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As I type this, the sequel to Disney's insanely successful High
School Musical is still a few hours away from broadcast. That
means I'm reviewing without having seen the program or listened to
more than a couple of minutes of the music. Still, lack of knowledge
doesn't imply lack of opinion. So here we go...
I'm not a big fan of what Disney has done to Broadway. I liked
Beauty and the Beast, in a "don't expect much" kind of way.
I was totally underwhelmed by The Lion King; I thought the
innovative staging was undermined by mediocre music and a superficial
story of talking animals. (Somehow talking cutlery didn't seem as
ridiculous. Go figure.)
But High School Musical raised
Lion King to high art by comparison. This story of
incredibly attractive teens who resist being labeled as the best ever
at one thing, because they want to be seen as the best ever
at everything is, from my aged perspective, a terrible lesson
for impressionable kids. (And adults for that matter.) As with every
production aimed at kids, the adults are either morons or monomaniacal
villains, and generally both. And kids manage to resolve all their
differences and see the errors of their ways by the final curtain. If
it weren't so relentlessly upbeat (and so completely divorced from any
reality I've ever experienced or observed), it would depress the hell
out of me.
Still, this isn't about art, and it isn't an Afterschool Special.
It's Disney doing what they do best and worst: creating a fantasy
world that's brighter and cheerier and far more desirable than reality
ever was. And making a couple of tons of money in the process. Oh,
and giving us the next generation of Britneys and Christinas. Anybody
want to take bets on which Musical star will be the first in
rehab?
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