Theater review: 'High School Musical' is just so high school

Roll your eyes if you must, but I honestly believe Disney's "High School Musical" is so irresistible because of its authenticity. Amid the artifice, the camp, the high drama, the mash-up of "Grease" and "Fame" and "Romeo and Juliet" is a genuine story of kids breaking down barriers and beating the odds.

When it's done with earnest hearts -- even if the actors wink for an instant to let us know they're in on the joke -- we gladly accept that we're being flim-flammed. How can you not cheer for such impossibly wide grins and earnest hard work?

If only that were the case with the touring production that landed at the State Theatre in Minneapolis Tuesday night. Director Jeff Calhoun completely misses the sweet heart of this fluffy confection. His staging is stuffed with vaudeville, shtick, mugging, actors begging for laughs -- in a nutshell, the difference between performing and acting.

If you need to know the plot, there are websites. The gist is that two high-school kids from different realms meet, connect, fight off the stereotypes attached to their cliques and become symbols of independence. You can be whatever you want to be! Yeah, it's hokey, but don't act like it is. Irony is funny only when it's serious.

No one in this cast is a winning singer and the choreography does nothing to boost our heart rate. As Gabriella Montez, Arielle Jacobs could not be more gorgeous. She mixes that natural beauty with enough grace to produce some charisma. Leading man Troy Bolton was played by understudy Chase Peacock on Tuesday night. Peacock had little color, but Troy is not much more than a fresh face and a voice anyway. Heléne Yorke gets the showy role as the antagonist, Sharpay. She moves and sings OK, but in the playing she becomes a cartoon -- with a voice that seems to have been tuned with a chain saw. Travis Waldschmidt is less overt as Ryan, Sharpay's henpecked brother.

Ellen Harvey's portrayal of the drama teacher, Mrs. Darbus, best exemplifies Calhoun's approach. Simply put, you forfeit the show's emotional hook when performances are this phony and caricatured.

Of course, "High School Musical" is still a big, showy thing. The songs are derivative -- but good derivative, with pleasing pop progressions, soaring chords, walking bass lines and big anthemic swells. When all the voices come together and the sound system is tweaked just right, it's a kick.

And lastly, yes I am aware that I'm spitting into the wind. My 7-year-old companion had a great time and her happiness made the evening. I only hope that some day I can explain how it should have been better.

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299