Rachel Formale was sure that producing two shows a year just wouldn’t cut it for theater kids at Mahopac High School.

After all, last year they pulled off “The Odyssey,” “Scrooge: The Musical,” “The Pink Panther” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

They did “Beauty & the Beast” last November and “The Hobbit” in February – but the plan was to have no musical this spring.

But what’s spring without a musical?

Formale, a junior, and her drama club friends didn’t want to find out.

“We didn’t think it was fair. We didn’t want to be apart from each other for that long. This is what we love doing, and for us not to be able to do that from February until next September – that’s a long time for us,” she says.

So this weekend, long after other schools have struck their sets and moved on to spring sports and even summer jobs, Mahopac’s thespians will be working.

Tonight is opening night for Mahopac’s production of “Disney’s High School Musical.” It’s the TV movie turned stage play that tells the story of brainy Gabriella Montez, who arrives at Albuquerque’s East High and meets jock Troy Bolton. It’s about breaking down walls between cliques and it’s hugely popular with kids from 4 to 13.

The Disney Channel movie broke all records for the network, and the stage adaptation is one of the most popular shows for youth-theater programs.

Formale plays the bookish Gabriella and concedes it’s not exactly type-casting. While playing a teenager is not a stretch, she says playing a character familiar to an audience full of tots and tweens is a little intimidating.

“It’s a lot of pressure because everyone knows this character, and there are certain things that everyone’s going to look for,” she says. “And if you don’t pinpoint that, someone’s going to pick it out and someone’s going to know.

“It’s difficult, but I know the character well, too, because I’ve seen the movie a million times,” she says with a laugh.

“She knows that she wants to get into this play. She knows that she likes Troy. It’s kind of a shy confidence. She’s shy but she’s OK with herself,” she says.

There are songs in the stage version that those familiar with the Disney movie won’t know: “Cellular Fusion,” a sort of telephone song, and “Counting on You,” when Troy’s and Gabriella’s friends try to keep them apart.

Senior Chrissy Varley plays East High’s diva, Sharpay Evans, an over-the-top drama queen.

“She’s very worried about her stance and her social status,” Varley says. “I think everybody feels that way, one way or another.”

Varley says she has to balance Sharpay’s evil side with her character’s fabulous theatricality.

Charlie Trovato plays her brother, Ryan, who is an unwitting accomplice to her scheming. Varley says they had a blast coming up with over-the-top dance ideas.

Varley, the drama company’s president, says playing Sharpay is “a great way to leave this theater, the best role to leave with.”

Junior Ryan Finch plays Troy, a role that mixes two of his loves: sports and theater. The problem is that Finch’s sport is baseball, not basketball, Troy’s sport of choice.

“Bouncing basketballs around on stage is not my thing,” he says. “And this is the most dancing I’ve had to do.”

Last fall, he played Gaston, the egotistical, over-the-top bad guy in “Beauty & the Beast.” He says the popularity of that other Disney musical gave him a taste of working to please young audiences.

“It psychs you up,” he says. “It makes you want to do a good job. Like Rachel said, there’s a lot of people who are going to know the whole show.

“It’s great to have a bunch of little kids excited to see this, because that’s not something you always have,” he says.

Photo by Dave Kennedy/The Journal News: Ryan Finch, left, playing Troy Bolton, and Rachel Formale, playing Gabriella Montez, sing during a rehearsal for the Mahopac High School’s production of “High School Musical.”

“High School Musical”
Where: Mahopac High School, 421 Baldwin Place Road, Mahopac.
When: 7 p.m. tonight and tomorrow; 5 p.m. Saturday
Tickets: $7 at the door.
Call: 845-628-3256, ext. 556.
With: Zack Aquilino, Jacob Armstrong, Zack Armstrong, Laura Barbalato, Melissa Bellenchia, Andrew Bunyea, Jill Bunyea, Michael Burke, Veronica Burnham, Joe Calderella, Andy Castillo, Rick Cerbini, Dinesh Cherupalla, Miranda Ciarmella, Brandon Costello, Sarah Dean, Kylie Derby, Ankita Deosthali, Dan Dicarlo, John DiNapoli, Victoria Dolan, Sean Donnelly, Kristyn Duffy, Ryan Finch, Lauren Fischetti, Rachel Formale, Tina Geraghty, Damaris Giha, Laurel Haitoff, Meredith Heiser, Kristyn Higgins, Rande Iaboni, Abner Jimenez, Katie Johnson, Jon Karpf, Becky Keefe, Grace Kolba, Molly Kornfeld, Jay Krishnan, Jennifer Kufa, Tom Lamujian, Rebecca Larkin, Adam Lind, John Longhitano, Alyssa Mattera, Oorja Mehra, Brittany Merola, Alexander Miller, Lucas Montgomery, Rachel Nichols, Louis Oliva, Bianca Paolello, Kate Perlberg, Chris Petersen, Luke Petersen, Alex Pietrocola, Archana Rajan, Matt Rank, Elizabeth Ritter, Cami Riviezzo, David Rosenberg, Christian Rosit, Alyssa Siodlak, Keith Smith, Caleb Teicher, Emily Timson, Will Tock, Charlie Trovato, Chrissy Varley, Steve Varley, Susanna Vaupen, Mariah Vellek, Matt Villani, Clarissa Zamora, Erin Zucca, Emily Zurhellen