The Disney Channel's immensely popular "High School Musical" franchise comes to the local stage!
The cast of Encore! Theatre Arts' production of "High School Musical" at the Richmond Memorial Library - left to right: Alex Grayson (Chad), Brian Bogdan (Troy), Samara Brown (Gabriella), Justin Ryan (Ryan), Cara Ferraro (Kelsi), Kiera Davis (Taylor) and Tara Kaczorowski (Sharpay).
Performances aren't until January, but fans young and old got a sneak peak Tuesday night at the Richmond Memorial Library. The show's seven main cast members came running into the library's Gallery Room -- each fully in character -- to perform some of the play's songs, including "We're All in This Together."
Children and their families who attended could buy advance tickets to the show, and anyone who did so was rewarded with free HSM gift items.
"The kids love [HSM]," said Sandra Gillard, RML children's librarian and coordinator of the event, "so this seemed like a great cooperative venture."
The library has done similar preview programs with other groups in the past (see, for example, article on RML's "Cinderella" program at http://preview.tinyurl.com/ye5kecg), and Encore! Theatre Arts, being a fairly new organization, was interested in a similar collaborative effort.
ETA was founded in June by Eric Traugott, who is also producer and musical director for HSM.
"I wanted to make sure that there continued to be quality theater in Batavia and Rochester," Traugott said. "We have a lot of great groups already, but I still wanted to fill in the gaps and make sure there's always something available."
ETA has put on many performances in Batavia and in Rochester since its inception, but arguably none are comparable to HSM in popularity. The kids who came on Tuesday knew all of the words to the songs, and one young girl even commented that her basketball coach uses HSM lyrics to motivate his team.
Traugott and Director Lynda Hodgins hope people will be happy to see this nationwide phenomenon in the hands of local talent.
Performances of HSM will take place at Batavia High School from Jan. 7-10. For information on times, tickets sales and other details, please visit www.encoretheatrearts.com.
