Review: High School Musical
High School Musical
An eternal crush rings
That Finland has the resources to set up a youth musical in the style of the big world is no longer news. There is already evidence. But the fact that there is enough potential to the extent that the Helsinki City Theatre’s HSM project has shown is a small miracle. At least all of those hundreds of young people who have signed up for the auditions and the performers selected from them move for their pleasure, with a challenge and without sparing “volume”. Multiculturalism and talent can be found in both musicality and expressive skills. Of course, the group is a small sample of the country’s youth, but as such, it is a pretty convincing answer to those who are concerned about the offspring, its physical condition and lack of stimulation.
Theatre, expanded to many sectors, is naturally purposefully on the move in this kind of production. The new audience is increased by approaching it from both eye and sound level.
High School The musical opened the autumn season of the Helsinki City Theatre in a big way. The whole setup has been done with care, everything works. The clothing is fun, from the loosest hip-hop outfits to the most skimpy sports pants, and from the glitter of over-the-top show clothes to Chaplin-esque modesty. The music has stage-filling power and the choreography crackles like a sparkler. The individual skills of the dancers have been taken into account, small breaks are allowed.
Gabriella’s (Yasmine Yamajako) and Troy’s (Jukka Nylund) soloists and duets sound beautiful. Soft, personal interpretations. A good choice of role from the outside as well.
And my overwhelming favourite of the dances was the basketball team’s show of strength, elements of funk, street dance and hip hop have been mixed with skill and joy.
Play and humour also tone the story and the performance itself. Luckily. Because what can you get from the fact that the food is somewhat naïve in this musical that moves through the continents like a storm. I wouldn’t go into the same sentence to cram Gabriella and Troy and Romeo and Juliet into the same sentence. When a girl is a promising scientist and a boy is the captain of a basketball team, you wouldn’t think there are insurmountable obstacles to falling in love and being together. And it is not. Just a little bit of stones in the stroller.
As in the fairy tale, at least the HSM emphasizes good things, friendship, self-sacrifice, the importance of team spirit. There are not even tough guys as a counterforce, only a couple of little villains, twins Sharpay (Jennie Storbacka) and Ryan (Samuel Harjanne).
Of the comic characters, the most appealing to the audience is made by the excellent Antti Lang, who, as a central radio announcer, streams lines just like Mertaranta.
Maija-Liisa Peuhu as a teacher has also gone into the “sledging hill” of comedy without fear. And it survives without a bump.
Bitter almond on the bottom. When American films have also gotten rid of – at least for the most part – emphasized interpretations of female roles that stand out with horrible chirping, Finnish musical theatre should not have to keep up the old trend. What about the intonation of our own language, why raise the voice at the end of words or sentences? What happens in a circle of friends doesn’t necessarily apply on stage. Hopefully: yes, Siberia, or in this case a theatre school – teaches!