COMES TO BROADWAY PALM IN FORT MYERS

he rehearsal room explodes h waj with joyful song, the young actors energetically dancing, jumping and throwing their h hands up into the air.

"Here and now it's time for celebration/I finally figured it out/That all our dreams have no limitations/That's what it's all about," they belt out.

They're dressed casually in T-shirts and sweats, shorts, white sneakers: typical comfortable rehearsal attire.

The rehearsal space seems too small to contain their enthusiasm. And if it's this good during rehearsal, you wonder what the actual performance will be like, with costumes, lights, sets, and orchestra.

The cast is running through "High School Musical," which opens at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre on Thursday, July 31. The actors have been rehearsing for only eight days, but they perform as if they've been doing the show for months.

There are a couple of minor glitches here and there — a small misstep in the choreography, a dropped lyric — but that's what rehearsals are for. The actors laugh it off and continue on. By the time opening night is here, the musical will be as close to perfect as they can get it.

PHOTOS BY JIM MCLAUGHLIN/ FLORIDA WEEKLY All 20 performers seem to be genuinely having the time of their life: no faked enthusiasm here.

If you haven't heard of "High School Musical," you've likely spent the past couple years in an isolation booth.

The musical focuses on Troy and Gabriella, two teens who meet at a ski resort when they're pushed onto a karaoke stage and forced to sing a duet together. When they return to school after winter break, Gabriella, a new student, discovers that Troy attends the same school. (They of course, fall in love.) Troy is the basketball captain, Gabriella a math genius. When they try out for the high school play, their friends, in their separate cliques, are appalled. They want them to stay in the roles they've always known them in.

The storyline is one of affirmation: if you want to stretch and try something not in your comfort zone, go ahead and try, and don't let anyone dissuade you, or convince you of your limitations. Risk. Reach for the stars.

Erik K eis er and Katie Hage n pl ay the leads in Broadway Palm's "High School Musical." "High School Musical," a Disney creation, is, quite simply, a phenomenon.

The Emmy Award-wining show started as a Disney movie on its television channel in January 2006, and was the most successful movie produced for Disney Channel Original Movies. At least 7.7 million viewers watched the premiere broadcast.

"High School Musical," set during the students' junior year, begat "High School Musical 2" in 2007, which takes place during summer vacation. "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" will be released to movie theaters in October, and writers are working on "High School Musical 4."

"They could write 400 sequels," jokes director Seth Reines ("band nerd," swim team, Athens High School, Athens, Ga.) "College, reunions. It could go on forever! And Disney is smart enough to know how to do it."

Anything "High School Musical" seems to have the Midas touch.

Prather Entertainment Group's national musical director, J.R. McAlexander (music group, Sidney High School, Sidney, Iowa) recalls being on vacation in Italy recently. A street vendor had some pink "High School Musical" purses among his wares, he noticed. Then he witnessed two pre-teen Italian girls spy them.

FLORIDA WEEKLY PHOTO JIM MCLAUGHLIN Director M. Seth Reines instructs female lead Katie Hagen as male lead Erik Keiser looks on. "They saw the purses and started screaming at the top of their lungs," McAlexander recalls. "And we were in this little village in Italy! It's a worldwide phenomenon."

The "High School Musical" soundtrack was released in January 2006 and sold 7,469 copies in the first week alone. It hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts twice, and sold over 3 million copies in the first eight months. The soundtrack went quadruple platinum.

The DVD of the movie sold 1.2 million copies in the first week, setting records. Then there was the concert tour. The stage musical. The ice tour. ("High School Musical: The Ice Tour" played at the Germain Arena in Estero.) There are also books: novelizations of the films. And it also spawned a series, "Stories From East High," with a book coming out every two months between February 2007 and July 2008.

FLORIDA WEEKLY PHOTO JIM MCLAUGHLIN Cast members Erik Keiser, Christopher Brasfield and CourtneyLove rehearse at Broadway Palm. And now it's back to TV; "High School Musical: Get in the Picture," a TV reality series, began last week on ABC. The winner gets to be in an MTV-produced video that will be shown at the end of the "High School Musical 3" movie.

If you've always had the sneaking suspicion that life is just like high school, well, in this case, you just might be right.

The entire franchise, in its varied entities, has won a Billboard Music Award (soundtrack album of the year), two Teen Choice Awards, and a Television Critics Association Award (for Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming.) It was nominated for an American Music Award, a Billboard Music Award, and five Emmy Awards, winning one.

The Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre is the first professional company in the area to obtain the rights for the show. (They graciously allowed kids attending theater camp at the Florida Repertory Theatre to also put on the show this summer.)

