During May 2023, pupils have been auditioning for our next show, High School Musical!

The story of High School Musical centres around Troy Bolton, the star athlete at a small-town high school, who falls for nerdy beauty Gabriella Montez at a holiday karaoke party. When they return to school, Troy and Gabriella audition for the upcoming school musical. Meanwhile, the jealous Sharpay Evans conspires to squelch their chances. The two must struggle to make it to auditions, while also meeting their existing obligations to the basketball team and the academic decathlon. A show filled with fun, friendships and encouraging others to do what makes them happy.

Over 180 pupils have attended workshops and auditions to secure themselves a spot in the cast. Auditions have ranged from musicians, lead dancers, group parts and our auditions for named parts in the show.

Lily who auditioned for a group role said ‘I have never done a show at Deer Park before. But I have watched them, so I knew when I had the chance to, I wanted to get involved. The audition wasn’t as scary as I thought, as I knew what to expect, as it was taught to us in the workshop. ‘

Mrs Gleed, Head of Expressive Arts said ‘I knew High School Musical would be a popular show to put on, but we haven’t ever had so many pupils wanting to be a part of the cast, so we are very happy with the response so far! The auditions and callbacks we have had have been really fantastic - the team and I have been impressed with the quality of auditions. Pupils have clearly been practising what they learned in the workshops. My favourite bit about this process is seeing those unexpected pupils, who keep their talents quite hidden until they audition. It’s brilliant!’

Initial auditions happened in early May, with callbacks for lead dancers and a number of named parts happening during the last week of term, before the Expressive Arts team will begin assigning roles over the half term.

Isabelle who attended the lead dancers callbacks this week said ‘I really enjoyed the callback, it didn’t seem like an audition, it was actually really fun.‘

Those that auditioned will be called to a meeting towards the end of June to reveal the cast. All cast members will also receive the rehearsal schedule before the Summer break, so that they are prepared for rehearsal, ready to hit the ground running in September!

Well done to everyone who auditioned for High School Musical and best of luck with the outcome.