Whangārei musical production a parody of a typical teenage love story

The cast of Not Another High School Musical! is excited to bring the production on stage tonight. Photo / Supplied

It's trouble in paradise for Rachael and Connor, the perfect high school sweethearts, when queen bee Amy-Lee starts meddling with their relationship.

While Tim Bell's musical production sounds like your classic teenage drama story, the audience can expect an entertaining show for young and old.

Bell, a Whangārei-based technician, started to write his script for Not Another High School Musical when he was 19. Twelve years later, he is finally bringing it on stage and couldn't be more excited.

"Not Another High School Musical is a parody of a typical teenage love story with a rollercoaster of emotions and lots of comical relief," Bell explained.

Both dialogue and music were crafted and recorded by Bell who also took over as the musical director and assembled a young and energetic cast.

Alys Hughes, a teacher at Whangārei Girls' High School, created all props, costumes and worked with the actors on their choreography.

"The production quality is quite high. People will be surprised by the singing and dancing performances. I'm really excited about the reactions from the audience," Bell said.

Merlia de Ridder and Nevandra Straker-Ellevy – both Whangārei Girls' High School graduates – are part of the 15-people cast and said they didn't hesitate to join the production when Bell contacted them.

"I knew immediately it was right up my alley. Our Year 12 drama teacher had a copy of the script, but some people didn't want to do it, so it got forgotten about for a while," Straker-Ellevy said.

Her co-star de Ridder, who is playing Rachael, said the musical director had the perfect role reserved for her and that she enjoyed singing the half cliché, half modern music "with a hint of ABBA" written to suit her character.

Not Another High School Musical! premieres tonight, 8pm, at Forum North. Two more shows are scheduled for tomorrow, 12.30pm and 8pm. Tickets are available on ticketek.co.nz.