Everyone’s got to know by now that Vestal High School’s next musical is going to be Disney’s High School Musical! In this short series of interviews, I’m going to bring your favorite characters down to Earth and give you the inside scoop on both the performance and the lead performers!
I prepared a list of questions for both actors to answer as they prepare for their respective performances and give some insight into the character they play and how they feel about performing!
Part 1: Samuel Armand
Now here’s the interview with Samuel Armand starring as Troy Bolton!
Question 1: What inspired you to join the musical?
He shared that since he was in the school’s previous musicals it was just natural for him to join this one, and he wished to perform just one last time as his final curtain call before graduating, wanting to create indelible memories before moving on.
Question 2: Are there any challenges you faced as you learned your character?
Sam highlighted how the character was a bit outside his usual comfort zone, and that “dumbing himself down” might’ve been the greatest challenge he had to face while learning to play Troy Bolton.
Question 3: Are there any favorite moments you’ve had as you learned your character?
Sam told me that his favorite part of learning Troy Bolton was learning all the ins and outs of the different music and dance moves. For him, these performances were simply the most fun parts to learn.
Question 4: How do you relate to your character?
I got quite the answer from Sam when I asked this question, and the answer was “Absolutely not.” He made it clear that he and Troy Bolton had many differences.
Now that I’m done with the “serious” questions, here are some silly ones to make you laugh.
Question 5: If you could pick an actor to play out your life, who would you pick?
Sam gave me an answer that had me cackling for a while and it is that absolutely nobody could capture the “Sam Armand image and aura!”. Definitely a silly response!
Question 6: What’s your favorite shape of pasta?
“Rigatoni Parmesan!”
Part 2: Heyan Chung
Now for the interview with Heyan Chung, starring as Troy Bolton!
Question 1: What inspired you to join the musical?
Heyan told me that he always loved acting and singing. He saw the school musical as the perfect opportunity to explore his passion. This is his first year in the musical and his first year at Vestal High School, quite the parallel!
Question 2: Are there any challenges you faced as you learned your character?
Now while at first he responded by saying he had no real challenges learning Bolton, he was quick to point out that Bolton had a “humanly impossible” vocal range, and that hitting some notes was very difficult.
Question 3: Are there any favorite moments you’ve had as you learned your character?
Heyan told me that he especially enjoyed the cheesy 2000s dialogue. It was definitely his favorite part of learning Troy Bolton. He said they always kept the rehearsals fresh for him.
Question 4: How do you relate to your character?
Heyan believed that Troy’s same cheesy dialogue he enjoyed also contains real human emotions that everyone could truly relate to. He related to Bolton quite well.
Question 5: If you could pick an actor to play out your life, who would you pick?
The answer, Ryan Reynolds, was most definitely surprising, but Heyan explained that he believes that he and Ryan not only look alike but are practically the same person.
Question 6: What’s your favorite shape of pasta?
“Fettuccine!”
Now that’s all folks, I hope you’ve all gotten to learn more about Sam and Heyan and how they’re learning to play Troy Bolton!
Stay tuned to https://www.vhsnews.com for future interviews of the High School Musical cast! Next up: Ryan Evans!
High School Musical will be performed at the Vestal High School Auditorium from February 23rd to February 25th! If this article was appealing to you, then you should come watch the performance! Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students.
