How was High School for you? I remember the people – friends, classmates, bullies, teachers – far more than the lessons themselves, and I have a few recurring nightmares to show for it. As well as lifelong friendships and a lot of gratitude. It’s a mixed bag.

The team who created this musical from the ground up (take a minute to appreciate the magnitude of this!) are definitely closer to high school age than I am, and so for them, high school is the ‘fresh hell’ and this amazing musical is absolute catharsis.

I’ve been listening to the podcast ‘Putting it Together’, in which every single song in every musical written by Stephen Sondheim is analysed line by line. As a result, I am currently in the perfect space to appreciate what a gargantuan task it is to build a musical that works. And Hell School: The Musical works.

This piece came out of the Victoria University – Te Herenga Waka course ‘Theatre 302: Conventions of Musical Theatre.’ A tribute to the integrity of this course is how well constructed this show is and how lightly it sits on its foundations: a great opening number, mysterious characters that reveal their purpose later, a fantastic Act one closer, and so on.

The show begins with the band on stage and a cleaner in overalls preparing the space for a class reunion. The great opening number sets up action later on in the show, to great purpose. Then the class of 2009 start to arrive for their 13^th class reunion. During the mingling and chatting, we learn about some of these characters and what’s been happening for them in the last 13 years. Most of this is sung through with perfect pace, as we see some cracks showing – old resentments still festering, some relationships not sitting a well as they maybe should. There are wonderful moments of humour too.

It all makes sense when we find out how and why things turned out as they did, and the first act closes with a shocking revelation and a fantastic ensemble music and dance number. 

Act two revolves around how our protagonists resolve to get themselves out of the mess they have ended up in, and the revelations it takes to make this self-awareness possible.

Such fun, many laugh out loud moments, fantastic performances. It seems unfair to single anyone out but I do so in a spirit of appreciating every performance in this show. The ever cool Jules Daniels’ energy and wit always pull attention, so just as well they can revel in playing such a charismatic central role! Sophie Helm’s Maggie has the volume and projection of a Broadway diva. Zayne Barefoot’s Hearts provides a gloriously improbable PE teacher whose heart is not in the right place, and Lily Fitzgerald’s Ed leads the band with a cool zeal that often left my jaw on the floor. Great choreography by Elora Battah too.

And all of the cast appear in the programme for their participation in production activities from publicity to set to choreography. Music lyrics and composition is shared among a wide group yet the pieces fit together with a single artistic voice. More kudos to Lily Fitzgerald for her musical direction. I really hope we get to enjoy this enormous talent over future decades.

Realistically, the audio was out of balance for me sitting near the fantastic band, and often actors were hard to hear, which seemed to be a combination of head mikes not being turned on in time, and lack of projection. I hope this can be improved with practice. But I am not churlishly going to hold this against this production and invite anyone to see past this to what is unfolding before them. These young people have made a Fabulous Thing here and it deserves to be seen and enjoyed. Go see it and enjoy it!

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