High School Musical Review
Published on 21 October 2026
Summary
- Our review of High School Musical at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre.
- Nostalgia, iconic songs and all the East High drama.
- Celebrating 20 years of the Disney Channel movie — find out what we thought!
Like many others, I’d say I’m a self-proclaimed Queen of Teen Movie Quotes, Mayor of Nostalgia Town and a lifelong devotee of a gingham two-piece. You could genuinely revitalise me from a coma with the opening notes of I've Had the Time of My Life or the first bars of Don't You (Forget About Me). So, naturally, High School Musical is right up my street.
This is feel-good theatre with the stakes pleasingly low. Less Troy Maxson, more Troy Bolton, as the Disney Channel classic celebrates its 20th anniversary with a trip back to East High. The glitz of the all-American high school is certainly a far cry from my local all-girls grammar in Gloucestershire, but give me a clique, a love triangle and an unreasonable amount of plaid and I'm home.
There's a little Grease in its meet-cute, a little Clueless in its aesthetic and a little Mean Girls in its social politics. Troy (Tobias Turley) and Gabriella (Leonor Correia) are the Sandy and Danny of their generation, while Sharpay (Caitlin Tipping) brings a deliciously Glinda-coded dose of theatrical ambition. The clever basketball choreography and school-set staging, complete with desks, blackboard and countdown to the big game, bring East High fizzing to life at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre. McFly's Harry Judd makes an appearance as Coach Bolton, armed with whistle and a healthy disregard for the drama teacher Ms Darbus’ (KayCee Stroh) theatrical gong.
The plot's highest-stakes moment arrives at 3pm, when the basketball playoffs, the science decathlon and the musical auditions all threaten to clash. How on earth are Troy and Gabriella supposed to do everything at once? Thankfully, their friends eventually rally round. Which is all very sweet, but frankly, some of us are still waiting for that kind of support with the grown-up equivalent: holding down a full-time job, getting to the gym, deciding what's for dinner, keeping up with old school friends and remembering to drink enough water. I get it, East High. We're all busy.
Beneath the jazz hands and high-school cliques, there's a lovely little message about not being neatly filed away. The star player can sing; the brainiac has interests beyond the science lab; and even the jocks and drama kids might have more in common than they think. It's hardly groundbreaking stuff, but with a soundtrack this catchy, who needs a lecture? Obviously the roll call of our fave songs is present and correct: Start of Something New, Get'cha Head in the Game, Stick to the Status Quo, We're All in This Together and, of course, Breaking Free. Consider me thoroughly transported back to the 2000s!
There's something rather lovely about nostalgia, too. Clueless was part of my childhood; so was High School Musical. Now they're both nostalgia fodder, while younger fans around me are discovering the East High gang for themselves. It turns out you can grow up with one generation's teen classics and still find yourself swept up in another's. Some things never go out of style: a killer soundtrack, a questionable school clique and the eternal struggle to fit seventeen hobbies into a seven-day week.
A feel-good, unabashedly cheesy night out. Playing at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre until the 3rd January 2027, you better hurry up, get'cha head in the game and book your High School Musical tickets today.
By Hay Brunsdon
I've over 15 years of writing and editorial experience, and starting working in the West End theatre industry in 2012. When not watching or writing about theatre I'm usually swimming, hiking, running, or training for triathlons in the Stroud valleys.