What a show! Three casts featuring over 150 students wowed audiences over four performances at Weston-super-Mare’s Playhouse Theatre last week. I was lucky enough to go to see it twice, but I would happily have gone again…and again!

Firstly, a confession. I love High School Musical. I was a fan when the first movie came out in 2006, to the point that I had a HSM calendar in my classroom which my tutor group bought as a Christmas present! I’ve watched all the films, and I even watched High School Musical: The Musical: The Series on Disney Plus…so, yes, I am a bona fide fan. So, I was a little nervous about our production. Would we be able to do it justice?

I needn’t have worried! The show wasn’t just good – it was brilliant! The acting, the singing, the dancing, the sound, the lighting, the performance…just brilliant! The leads have a lot of work to do, bringing these huge characters to life, with some really challenging singing and a lot of lines to remember, but they did a fantastic job. From Sharpay’s self-centred narcissism, to Troy Bolton’s struggle to be true to himself against the expectations of those around him, to Gabriella’s struggle to re-make her identity, the lead actors managed to bring depth and emotion to their performances.

High School Musical is also funny – really funny. Comedy is really difficult to do on stage, but our students really committed to the script and brought it fully to life, with hilarious results! Ms Darbus’s thespians, for example, showed how the background cast, with no lines to speak, could steal a scene with a dramatic representation of, for example, an earthworm on stage. In fact, the chorus and background cast were so brilliant that I often found myself watching them (and cracking up!) even whilst the leads were performing in front.

The key to the show, of course, is the music. The band were incredible, totally on point from the big showstoppers to the short interludes, giving a really strong platform for the singers and dancers to shine. And wow, did they shine! The solos, harmonies and chorus numbers blew the audience away. There were so many great tunes that it’s impossible to pick a favourite, although “We’re all in this together” is the number I’ve found myself humming in my head all week.

The Dance teams showed why practice makes perfect, nailing every move with energy and commitment – and some pretty impressive acrobatics! It was also great to see our performing arts captains taking lead roles in the production, with dance captains Matilda Nicholson and Lydia Wilson leading their teams with great distinction. And the younger students, learning from the senior students’ example, showed that the future is bright!

I also need to pay tribute to the staff who made it happen. The amazing team in performing arts have put everything into building the platform that enabled our students to shine on stage, and they have been supported by a whole-school effort to get the show on the road. The performances this week have shown that all those hours, the sacrifices, and the struggles have been worth it.

I could go on and on about how brilliant the show was, and I almost certainly will for months and years to come. The memories that our students have made will last a lifetime, and the experience that they gave the audiences will do the same. But what the show really did for me, in a time of stretched budgets, narrowed curriculums, and a challenging educational landscape, was reinforce why the arts really, really matter. A show like this does everything that education should do: its shows students that hard work pays off; that a team that works together is stronger than the sum of its parts; that full commitment leads to a better performance; and that you can be anything you want to be, no matter what anyone tells you to the contrary. The students have learned a million lessons through the experience of High School Musical, and they are all walking taller as a result.

In the words of the song:

Everyone is special in their own way
We make each other strong
We’re not the same
We’re different in a good way
Together’s where we belong

We’re all in this together
Once we know
That we are
We’re all stars
And we see that

We’re all in this together
And it shows
When we stand
Hand in hand
Make our dreams come true

I can’t say it any better than that!