The kids who had failed in their quest for tickets refused to take "sold out" for an answer. They stood at the entrance of the Severna Park High School auditorium begging to be allowed in, even if it meant standing in the back for the entire show. Inside, scores of preschoolers danced, sang and bellowed screams that grew to a deafening pitch when the curtain was raised.
High School Musical was in town.
"We could hear screams and squeals before we even came out on stage," said Severna Park junior Morgan Thomas, who played Taylor in the school's version of HSM On Stage. "It was crazy."
The show, based on the 2006 movie that became the most-watched ever on the Disney Channel and produced that year's best-selling soundtrack, has become the high school musical. Some drama teachers have called it the modern-day Grease.
The traveling theatrical event based on the movie, called High School Musical On Tour, opens tonight at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore.
The play has no complicated dialogue, no offensive scenes to be amended. And, while some in drama programs consider High School Musical On Stage inferior to more classic and traditional shows, many schools are readily willing to pay thousands of dollars for the licensing rights, which apparently come back multiple times in ticket sales and enthusiasm.
"The big musicals are expensive to license, but the investment in High School Musical is well worth it because you get several times back what you put into it," said Severna Park drama director Angela Germanos. She paid $8,000 for licensing rights to stage eight shows at Severna Park in late 2006, among the first public schools in the nation to do so, and grossed a school-record $30,000.
"The high-pitched screams that the girls made, I'm sure there were dogs in the neighborhood barking, because we've never heard squeals like that," Germanos said.
Nearly 50 drama programs in Maryland have purchased licensing rights to HSM On Stage to date, including 17 high schools, 15 elementary and junior high schools, two colleges and several community theaters.
The show has been licensed more than 2,500 times in the United States and Canada, and 1,000 times around the world, said James Merillat, marketing director at New York-based Music Theatre International. The company manages the rights for more than 300 shows, issuing licenses and theatrical resources to professional and amateur theaters worldwide.
"Since [HSM] has only been available for about a year," Merillat said, "this is truly a phenomenon."
The company determines licensing fees based on such factors as performance dates and times, the size of the venue and the quantity and prices of the tickets the applicant plans to sell.
Arundel High School drama teacher Denny Meyers knew staging the play would be a windfall after watching students scream in delight at the announcements he had posted in the school's hallways. But not everyone was convinced, he said.
"Some seniors and juniors said, 'That show is stupid, and no one's going to audition for it,'" he said. "Well, we had 135 people try out for the 30 parts available." Arundel staged four shows, selling out one and grossing $20,000.
Disney chose several high schools nationwide with heralded theater programs to stage the show as a pilot, including the stage company and music department at James H. Blake High School in Silver Spring. They staged eight performances in early December 2006, selling out five and grossing a school-record $60,000.
"It's a great communal experience," said Blake drama teacher Michael D'Anna. "You can get on your high horse and say that it's fluffy, but there are a lot of educators out there that want to see high school groups presenting material that's totally appropriate not only for high school kids but the population that's coming to us, the middle school kids and elementary school kids.
"High school directors get into a lot of trouble periodically because we're trying to do shows that are done by adults, doing Hair, for example. What do you do during the scene where everybody appears naked?" he asked. "High School Musical has a place in the community. As soon as we put the sign up outside that we were doing High School Musical, my phone rang every 10 to 20 seconds ... for about a month."
Sherion Cosby, drama teacher at Northwest High School in Germantown and Westland Middle School in Bethesda, produced performances at both Montgomery County schools. The middle school version, called High School Musical, One Act Edition, is shorter than the high school version.
Cosby said that while she enjoys producing such renowned plays as Les Miserables, often she must convey their messages and themes before auditioning begins.
"With High School Musical, what kid in high school doesn't know about high school life?" she said. "Say the name High School Musical and it's a done deal. And the guys don't mind coming out for it because most of them get to be basketball players in it. Face it, what guy hasn't wished he could do that?"
Blake senior Johnny Weissgerber, who played Coach Bolton in his school's performance, said he enjoyed being in the show but considers High School Musical cheesy - a term used by a many high school students to describe the musical, including some who enjoy it.
"A lot of die-hard theatergoers don't like it," Weissgerber said. "They believe it takes away from the more serious, more in-depth, harder-to-do theater, and I guess I feel that way, too. It's really a show for the younger generation."
Yet, Germanos said High School Musical resonates with youngsters of all ages and their parents - at a time when many are longing for more wholesome themes in entertainment. Administrators at her school recently had to crack down on school dances because of rowdy behavior and risque dancing, she said.
"High School Musical is something where they don't have their parents saying, 'No, you can't listen to this,'" Germanos said. "The dancing is amazing. It's the kind of clean dancing that we're having trouble getting high school kids to do."
joseph.burris@baltsun.com