Review: High School Musical 2

With a high heart rate through joy

The second part of High School Musical is even more edgy than the first

It’s exciting. That there is such a plot pattern that has been repeated a thousand times, roles coated with annoying Disney aesthetics, and yet the story almost makes even a thirty-year-old almost cry.

The explanation is clear, of course: the professionalism and irresistible energy of the young actors are the factors that make High School Musical 2 the joy of early summer.

The Helsinki City Theatre’s production, completed for the Savoy Theatre, continues the story of the first part seen at Peacock in Linnanmäki last summer. Like the majority of the premiere audience (judging by the foyer speeches), I have to lean towards the opinion that the second part is even slightly better than the first one.

In other words, a guaranteed gift product for those kids who made it out of school to the summer pastures with at least satisfactory grades. But be warned, dads and mothers: your wallet is going to be in a rough turmoil. Tickets cost 41 euros per knob, and there are no known discounts for children.

Utopia and true

Disney’s effectively productized High School Musical concept is set in an American utopia where all young people are well-proportioned and beautiful, or alternatively, highly intelligent and sociable.

However, their lives are not completely carefree. Because some people have more money than others, hierarchies and social classes have emerged in utopia, with sharp boundaries between them.

This is where the Disney reality unfortunately meets the real reality: it is not at all self-evident that all young Americans would have the opportunity to acquire a high-quality university education.

The monster of the story has been downgraded to the super-rich blonde Sharpay (
Anna Laulumaa), who tries to drive a wedge between poor but kind-hearted lovers Gabriella (Yasmine Yamajako) and Troy (Jukka Nylund).

So the triangle drama plays exactly with the tuning of the first part, with the difference that now the carefree teenagers are on summer vacation. Sharpay gets a chance to convince Troy when the whole gang of friends at East High School get a summer job at a golf club owned by Sharpay’s father.

The lever in the intrigues is a university scholarship. The story is guaranteed to move towards its climax without surprises, which can be seen in a superbly guided talent show.

Yamajako convinces

As already mentioned, the performance directed by Marco Bjurström is a celebration of young power from start to finish. The sincere joy of life and energy can also be seen as freshness in the roles of the play, which are not very nuanced in principle.

Of the young stars, Yasmine Yamajako in particular charmed the premiere audience with her strong alto, which lights up to its full glow in the delicacies towards the end of the musical. Jukka Nylund doesn’t sing badly as Troy either, but his solo songs are not quite as memorable musically as Yamajako’s.

In the first half, I was a little annoyed by the cramped stage of Savoy, which seemed to dampen the movement of the moving group wonderfully. Towards the end, this annoyance is overcome, as the light set created by Kati Lukka is of the adaptable kind. The three-part wall mainly serves as a platform for Petri Ruikka’s video projections, from which the stripped-down stage implementation gets just the right amount of extra sparkle.