Disney's High School Musical Sets Cast and Dates for London Run

Newcomer Claire-Marie Hall will play the shy Gabriella Montez opposite Mark Evans as the basketball star, Troy Bolton, in the London bow of High School Musical, based on the Disney Channel original movie. Jeff Calhoun directs and Tara Wilkinson choreographs and assistant directs the production, which opens July 5 at London's Hammersmith Apollo.

The 34-strong cast includes Norman Bowman, Rebecca Faulkenberry, Letitia Dean, Nadine Higgin, Ben Nicholas, Michael Pickering, Laurie Scarth, Holly Taylor, Dylan Turner, and Damian Winter-Higgins. The production starts performances on June 28 for a run intended initially through August 31. A separate touring production is doing the U.K. circuit, with bookings into 2009.

Stage Entertainment is the producer in cooperation with Disney Theatrical Productions, whose local version of The Lion King shows no signs of slowing at the Lyceum Theatre. High School Musical has been something of a phenomenon, spawning not just a theatrical adaptation but an ice-show version, video game and bestselling book.