, the show, despite its title, does not actually involve a high school musical. Instead, the kids all get summer jobs at a country club where they hope to compete in a talent show.Sharpay is back making more trouble for the young lovers and the rest of the Wildcats and Jennifer Brisee was clearly a crowd favourite with her performance as the spoiled brat princess.The star performance here is a young man named Ramon Vitug who plays Sharpay's campy brother Ryan. His presence enlivens every scene in which he appears and he is a terrific dancer. Some of the enthusiasm he brings to the stage spills over and seemingly inspires the others, but strangely when Vitug goes offstage so does the energy.Part of the problem is that the two leads lack the requisite chemistry. David Chen as Troy tries hard to display the jock boy's leadership skills but somehow he keeps fading into the background. To be fair, the script is very thin and populated by cartoonish characters, and at least Chen can sing. He is paired with a Gabriella, who can't even seem to land in the general vicinity of any of the notes, and in group numbers you can hear the others desperately trying in vain to help her find a key. I do not say this to pick on poor Juel Hughes, who plays Gabriella. I have seen her in several productions at Theatre Erindale and she is a fine actress when given good material. From the performance here it just seems that a career in musical theatre is perhaps not her forte. It does have an unanticipated comic effect. Sharpay's move to allow Gabriella to replace her in the climatic talent show duet with Troy backfires. You actually root for the bad girl to stay and sing the song!More energy and a little more volume from the performers would go a long way toward making this piece endurable for the parents who are accompanying the kids who enjoy seeing their favourite characters live. High School Musical 2 plays three performances each day in the Studio Theatre at the Toronto Centre for the Arts until Sunday March 21. All seats are $18. For performance schedule and tickets go to www.hsm2toronto.com or call Ticketmaster at 416-872-1111.
Mark Andrew Lawrence writes theatre reviews for the North York Mirror