On March 30, 31 and April 1, the drama club will be showing a production of High School Musical in the FHN auditorium. Tickets will be $10 in advance and $13 at the door. Kim Sulzner, who has been working at FHN for eight years as the drama teacher, will be directing the production. 

“It’s a kickback to the movie that everyone grew up with,” Sulzner said. “Troy and Gabriella meet at an event over the Christmas holiday and then discovered that they both go to the same school. Troy’s the big basketball star and Gabriella is a super genius on the Scholastic Decathlon team. They both wanted to try something different, and they end up auditioning for the high school musical.”

In addition to the three shows, a matinee for Henderson elementary school students in the district will be shown.

“We’re doing five shows,” Sulzner said. “We’re going to do a show for the elementary school students, we will then have a Thursday night performance, Friday night performance, a Saturday matinee for the public and then a Saturday evening performance.”

Due to Disney’s legal policies, it is often hard and expensive to receive rights to productions, such as High School Musical. 

“I don’t like working with Disney,” Sulzner said. “They’re a difficult company to work with. This show is actually owned by a different company so that made it easier [to use for the musical]. The student leaders of the group were looking for something different and they kept pushing this one.” 

Freshman James Kowalczyk, who is a crew member and costume designer, is looking forward to how the production will live up to the movie. 

“[High School Musical is] something I grew up watching and I’m excited to be a part of it,” Kowalczyk said. 

Devin Best will be playing the lead role of Troy Bolton, while Jennifer Schelfaut will be playing Gabriella Montez, another lead role in the production. Although the cast list was already released, Sulzner had to work to fill traditional roles such as recruiting a basketball team. 

With opening night approaching later this month, the cast and crew are becoming increasingly excited.

“The enthusiasm and excitement for the play is really great,” Sulzner said. “We have great energy and we’re super excited. Everyone should come to see it.”