High School Musical was a millennial Disney phenomenon. A low budget made-for-TV movie about high schoolers singing songs and getting overwrought about the school play, it was considerably more successful than a slot of the Disney cinema releases of the era, giving us two sequels, Zac Efron and innumerable spin offs.
One of those spin offs is a stage version that hasn’t been seen in London since 2008, when the film was at the zenith of its popularity.
And also enjoying the first flush of success back then were the pop-rock band McFly, who never had anything directly to do with High School Musical, but whose dewy eyed reverence for the iconography of the American secondary school system very much permeated their whole thing.
Anyway, those things very much come together in 2026 with the first ever fully homegrown British production of High School Musical, which will star McFly’s Harry Judd as Coach Jack Bolton, father of male lead Troy Bolton (aka the Zac Efron role). He’s the big name attraction in this new Brit production of the film’s stage musical adaptation, which will debut in Salford over the summer (with Jason Donovan as Coach Bolton) before settling in for a lengthy stint at the Troubadour Wembley Park, which has just been vacated by Starlight Express after a couple of years.
Will it be pure millennial nostalgia? Or will a new young generation be wowed? We’ll find out this autumn.
High School Musical is at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, Oct 12-Jan 3 2027.
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