Scene: Bright lights shine spots onto a stage, painted bleachers, high schoolers in high schoolers’ clothes. They mingle, laughing and nervous all at once. Through the thick curtain, they hear them.

The audience.

They’re waiting.

In moments, Cameron High School’s fall musical will begin. It’s taken months of late night rehearsals to get them here. Sets built, songs learned, steps taught, lines memorized, friendships made, teenagers smiling and happy at the end of the day.

It’s old fashioned, right? Happy kids learning life’s lessons while finding out that they’re really not so different. It’s cheesy. But impossible?

No.

It’s just life reflecting art reflecting life reflecting … oh never mind.

It’s just “High School Musical.”

It was September, just a few weeks into school.

The frenzy over the reveal of their fall musical swelled and swelled until the Drama Honors Society picnic.

It was time, at last, for the big announcement.

They had a lot to live up to with this upcoming musical, thought Melisa Harper, the DHS sponsor, director and language arts teacher. Their previous show, “The Wizard of Oz,” had been a sold-out hit.

Like her assistant director and fellow teacher, Derek Williams, Ms. Harper was a graduate of Cameron High School. And like Mr. Williams, she cringed when they discussed doing “High School Musical.”

But both knew how popular the show had become.

The Disney Channel’s premiere of “Musical” broke network records with 7.7 million viewers, according to USA Today. It got a sequel, a video game that lets kids sing along, clips on Disney Channel teaching steps to the dances, a show on ice, hyped several careers and even got one cast member onto “Dancing With the Stars.” The show then hit high school stages across the country and, soon, if it’s not confusing enough, the Disney Channel will present a documentary about a school doing the on-stage adaptation.

The show wouldn’t even make Ms. Harper’s top 100. But this was a way, she thought, to reach the next generation of theater goers.

“You can’t go wrong with a show like that,” she said.

So she and Mr. Williams made their announcement.

Kids screamed. They texted each other. They called friends who weren’t there.

“I was the one that was up on my feet screaming,” said Kalob Cunningham, a junior.

Before “Musical” ever premiered on Disney, Kalob had a countdown going for it on his My Space page.

He got the role of Ryan, the pushover brother of the show’s diva, Sharpay. He also taught the cast all the dances he already knew.

Not everyone was thrilled, though.

“I was not necessarily in favor,” said Megan-Marie McDonald, a senior. “I was one of the few who did not want to do it...”

It was so modern, she thought, nothing classic like “The Wizard of Oz,” or “Tom Sawyer.” And there wasn’t much imagination involved with dressing and acting like a high schooler.

Senior Dalton Gentry wasn’t thrilled either. He had been in every school show since his freshman year and hadn’t seen “High School Musical.”

He got the role of Chad, the lead male’s best friend. Megan got the role of Ms. Darbus, the very dramatic drama teacher.

And, over time, the show grew on them both.

“It’s pretty much the ‘Grease’ of our generation,” Dalton said.

A lot of them said that, actually, and it’s true in a few ways –— it’s popular, cheesy, catchy and sort of a guilty pleasure.

But if “High School Musical” is this generation’s “Grease,” then what does it say that there’s no teen pregnancy, no drinking, no sneaking out, no being forced to be something you’re not just to get someone to like you?

“Musical” is more like the anti-“Grease,” and maybe it’s inclusiveness is why it works in the end.

“It makes kids feel so good,” said Morgan Breckenridge, a junior. “And it kind of teaches you that it’s OK to be yourself.”

She got the lead female role of Gabrielle.

There were spots for 50 cast members, in fact. And so, regardless of how they felt about the phenomena, each of them seemed to take that role on with an energy only a high schooler has, staying until 9 each night after school, getting ready in their own way to partake in pop culture history.

Then, the week of their first show, the Cameron kids got to perform for some area elementary schools. The audience freaked out. They loved it.

They even asked for autographs.

Scene: Goodrich Auditorium, the house is nearly full.

Backstage, it’s time.

“OK, we’re ready,” Ms. Harper says to her actors.

“Places,” Dalton calls as he heads behind the curtain.

The lights go down. Darkness blankets everything.

Kalob, Megan, Dalton, Morgan and all the other cast members wait.

The curtain swings open.

Spotlights shine on the stage.

Then, high schoolers doing a musical about high schoolers doing a musical begins.

You probably know the story.

A boy and a girl sing and dance despite themselves. But in the end, they’re drawn to the stage and put on a show to remember.

And that is exactly what the real high schoolers in Cameron did for three nights, for audiences full of fans, for themselves and for each other.

End scene.