Merced Union High School District

The cast was dressed in costumes and gathered near the piano, warming up their vocals. Just to the side of them on stage, the cheerleaders were practicing their stunts one last time. Others were making last-second adjustments to the set. Moments later it was showtime as the curtain lifted, Golden Valley High Schools Production of Disney “High School Musical” was underway as the cast gave one final preview show on Wednesday night in front of a live audience.

Opening night for the show officially begins tonight with the start of a five-show run at the Golden Valley Theater. There will be 7 p.m. shows tonight and Friday and a 5 p.m. show on Saturday. There will be two more 7 p.m. shows next week on Feb. 12th and 13th. Sixty-seven Golden Valley students have worked together to bring the Disney show to life.

Student director Moises Gonzalez-Urbano has described the last few days leading up to the first show as chaos but normal chaos. “It's organized chaos, because we know what we're doing, but there's so many things going on,” he said. “There's a lot of excitement for our show week. We are motivating our students to put in all they can. Whatever happens in a show, happens. But we want our students to enjoy the show and enjoy the experience. We want them to enjoy the process, to learn how it is to work in the industry, and that's what we're aiming for.”

In July, the Golden Valley theatre program was chosen as a Disney on Broadway School of Excellence. Golden Valley was one of just 21 schools chosen nationwide, which grants free licenses to the winning schools to select a Disney musical to perform. The program quickly chose “High School Musical”.

Since roles were cast in September the theatre program has been hard at work to make the show happen. There have been 2-3 hour rehearsals just about every day for over five months. Program Director Amber Kirby and Show Director Kaely Cullen have let the students run the show from Gonzalez-Urbano as the student director and Analia Servin as the student choreographer.

There was Kirby’s sixth period stagecraft class who built the frame for the “High School Musical” set, which included rollaway bleachers and is a two-story set. There were student technicians who also helped build the set after school. There were Saturday academies held where students painted the set. Students did the makeup, lighting and music. Golden Valley leadership students even helped create posters used in the show. “This has been really hands-on and collaborative,” said Cullen.

Many of the cast members had to learn to sing and dance to tell the “High School Musical” story about Troy Bolton, a star high school basketball player and Gabriella Montez, a brainiac. They unexpectedly discover they both enjoy performing, which doesn’t fit the labels others at the school put on them. The story centers on them as they audition for a high school musical. Troy  Bolton is played by Jonah Madkins and Gabriella Montez is played by Faith Smith.

The show includes jocks, braniacs, thespians, skaters, cheerleaders and the high school staff. “I feel like it's such an amazing opportunity to be able to put on this show,” said senior Jocelyn Boehm, who plays Martha Cox, one of the braniacs. “To not only do this show, but to be chosen for ‘Disney on Broadway School of Excellence,’ to have that title is really amazing. It's been about a four or five month process to get to this point. It’s exciting but also bittersweet because it’s going to come to an end next week and this is the last show for me. I'm really excited, but I know that last show, I'm probably going to be in tears.”

Servin says the experience of putting together the show has been unforgettable. “I've been able to make so many new connections with everybody it’s incredible,” she said. “I've made so many friends and we’ve bonded. We all feel like a really big family.”

Now that the curtain is going up for real, they can’t wait. “Honestly, I think they should be dazzled,” Cullen said. “This is a lot of work, and this is not easy work either. So seeing these kids come together and this is all theirs, I think everyone is just going to be proud and amazed that high school kids did that.”

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.