Odds are, you know what to expect from High School Musical. This is a stage adaptation of the iconic Disney channel original movie that follows Troy Bolton (Matthew Valinho) as he’s torn between his newfound passion for musical theatre and his responsibilities as the captain of the basketball team, complicated by his budding romance with new student Gabriella Montez (Marija Danyluk) who is similarly torn between musical theatre and academic decathlon. This production by Align Entertainment does a good job of capturing the fun and camp of the movie even as it can’t quite overcome the source material’s limitations.
From a production standpoint, High School Musical is outstanding. The costume design from Alexandria Godlewski is particularly remarkable: Godlewski’s precision in capturing the fashion of a high school in the early 2000s is genuinely transportive. The set design from Dan Wiebe, John Bradbury, and Rob Newington is strong as well, allowing for dynamic blocking of Align’s typically huge ensemble.
Speaking of the ensemble, the cast does well in giving big, fun-first performances. With an adaptation of such a familiar movie, it can be difficult as an audience member to separate your opinions of the performances on stage from the film performances you’re used to seeing. Once I settled into the rhythm of this production, though, the majority of the actors’ takes worked well for me, with Danyluk’s sweet and grounded Gabriella and the classroom antics of the ensemble as particular highlights.
Those performances are in service of a story that, while very entertaining, never really made a whole lot of sense. The emotional stakes of Troy and Gabriella’s decision to join the drama club don’t feel particularly earned in the movie, and the longer run time of the musical arguably gives the audience too much time to think about the details of what’s happening in the plot. While the songs from the movie are as good as ever here, some of the new songs are less successful. In particular, the tonally bizarre “I Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” and the too-long “High School Musical Megamix” probably ought to have stayed on the cutting room floor. With that being said, I still found myself dancing along in my seat to “We’re All In This Together.”
Ultimately, if you have young theatregoers in your life or have nostalgia for the Disney classic, High School Musical is an entertaining, worthwhile watch. If that’s not you, it might have a harder time winning you over.
Rating: 3.5/5
Date watched: January 23rd, 2026 (Preview Performance)
Location: Michael J. Fox Theatre, Burnaby BC
Review by: Oliver Spilsbury
Theatre 604 
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