Though the ice show version of "High School Musical" played in the area, "the nice thing about this is that it's a musical in an intimate setting," says Broadway Palm General Manager Susan Johnson ("art crowd," Steinmetz High School, Chicago and Schaumburg High School, Schaumburg, Ill.). "You can relate to the characters. They're not out there on an ice rink, or on film or TV. The energy of the audience will change, the energy of each and every performance. It will never go stale."

"I don't think any of us realized how big it is," Reines says. "It has media behind it. The Disney organization behind it. I can't remember directing a show ever, that the audience is going to come in with as many expectations, and know every number."

The theater has already sold 10,000 tickets without a single commercial, Johnson says.

"That's probably a first for us, at this time of year," she says. "That says something."

But it felt like a risk eight months ago, when they planned it, as they usually don't put on big musical shows during the typically slow summer months. But Johnson's seen little girls start squealing when they realize the show's coming to the theater.

"And boys like it too," she says. "They're coming out of the woodwork. We didn't realize that the show appeals to little boys as well as little girls.

"Some shows have that larger-than-life feeling to it: 'Cats,' 'Disney's Beauty and the Beast.' These shows, we've noticed, drew in a more diverse audience base than we've ever seen before: African- Americans, Hispanics, Asians. You don't see that with many shows, but this has it, that across-the-board feel. Mass appeal. All ages."

The theater is offering a summer special: $35 for a meal and the show, and $20 for kids 20 and under.

"It's a heck of a show," Johnson says. "A lot of parents said, 'You could've charged $100 a ticket!'"

The Broadway Palm, very wisely, has scooped up rights to also perform "High School Musical 2" in the future.

While it follows the same plot as the original TV movie, the stage musical has a bigger feel and more musical numbers.

"The show is much more high energy," says choreographer Amy Marie McCleary (drama club, Analy High School, Sebastopol, Calif.) "They've expanded. The ensemble does much more in the musical than it does in the movie. "

She enjoyed the challenge of choreographing the show.

"I'm such a Fosse girl," she says. "This is hip-hop and athletic. It's been a journey to do something totally different for me. It's so funny; I do squeeze a little Fosse in there [in some of the dance moves.]"

She notes that many of the cast are in their early 20s, closer in age to high school students. And three local high school students are in the cast: Lindsay Lamb and Jennifer Aubuchon, both from Fort Myers High School, and Parker Slaybaugh from Cypress Lake High School.

Director Reines knows that, because this is Disney, the show could easily slip into being saccharine and syrupy.

So he worked with the actors to assure their performance emphasizes honesty and authenticity.

"You try to find real moments," he says. "Characters relate to each other. You don't play it as a cartoon. It's more real. If you don't like Troy and Gabriella within two minutes of the show, it's not worth doing."

"We had a discussion with Seth," says Katie Hagen (music, drama, athlete, brainiac, Goshen Central High School, Goshen, N. Y.), who plays Gabriella. "He had a good point. Right now, we have a true honesty between the two of us. We have to keep that. As long as we keep it honest, it won't come off too corny."

"It's definitely a Disney show," agrees her co-star, Erik Keiser (theater, music, Seneca Valley High School, Germantown, Md.) "We focus on what it's really about, what the core of the show is. It's about relationships and focusing on being true to the message of the show. It can be truthful and moving and Disney all at the same time, and still be fun.

"It's mainly about how you can be anything you want to be, do anything you want to do. You shouldn't let anyone stop you."

"It's about people working together, not letting anyone stop you from your true passion in life," Hagen adds. "I think everyone goes through that stage in their life where they're trying to determine if they're going to fit in with a certain group of people or follow what they really believe, even if it doesn't follow what the other group believes."

"We just feed off of each other," says Keiser. "We're really happy to have such an energetic cast, and we've only known each other for a week. The cast is wonderful. It's just going to be a blast."

Hagen enthusiastically agrees.

"It's going to be so much fun to perform every night," she says.

"The cast know the kids [who are 'High School Musical' fans] are all excited," says Reines. "I don't think they have any idea what's going to hit them when they come on stage."

Reines expects screaming and barely contained pandemonium.

"It's going to be like a rock concert," he says. "We see it already. They see that 'High School Musical' sign in the lobby, and scream!"

If you go

>>What: "High School Musical"

>>Where: The Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, 1380 Colonial Blvd.

>>When: July 31 through Sept. 20. Note: for evening shows, dinner begins at 5:30 p.m. and shows start at 7:30 p.m.

>>Cost: Special summer rates of $35 for adults and $20 for those 20 and younger, includes dinner and show

>>Info: Call 278-422, go to the box office, or visit www.BroadwayPalm.com