High School Musical

Went to see High School Musical with Peachy and Tin this afternoon. What was so funny was that we bought our tickets ages ago, back when it had just gone on sale for about a couple of weeks, and we never actually got to use it.

After lunch at Pizza Hut to satiate our craving for a cheesy volcano pizza, we went up to the cinemas early. Too early. I think they had a break after an earlier show for kids because quite a handful of cast members were outside. Found Tricia, and even Tin, still decked out in their costumes. The most hilarious was when I found a former classmate from a previous workshop. I said a hearty hello, complete with a hug and a bus on the cheek, and then after that, I turned to Peach and Tin and said in a totally different tone, "At ayan, mga darling, ang isang example ng pagiging plastic doon, kasi we never really liked that person, ahehe."

Anyway, we found Hendri and he took us inside, where the entire cast was going crazy, singing and dancing to all these songs from musicals that they had done in the past. We settled ourselves on the front row, and I had a nice chat with Hendri and Mahar. And one thing I can't believe is how Hendri had found out about something personal about me! And to think that it's already old news! Holy kamote. Anyway, while we were sitting there, some people would come up to say or just pass by, and most of them were familiar faces to me. Hahaha, Hendri even quipped that I was famous because I knew a lot of them, nyak.

Because Tin, Peachy and I were already inside the theater, we were too lazy to leave our seats and just took our places in our respective section. So we never got to use our tickets, hahahaha! We even got to watch the cast run through a few numbers.

The first thing I noticed was that it seemed that the stage looked a little too crowded sometimes, usually when the entire cast, complete with ensemble, is onstage. But on the whole, I have to say that the musical was better than the movie. There were new songs added, and the arrangements were different. Karel was still Karel, back from when I saw her twice every weekend in Beauty and the Beast. Shark was pretty interesting to watch. I had only watched him once, in Sweet Charity, but that didn't show much of what he can do. So he was quite the Troy Bolton I had expected. As for his brother Altair, it was very refreshing. He had really grown a lot since our Dreamcoat days. Imagine, after a 3-year hiatus from theater, he comes back... as a skater-dude-cum-cellist, hahahaha! I haven't heard his singing voice in ages, and it had improved a lot. Then there was my favorite song in the musical. "When There Was Me and You." I had already liked the song before, but never when Gabriella was singing it in the movie, because it looked too cheesy. But it was turned into a duet in the play, and I loved it, hahaha.

Congrats to everyone involved in High School Musical! Chari, sorry I didn't tell you beforehand that I had bought a ticket. My friends wanted to watch it with me. My apologies also for not saying hi after the matinee show. Thanks for a good show!