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High School Sequel Ends Tour Three Months Early

The tour of High School Musical 2 Live on Stage! will finish three months earlier than planned next year. The sequel to the global screen and stage musical phenomenon launched from south London’s New Wimbledon Theatre on 22 August 2009 and had previously announced dates through to 29 May 2010.

Seven stops - Stoke, Leicester, Edinburgh, Norwich, York, Cardiff and Sunderland – have now been cancelled. The production is in Belfast this week and will continue to Manchester, Birmingham, Killarney, Derry, Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Southend and Woking, where it will now finish on 27 February 2010.

A spokesman for co-producers at Stage Entertainment told Whatsonstage.com the tour schedule had been shortened in order to “end on a high”. “No show is immune to the ebb and flow of the touring market,” he added.

In High School Musical 2 Live on Stage!, school’s out and the East High Wildcats need summer jobs! Troy, Gabriella, Taylor and Chad all land work at an exclusive country club, but it’s not going to be an easy ride as Ryan and Sharpay are vacationing there too. The scheming siblings, whose family owns the club, make it their mission to stir things up. The action builds to the club’s all-important Midsummer Night’s Talent Show, but will the Wildcats be ready in time?

The cast includes Liam Doyle (as Troy), Nikki Mae (Gabriella Montez), Matt Kennedy (Ryan Evans), Lauren Hall (Sharpay Evans) and Les Dennis (as teacher Mr Fulton).

As with the series’ original screen-to-stage crossover, High School Musical 2 Live on Stage! has a book by David Simpatico (adapted from the original movie script by Peter Barsocchini), and is directed by Jeff Calhoun, with scenic design by Kenneth Foy and choreography by Lisa Stevens. The score features all the songs from the film soundtrack, including “What Time Is It?”, “You Are the Music in Me” and “Fabulous”.

High School Musical 2 Live on Stage! is produced by Stage Entertainment UK Ltd in association with Disney Theatrical Productions. Combined, the two High School stage musicals will have been seen by more than one million people in the UK by the end of the current tour.

- by Terri Paddock

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