MANILA, Philippines -- To my mind, not since "Grease" in the ?70s has a musical drawn so much enthusiasm and excitement that cut across class and age than "High School Musical."

A Walt Disney production, the made for television movie debuted on cable's Disney Channel in 2006.

The film was such a monster hit that it spawned a sequel in 2007, "High School Musical 2," which did even better and certified its young actors as stars.

And as if the reruns, laced with either sing-alongs of their equally popular soundtracks or trivia about the stars, weren't enough, producers have decided to repackage their most successful venture to date this time -- on ice.

I have seen ?High School Musical 1and 2? because of my daughter, Yael, who, is a huge fan.

So imagine my nine-year-old?s face light up when I finally broke the news, about an hour before the show was to start Thursday, that she was going to see ?High School Musical: The Ice Tour.?

Followers of HSM won?t be disappointed in this latest production. To borrow a song from Sharpay Evans, one of the lead characters, the ice version was ?Fabulous.?

For those who haven?t seen the two films, the stage version was as easy to follow. It?s simple really -- as in boy meets girl, both have dreams of being somebody other than what their family and friends have perceived them to be, they fall in love and are briefly torn apart by kin and peer pressure, they reconcile in the end when they finally realize that there are others like them and that anything is possible when they?re reaching out together.

Unlike in the films, however, the songs and the story had to be abridged because of the limitations set by a stage presentation.

One of the characters, Kelsey, the composer, acted as a narrator to guide the audience through the show.

But no matter, the dazzling production, highlighted by the skating performances of its lead characters Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montes, and their love story, were enough to put, especially the young people in the audience, yes including my daughter, on the brink of hysteria.

Most notable were the numbers of the two leads in the penultimate act of HSM 1 in ?Breaking Free? and their solo numbers in HSM 2, with Montes performing ?Gotta Go My Own Way,? and Bolton?s ?Bet On It.? And then there?s Ryan and Sharpay in their Latin-inspired duet ?Bop to the Top? in HSM 1, the ensemble performance in the school cafeteria ?Stick to the Status Quo,? also in HSM 1, and ?You are the Music in Me,? in HSM 2, with the last two being personal favorites.

Montes? ?Gotta Go My Own Way? and Bolton?s ?Bet on It? were especially difficult because while the actors in the original film were aided by the wonders of cinematography, there wasn?t much of that on stage.

In fact, the character of Bolton took a couple of spills as he performed but an ever adoring young audience forgave him and showed appreciation for his efforts.

Because of the minimal props used, the entire presentation was aided by a giant screen for the audience to identify the scenes on stage. Not much help there though because after a while, these became redundant and the crowd would rather see the performers on stage.

I would like to take exception, however to one scene from HSM 1, which I thought was really cool. I am referring to the one where Bolton was supposed to take the last shot for his team, the Wildcats, in the basketball championship game.

In the movie, Bolton made the basket that gave his team the championship. It was easy to do this on film because even if Bolton didn?t make it, a trick of editing could have made it appear like he did.

It?s another story on stage.

But I?ll leave that for you to see.

?High School Musical: The Ice Tour? had banked on the popularity of its two movies to draw in the crowd, but its stage version has left them asking for more.

Looks like ?High School Musical 3? is just around the corner.