Listen I know I am hardcore on that HSMTMTS bullshit and I promise if you follow me for the multitude of other shows I talk about/write about I will get back to them. But before that happens…
I’m seeing a lot of negative feedback regarding how “bad” some of the actual production of HSM was (as in, the show within the show).
All I can say is…that’s the point? The point is to make this show (as in HSMTMTS) as realistic as possible.
Which is meta in it’s own right, isn’t it? The kids in the HSM FILM were all so unnaturally good at singing/dancing? Like Chad had a whole song about how he doesn’t dance while he was doing freaking pirouettes and backflips on the baseball field. Come on.
But an entire cast is not going to be like that in a normal, real world public school. Even “East High.” Those kids are just like anybody else; some of them are good, some of them are not so good, but all of them are trying their best.
And again, that’s the point.
The scene with Ricky and EJ as Chad/Troy in the hallway talking/walking? Do you really think that was supposed to be anything other than awkward? Do you remember the rehearsal for “Start Of Something New?” Or how Ricky can’t really dance that well, or how EJ’s voice breaks sometimes, or Nini’s subpar acting/getting thrown off by things that alter the production?
That’s high school theatre!
Federle was concerned the dancing in the show was TOO good! He didn’t want it to look like a professional production (but the dancers they hired were so awesome and the choreographer was so talented he decided he had to keep it).
If the argument is that Gina and EJ deserved the lead-they explained that. Ms. Jenn cast Nini and Ricky as leads because of the emotional connection to the material. Her gut said to go with the underdogs, because there was something between them she felt read like Troy/Gabriella. It happens in life, because it happened with my senior musical–the director cast kids in leading roles who had NEVER performed before, because he felt they embodied the character they auditioned for so well.
It worked for my high school theatre director and it worked for Ms. Jenn. She was completely on point, because Ricky and Nini legitimately recreated the “Breaking Free” scene in real time during opening night.
Again, the META of it all!
This show is incredibly high concept and while I know not every viewer is going to pick up on all these small moments and decisions and appreciate them like I do, I just hate to see this blind hate without really thinking a little bit more critically about what a piece of art or entertainment is trying to tell you.
(We all in agreement no one should be getting into that performing arts program, though…besides maybe Seb)
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