A coming-of-age story about a queer vampire and his efforts to find himself in the modern world, orchestrated of course to the soundtrack of the High School Musical Movies. This show is a musical that’s so weird its brilliant.
Vlad is a young teen bullied at school for being different, that is until he discovers through the power of the internet that he’s actually a vampire. We follow Vladiqueer on his journey of self-discovery in this blood sucking comedy which will make you wish Troy Bolton had been a vampire all along from the interesting and cleaver High School Musical lyric changes.
Eleanor Barr-Sim has endless bounds of energy and fangtastic stage presence, taking what could be a very cringy show and turning it into something quite special and fun. Their energy keeps the audience engaged from their first dramatic hammer horror style entrance to their attempted cartwheels in the musical’s rendititon of ‘Bet On It’. Their comedic timing is on point landing even the strangest of comedy scenes and helping us to fall in love with Vlad even in his most murderous states.
This is definitely one of those shows that you walk out of not being 100 percent sure of what you’ve just watched but knowing you’ve loved every minute of it. I’d recommend adding the show to your fringe schedule if you fancy a good laugh and some High School Musical nostalgia.
High School Fangsical runs at The Space@ Surgeons Hall, Stephenson Theatre until 26th August at 19:05. Buy tickets at https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/high-school-fangsical
Reviewer: Beth Eltringham
Reviewed: 16th August 2023
North West End UK Rating: