'High School Musical's' Glee Club - washingtonpost.com

Or about how high the pitch. It's the tone: piercing, yet giddy. Like glee run amok.

And that's just what transpired at Verizon Center on Thursday evening, when approximately 15,000 fans -- the vast majority of them girls ranging from 3 into the teenage years -- packed the house for "High School Musical," Disney's tween mega-phenomenon. "HSM" started as a made-for-cable movie, then spawned the best-selling CD of 2006, and now it's a concert tour (and a board game, and an upcoming sequel, and a springboard for the individual actors' singing careers and . .

. well, we'll get to the relentless cross-promotion later).
So maybe some of the parents spilling out of Verizon after the 90-minute concert (which followed a 25-minute warm-up act, Jordan Pruitt, another Disney ingenue) looked like greyhounds that had been trapped in a sealed room with a perpetual tape loop of a dog whistle.

And yet there was satisfaction on their faces, too. Who wouldn't be pleased when presented with a child exclaiming, Thank you, thank you, thank you, you're the best! and I love you, I love you!

That was awesome! over and over again?
"Ashleeeeyyyy!

" by the way, was for Ashley Tisdale, one of the stars of the concert tour, which includes all the leads from the film save Zac Efron. While her role as Sharpay in "HSM" would fall into the "supporting" category, Tisdale is a star in the Disney universe (she also has a regular role on Disney Channel's popular show "The Suite Life of Zack Cody"). The girls attending the concert responded to her in a way that can only be described as a swoon.

"She's my absolutely favorite," breathed 9-year-old Kelli Jessup.
Unfortunately, there was far too much return-swoon from the stars, who shouted out their luuuvvvv for the fans over and over and over again. Then again, maybe that's just age and cynicism talking.

When Vanessa Hudgens (Gabrielle in the film) thanked the audience for "all you've done for me," one girl immediately replied, "You're welcome, Vanessa!"
The adoration was topped only by the near-obscene branding of all things related to Disney -- something the company does spectacularly well -- and all the hawking of the individual actors' upcoming projects. Did you know that "High School Musical 2" will premiere in the summer of 2007?

! If you were at Verizon on Thursday night, you certainly do. And you're also now acquainted with Pruitt (who has performed songs and in music videos for a few Disney Channel productions) and the fact that she has a Web site and a new CD coming out!

Oh, and three of "HSM 's" stars were given "showcases" during the concert to perform non-"HSM" work -- Tisdale, who has a CD set for release in February; Hudgens, whose CD is already on the market; and Corbin Bleu (Chad in the movie), who is the star of Disney's next big made-for-TV film, "Jump In!," which airs next month.
Whew.

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