High School Musical

photo: Joan Marcus

Big sound system problems brought the curtain down and the house lights up about forty five minutes into the first act. I hear that they were able to get things together almost an hour later, but by then we were already over it and determined to get out of Philly on schedule. Is it fair or unfair to comment on what I did see of this touring stage adaptation of Disney Channel's extraoridnarily popular tv movie musical? I don't know, but I will say that it didn't reach me at all, even in the third row: it felt like an expensive version of one of those shows you file into at a theme park to get a break from the rides. Big, broad, bland.