M-Net's new reality talent show,
High School Musical: Spotlight South Africa hits our screens this weekend.
The first episode will be broadcast on Saturday 2 August at 19h00 and thereafter you can tune in on Saturdays and Mondays at 19h00 to see how young performers get closer and closer to landing the leading roles in a spectacular stage production produced by South Africa's foremost theatre impresario,
Pieter Toerien.
The first episode covers the
auditions in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban where hundreds of hopefuls gave it their all to get a call-back for the following round of the competition.
High School Musical: Spotlight South Africa is a worldwide TV first for M-Net: it marks the first time that the leads in the stage production of High School Musical will be cast by public vote in a televised reality series.
Disney and M-Net are working together to trial the HSM format in South Africa, which is the first country Disney is trying it in.
Pieter Toerien and Hazel Feldman's production of High School Musical: Live On Stage opens at Artscape in the Cape Town Opera House on 26 November 2008, and will move to The Teatro at Montecasino in Johannesburg in February 2009.
The roles of Troy and Gabriella will be played by the young performers chosen by M-Net viewers in this series. For the losers, there may be smaller roles up for grabs in the theatre show.
The first episode kicks off in the Mother City as HSM presenter
Dalen Lance explains how High School Musical sparked a worldwide craze and how M-Net's show fits into the phenomenon.
High School Musical Disney Channel movie reached more than 250 million viewers in more than 20 languages across 100 countries and its soundtrack album was the #1 ranked album of 2006.
The sequel, High School Musical 2 has thus far has been seen by 187 million total worldwide viewers in 24 languages and its soundtrack went triple Platinum.
Viewers will also meet the show's creative panel, consisting of theatre director
Paul Warwick Griffin, musical director
Charl-Johan Lingenfelder and choreographer
Lorcia Cooper, who are guided by The Producer, Pieter Toerien.
At this stage of the competition it's up to them to decide who will receive call-backs for the next round, The Top 40, in Cape Town.
It's always tough at auditions, but HSM: Spotlight SA gives many talented youngsters the opportunity to develop their skills and learn from the experts during various phases of the competition.
At the auditions a team of industry professionals whittled the hundreds of contestants down to a group that honed their skills at various workshops and helped them to prepare for their big day performing for the creative panel.
High School Musical: Spotlight South Africa premieres on M-Net on Saturday, 2 August at 19h00. New episodes will be broadcast weekly on Mondays and Saturdays at 19h00.
Saturday episodes are 90 minutes long; the Results Shows are 30 minutes long.
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