Hempstead Does Disney

High School Musical

Music Video and Photos produced by Gary Olsen

ho would have thunk it? Disney takes on this film which was kind of retro in its sweet innocence and chaste characters. It's about a high school that puts on a musical, and it exploits the tried and true characters almost anyone who has ever gone to high school can identify with. There's the jock who wants to sing, and he's forced to choose between his team and his art that coincidentally involves a new (extremely smart) girl in school who also sings like a bird. There's the eccentric arts teacher who runs the show, and the insanely ambitious but somewhat talented brother and sister who are elbowing their way to the top. It's stereotypical high school character development just the way you like it.

The show is presented on the state-of-the-art stage and auditorium at Roosevelt Middle School on Radford Road January 25 (Thursday), January 26 (Friday), January 27 (Saturday) at 7:30 PM, and January 28 (Sunday) at 2:30 PM.

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Hempstead has a superb cast in this year's musical, and they have adapted the show by substituting East High and Wildcats for Hempstead and Mustangs. Same number of syllables so the song lyrics work just fine.

This is an interesting trend in developing musical properties from successful film and animation features, and Disney is a champ at it (Lion King, Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast ). In most cases, the stage play or musical is better than the original property. I think this is one of those properties. The movie was entertaining and popular as all get-out. The movie was very reminiscent of that over-the-top acting style you used to see on old episodes of Saved by the Bell. But this style works well on stage even better than on the movie screen.

You'll enjoy this music video the kids prepared featuring the signature song.

I filmed this segment with the Tiffen Steadicam on stage following the dancing and singing. This film puts you right on stage in the chorus dancing right along with the kids. It's very cool. I acquired the Steadicam through a grant from the City of Dubuque, The Dubuque Cable Commission and Mediacom Cable. About a year ago I fell of the stage filming a musical number at Jefferson Middle School. It could have been disaster, not that I would be hurt, but the camera would have been toast. I saved the camera and saved my body, thankfully, and I vowed I would have a better, safer way of shooting such performances as these. It's like nothing you've ever seen before.

I actually wear the camera attached to a vest that supports a dampening system that allows the camera to glide on its own without the rise and fall of a typical camera you mount on your shoulder. And I don't look through the camera's viewfinder. Instead, I have a monitor I look at.

Meet the performers and the directors of the show, too! You'll enjoy the show and love the video we prepared.

The photo still frames of the movie are available as enlargements in the right column. Just click on them to start the download.

Click on the images to reveal the printable enlargements.