Living the Dream: Real Life Meets Disney Story for Jersey Teen in High School Musical 3, Opening Friday, October 24th at a Theatre Near You

These days, it seems I'm finding all sorts of good material on my train commute in from Bernardsville, New Jersey, to New York City. Yesterday I picked up the Newark Star-Ledger on the train to read an article about Max Ehrich, a 16-year-old Morganville, New Jersey senior at the Professional Performing Arts School in New York. Allison Freeman's article starts out: "Like many high school seniors, Max Ehrich can relate to the kids in Disney's High School Musical 3: Senior Year… Unlike most American teens, Max is one of the seniors at the popular musical's East Side High. 'I can relate to it perfectly,' said Max…'I know I will go through all of this year, including prom and graduation.'" Max has been dancing since he was 6 years old, including a recent New Jersey Repertory Theatre production of High School Musical. Last March, Max auditioned in Utah for High School Musical 3, the first HSM movie to appear on the big screen instead of going straight to the Disney Channel, and he was the youngest of 18 dancers chosen to be principal dancers from a competitive field of 1,200. Max spent April through June of his junior year in Salt Lake City making High School Musical 3 with the full cast, and we'll have the chance to see him in action (look for the #4 Wildcats basketball team jersey with "Patrick" on the back) when the movie opens this Friday, October 24^th. Max is in every dance scene, but doesn't have a name or any spoken lines. He told Alison Freeman in the Star-Ledger: "I am the dancer who does a lot of turns and flips…It was a lot of hard work, but it was fun." The extended edition of High School Musical 3, when released on DVD, will include an interview with Max Ehrich.

As my loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives readers know, my daughters, Maddie and London, are first and second graders this year and have a long way to go until high school, but that hasn't stopped them from being huge High School Musical fans since the first movie appeared on the Disney Channel and on DVD in 2006. We'll miss the opening of High School Musical 3 on Friday as we'll be headed down to our beach house in Bay Head, New Jersey, for the annual Bay Head Halloween Parade on Sunday, but we'll hope to get the girls out to the movies in Chester, NJ, to see High School Musical 3 over the first weekend in November.

If, like I do, you've got an aspiring dancer or two in the house, here's an event not to be missed. Max Ehrich was a stand-out when he studied dance at Dance Attitudes in Marlboro, NJ, and competed on its dance team. On Sunday, November 16^th, Max will return to Dance Attitudes to teach dances from High School Musical 3 at a special workshop for kids from kindergarten through 10^th grade. London and Maddie are going to miss this exciting opportunity because we're going to see a live production of the first High School Musical at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ that day, but I'm hoping one of our readers will get out and dance with Max Ehrich at Dance Attitudes and come back here to tell us all about it. The program will run from noon to 5:00pm at Dance Attitudes, 6 Timber Lane in Marlboro, NJ. Call (732) 780-8997 for more information.